Sorry, 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,

should reverberate and fill spaces;

but I have no spaces.

Tinnitus constantly grinds away.

To be sightless is to be aware,

with other senses sharpened;

but deafness heralds

introspection, loneliness and deep despair.

The half blind wear their glasses

and are looked upon as wise.

The deaf man with his hearing aid

appears to be a dolt.

I should know.

                    ~