The darkness that lay forever before me,

Cast cinderblock shadows on my mind.

Few even know me, seldom my heart they hear.

They only know that eternal night I posses,

And that I, a stranger in the shadows,

am blind.

Days are as the blackest of night

For those of us, who possess no sight.

Seldom if ever do we hear,

Words of kindness hope or cheer.

Some of us are even cast away,

Put in homes, or institutions to stay.

“Out of sight, out of mind”

I imagine them to say.

Yeah though my friend, this I pray,

And hearken to this lament today.

We only wish to be free,

 And hindered not by the confines

of a shallow preconceived mind.

 We only ask a productive life to lead.

A chance to love

To live and

 to laugh,

even though we are blind.

 J. Allen Wilson © 2003