"You say it best when you say nothing at all"

They say speech is silver, and silence is golden. But how much of that is true? Ask someone forced to sit beside a relative they don't know for five long, awkward hours at a stretch and they'll gladly accept that small talk is but better than an extremely uncomfortable vacuum hanging in the air.

But silences can be beautiful, oh so beautiful.

The ones you share with a co passenger who smiles at you as the two of you journey in a an empty local compartment past midnight.
The bewitching one as you stare at your crush moments after you see him grin at you from the corner of the eye.
The achingly beautiful one when you cannot form words to express grief or condolences.
The remorseful one when you know nothing you say, or do, can smooth over the hurricane you caused.
The ecstatic one when your joy is so overwhelming you do not trust yourself to form coherent speech.
The comfortable one when you can be alone together. When you can enjoy the other's company without feeling forced to talk. The one where you revel in each others warmth but continue to read your book or knit a sweater.

Silences can mean a lot. Or mean nothing.
Sometimes all silence is, is absence of noise. But other times, it morphs into so much more than just a vacuum fuelled by lack of talk.