When Silence Speaks
By Hassen Lorgat
When silence speaks,
those silenced are heard—
the broken branches, the dislocated wing, the gagged.
The noise in the world is made of silences—
some stillborn, others maturing with wisdom.
The poet’s spoken word does not begin with the pen
but is galvanised in silent lungs,
propelled through the cave’s mouth,
only allowed to sail
by the controllers of the strait—
the tongue, the teeth, the lips—
greeted with joy, laughter, at times threats.
Sometimes
crass brutalities beyond words.
Unseen, better.
But neither jails nor mutilations can stop the tongue from wagging,
or the signals and mimes from talking.
One mouth to feed is not easy,
but easier when around the village fire,
where tales of where we come from
and where we are going
are repeated
over and over again.
When the voices sing in harmony,
muted noises find their voices.
Relearning how to fight, how to rest, how to continue…
The ululating mothers, veterans and the youthful shouts reverberate—
strong and loud until hoarse,
far and wide as usurpers flee.
We stand up.
Beyond Lip-eration,
we continue walking the long journey,
humming the rhythm of life,
writing our own stories—
and not waiting for the pen to run dry.
Hassl
*13 July 2026*