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Silence here is not peaceful; it is tied to bodily violation, restraint, and the permanent loss of trust after an experience the speaker could not stop.

The page is brief but severe. Its power comes from how little it explains, leaving injury to radiate through the refusal or inability to respond.

'Silence' renders refusal as a frozen body: the speaker 'did not walk a step away' even 'While my finger / was being torn from my lips,' the gesture of secrecy itself wrenched off, his teeth scattered 'North and South.' The poem withholds explanation, so the violence radiates from inaction; stillness here is not calm but the exact moment 'When I would never again / trust anyone.'