Who screamed? No one. Just a cry in the night, In the dark, in the light. No, it's nothing, nothing, nothing. It's just a scream. It's just a sign of violence. It's nothing but a scream That comes to break the silence. The locomotive train Is screeching on the track, The screaming cat in heat Is scratching at the back. The grass you trod on shrieks, The rose you pluck is crying, Beneath your careless feet, A microcosm is dying. Who screamed? No one or almost. It's a man, or a ghost. It's no one. Almost nothing, nothing, nothing. It's just a mother's cry Surrounded by her children. She sees her man struck down, His body clubbed and beaten. A sleeping tiger roars. His dreams are full of rage. He challenges the night Awaking in his cage. A woman old and shrill, Bewails her inattention When muggers on her trail Attack and steal her pension. The girl in broad daylight Who runs out shouting, ",'Rape!" Collapsing in the street Obscene and full of hate. The crowds who scream with joy, They laugh and they applaud To see the fireworks Above the esplanade. And then the naked fright Of they who cower sobbing. They raise their arms in prayer But can't escape the bombing. Who screamed? No one. Close your eyes, close your ears, Don't reply, just play dead And do nothing, nothing, nothing
Your reason starts to moan. You give in to the madness. So let the children sob In fear of death and darkness. Don't listen to the cries, The screams of tortured flesh Or to the souls that rush Headlong toward the abyss. In slaughterhouses, screams, Where blood flows unabated Or where an entire race Was once exterminated. The cries of the insane Trapped in their private bedlam The scream of mortal wounds, The cry within the bedroom. The bleat of innocence When naked skin is thrashed Or that of the corrupt Writhing beneath the lash. The counterfeited cries Of a whore at her trade And the forsaken cry A dying Jesus made. A virgin monk's despair His faith abruptly failing Who begs and curses God, His cries are unavailing. A prisoner cries out As he's ejaculating On names carved on the wall Beneath a sordid grating. The cry of impotence, The cry of mental anguish, The cry of melody In a musician's language. The scream of Edward Munch, His pain immortalised Echoing silently Beneath the swirling skies The seeker's victory cry Drowned by the roaring waves On finding peace at last Within a watery grave. And I, my precious love, I watch your spreading blood The knife here in my hand, And scream, "I don't understand, I don't understand"