The sound of someone swallowing,

Or knuckles cracking, or gum chewing

Strikes me like a razor-sharp rock.

I flinch, then I blink, and I look down with shame.

As sound hits me again with emergent shock,

Pinching me with a dozen clothespins

Hanging off my feet,

Pulling like a strong ocean tide.

Sounds no one else hears or feels,

Insidious tornadoes flying and howling,

Tearing apart my happiness with pride.

My mind screams high shrieks and low cries,

But no one around me knows the anguish in my mind,

And I try not to let them see the ailing within me

While I fight to send them away

And send off the sinister sounds.