Hello, darkness, my old friend I've come to talk to you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds when I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains within the sound of silence In restless streams I walked alone Narrow streets of cobbled stone Near the halo of a street lamp That I call to the cold and dark When my eyes were set by the flash of a neon light That split the night and touched the sound of silence And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that were set by the flash of a neon light Disturb the sound of silence Force that I do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you But my words like sand when drops fall And I'm caught in the world of silence And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its holy In the words that it was holy And the sign said the words of the prophets Are written on the subway walls And tell the tales And whisper The sound of silence