I Have Heard The Sounds Poem by Thomas Noel Smith

I have heard the haunting sounds
Of human loneliness
As they come to my ears in the night

The woman who cries hopelessly
In her flat above the stationer’s,
The man who sits idly
By his window
Staring out at the rumbling
Honking traffic below,

The girl who stares in the mirror
Then cries alone
In a dark corner
Because of her blemishes.

The bustling city is alone.
And in its loneliness,
Some are loud with their voices
As they plunder and thunder
Over asphalt streets

Others are soft
As a night bird that warbles,
That cries
In the park

I have heard them
In their loneliness
Their sobs reach my ears
As I walk down the streets
They have made…

I have heard them all
And in my heart
And I have seen them all.

The morning comes
And only the silent river
And the tolling cathedral bells
Can whisper the eulogy
For the nighttime haunting sounds
Of human loneliness.