By Telly G. Ocampo
The Sound of Silence, a story of friendship!
Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams, I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
“Fools” said I “You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
Then the sign said, “The words on the prophets are written on the
subway walls
In tenement halls”
And whispered in the sound of silence
Virgilia “Daya” Lirn-Yap (standing) smiles as she meets our high school classmate, Leucadia Arac (seated)
Above verses present the lyrics of the song, The Sound of Silence. The song really touches your heart as it unfolds a story of a poor American Jewish boy from Buffalo who got a scholarship at Columbia university. His name was Sandy and he had a roommate, Arthur Garfunkel.
During their first year at the university, Sandy out of nowhere became blind. The diagnosis was an optic nerve ailment due to cataract. Arthur, in his concern for his friend Sandy, went to the latter’s in Buffalo and convinced him to go back to school.
So they went back to Columbia with the assurance from Arthur that: in the darkness “I will be your guiding light”. Arthur read to Sandy his books, tests and exams. And they graduated together.
Sandy became successful finishing a master’s degree and a Ph.D. He became a counselor to two United States presidents, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Meanwhile, Arthur, who was in the Arts, became a composer and his first recording was the song, The Sound of Silence.
Most people in my age group know the song. But do we know the story behind the song? Do we know that Arthur borrowed four hundred dollars ($400) from his friend Sandy for the farmer’s first recording which became a hit that grossed a million dollars and became a favorite?
“Hello darkness my old friend” is a line of the song that could speak well of how good our high school class valedictorian is. She is Virgilia “Daya” Lim-Yap. We graduated from high school in 1962. Recently, she accidentally met a high school classmate at a restaurant in Panglao. This classmate is from Dauis who lives alone. Just imagine how life is when you live alone at our age? While it is true that she has a niece to accompany her at night, yet, during the day, and most of the time, she stays alone. Thank you to this niece of hers who lives nearby (She took care of this niece when the latter’s mother died years ago).
Indeed, our classmate, Leucadia Arac is fortunate to have met, at this time of her life, another version of an “Arthur” (of The Sound of Silence) in the person of Daya Yap. God is good all the time and all the time God is good!
Simon and Garfunkel of The Sound of Silence fame.