Inspired by a video I saw recently of people of all ages hearing for the first time thru the invention of a new hearing device.

I Can Hear
By John Herlihy

I hear nothing,
Silence all around.
Sound nowhere to be found,
Like life inside the ground.
Sound is pure mystery,
Imagine the whisper of a fur tree,
A mystery that means nothing to me.
Silence awakens me.
Silence puts me to sleep.
Silence is my sound.
I hear nothing, not even a peep.
Whether it be the tweet of a bird,
Or a sermon the pastor spoke,
No voice fills my head,
No poetry that Shakespeare wrote,
No rhyme nor rote, pure silence instead.

Until one day, a miracle occurred;
A sound entered my ear, the first one ever heard;
The first sound stirred my inner world with music,
A sound that actually seemed a little blurred.
An inventor had created a miraculous device,
That seasoned my life thereafter with incredible spice.
They sat me down to insert the device into my ear;
They even ventured to whisper I had nothing to fear,
Moving their lips and hands as in the game of charades,
Like friendly clowns taking part in a masquerade.
I had no idea in the world even to imagine what to expect,
No idea that the first thing I heard I would never forget.
The child in me wanted to smile and never stop smiling.
The adult in me wanted to cry and never stop crying.
Who could imagine the utter sweetness of a simple sound,
When heard the first time, it sounded as a word most profound.