You played softly in my ear, and the days slipped silently through my fingers. Each night, a star drew closer; each morning, the sun lingered a little longer beneath my skin. I could not tell whether I was listening to you or to something within me that only you made audible. Between us lay a distance as thin as a string; the more it stretched, the deeper its sound within me. I laid my hand upon it; the string grew still, but the trembling stayed within me. And I, in your silence, could hear you.