bear with me. I don't know any deaf mutants, and I can only
work with what they give me. =]
"When You Say Nothing At All" was originally written by Paul
Overstreet and Don Schiltz. It has been recorded by several
artists, but the one I had in mind here is the one by Alison Krauss.
By the way, you do know that I don't own it right? Good. I
thought you were intelligent people.
THE FIFTH SENSE
Chapter 2 - "When You Say Nothing At All"
The hardest thing I think I've ever had to do is try to explain my powers to someone who has never experienced them. The realm of the mind is so unlike the physical world. It's... boundless. Even I have to impose a sort of physical order upon it in order to access it in a way that I can understand.
It's like being in outer space, drowning, flying.
It's like betrayal and friendship, hope and despair, pride and love.
It's......
Damn. No, scratch all that, never mind. It's... indefinable.
Well, as indefinable as a giraffe. You can tell someone what a giraffe is, what it looks like, what it does, but they can never truly understand the concept of a giraffe until they see one for themselves. That's it. No words can trap the essence that makes something what it is.
And yet... isn't that the purpose of words?
I think about that a lot. Especially when someone asks me to explain my relationship with Scott. He's more than a "boyfriend," more than a "fiancé." I think "husband" is more like it, but that's not it either. The closeness the last word implies combined with the patience of the second one and the sort of wonder of the first. And yet, still... not enough. "Soul mate" perhaps? That's closer. It's like he knows me better than I know myself. I can hear him talking to me without ever hearing his voice, and it sounds more richly in my ear than anything else.
It must be part of being a teacher, that it bugs me so much when I can't explain something. I was thinking about it the other day when I ran into a wall. Yeah, talk about savior faire. Anyway, then I heard the most amazing thing that I wouldn't have stopped to listen to if I hadn't been rubbing my aching forehead. It drifted down in through a window near me like music straight from heaven. Well, Kitty's room anyway. And when I heard it I just had to smile. Because I'd finally found someone who seemed to understand what I was trying so hard to say.
It's amazing how you can
speak right to my heart
Without saying a word
you can light up the dark
Try as I might I could
never explain
What I hear when you
don't say a thing
The smile on your face
lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your
eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand
says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when
you say nothing at all
All day long I can hear
people talking out loud
But when you hold me
near you drown out the crowd
Old Mr. Webster could
never define
What's being said between
your heart and mine
The smile on your face
lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your
eyes saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand
says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when
you say nothing at all
How about that? Whoever wrote that must have read my mind.
Scott just smiled when I played it for him. We've never needed words
to know what the other one is thinking. Words are for the other people,
the ones who don't understand, and now I suppose we have something to give
them that might help them see.