The Loudest Silence in Michigan

The loudest silence in Michigan,
Is audible,
Audible as ephemeral echoes,
Reverberations amplified by black and white photos,
Faded and yet lively,
Full of life,
Like a pair of old eyes recalling some golden dream.

Images of incredulity,
Disbelief,
As if from the Black Forest,
With its arboreal characters of Grimm.

But these images deceive the disbelievers,
For they speak truth,
And the relic ruins,
The bittersweet vestiges of that time,
Intermingled with the modern impersonations,
Along with the photos,
And the now-sorrowful stories,
Known only to the gray,
The doddering,
The liver-spots,
Whisper this loudest of silences.

The deafening silence of a wasted city,
A defiled masterpiece,
A forgotten lion rotting alone in desolation,
Under the blazing sun,
Plagued by disease,
Picked at by the vultures,
But too weary to shake them off.