I think your interpretation of the symbols is dead on but i think if you consider the remaining verses he is saying that true wisdom remains in the sounds of silence.
That's why he says
"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence"
They couldn't hear his wisdom because the people were to busy focusing on progress therefore his voice got lost in the forgotten silence
And when he says it grows like a cancer i think he means that ignorance grows like a cancer because all the wisdom remains unsaid in the sounds of silence.
and that's why at the culmination in the end when ppl pray for the neon god for wisdom he reveals this words
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence"
that's my interpretation of the song.
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