No News Is Good News

 

 

No news is good news,

Have you ever heard the saying?

Yet we always fear the worst

When no news we are hearing.

 

She left ever since evening

And now it is late into the night

And having heard no news

You fear a terrible plight.

 

He went out with the car

And said would he be back shortly,

That was quite a while ago

And you fear an emergency.

 

You say you’re not going to worry

For no news is good news

But you’re wondering all the time,

About what you should do.

 

“But, why doesn’t she call me

And let me know that all is well?

She’ll be home as soon as she can

But right now, she cannot tell.”

 

But you are generations apart,

That’s not a young people’s thing

Hence, you cannot be expecting

That the phone will ring.

 

Even that you are afraid of-

I mean the ringing of the phone,

It will most likely be bad news-

And you’ll have to leave home.

 

 

Yet, no news is good news

You have been known to declare

But that’s when it’s another’s problem;

Not when it’s your affair.

 

That talk is cheap

Is another saying you have heard

It is only when the shoe pinches

That you are forced to concur.

 

No news is good news?

No, that saying is not true

For when information is lacking

That is not our view.

 

We can pretend all we like

That no news is good news

But until we actually find out for sure,

Bad news is our view.

 

Everything points that way

The longer that loved one stays out

And with the minutes ticking away

There is even more doubt.

 

No news is good news

If you don’t anticipate bad news

But when the brain goes a roving

The mind goes a roving too.

 

Stewart Russell © June 10, 2023