Listen to the Tone

Thank you for reading Unscripted. I named the site Unscripted because that’s what I am. You are liable to read anything here from Politics to Self-Improvement. Today you get a creative piece that I wrote. Tomorrow it could just be my philosophical take on the weather. Enjoy.

Do I write in black?  Do I write in white? Is what I write right? Everything I ever tried to do. Everything that I ever tried to be. Predicated on the tone. Do you hear the tone, the tone of my voice? Because no matter how loud I talk, no matter how loud I cry, no matter the eloquence, I will never drown out the tone.  

I’ve held my expression so stoic I am unrecognizable to those who know me, let alone you.  Is this what you want? Is this not the tone that will have me heard, or is it still too loud?  Yet, you still don’t hear me. Like screaming in a dream my body cries out, but there will be no answer.  There will be no reply.

Whitewash away the stoicism. Put on a smile, surely they will hear me now. Show your teeth, show your teeth. Let them hear your joy, let them feel the tone.  But, does my joy bring you pain? Why do you look upon me with such awe? Is it the tone?

Listen.  The tone is getting louder.  It won’t be quieted any longer.  But I know the tone is not the song, it is but a component, a metronome.  The tone is not the song. Before my needle lifts, I will play you a song, a new song, with a new sound, and that song will be sung with the tone.

A. Carroll