What Did You Say

I cannot hear. Sound has lost its crispness. Articulated consonants have merged into blurred murmurings. The loss was not sudden. No cataclysmic happening but rather a gentle deterioration of a faculty, once taken for granted. Normal conversation, once a joy, has become a struggle. Repartee, chit chat, a little banter is no more. The quality of sound once reverberated and filled spaces; now I have no spaces – just tinnitus, constantly grinding away. To be sightless is to be aware, with other senses sharpened; but deafness leads to introspection, loneliness and a deep despair. The half blind wear their glasses and look so very wise. The deaf man, with his hearing aid, dithers. I should know. ~