Encounter
I encountered a child,
Tracing figures in the snow,
She spoke in monosyllables,
Words I did not know,
Her utterances intrigued me,
Nonverbal gestures, I detect,
I gently knelt at her side,
As if to genuflect,
Down a familiar path I had ventured,
Through the park without a care,
I found myself,
Haplessly, somehow, willing to dare . . .
I encountered this child,
Off the path in the park
Did she wonder why I too,
Was there in the dark . . .
I watched and I listened,
Still words undiscerned,
I chose to remain silent,
Perplexed by what I learned,
Her fingers so dexterous,
Soon opened my mind,
That this child was enchanted,
That this child who is blind,
Soon welcomed me doubtlessly,
That I should or would not fear
That she could not see me,
Nor could she hear.
She opened my senses,
Though blind and unspoken,
I sensed a true rage,
That needed to be broken,
She traced another image
This child so young, And so meek
She sought my hand’s touch,
As if she were to speak
I struggled, I anguished,
In how I could share,
With no one else around her,
Her life she must bear,
This encounter, still enduring
Though it seems like a year
Renders visions
As if
I could
not see,
Nor hear.
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