My eyes were ones
That could not see
When I was born;
They pitied me.
My parents, siblings,
Teachers too,
Said what a shame.
Nobody knew
That I could see
Clearer than they,
Untainted by
The light of day.
My world was one
Colored by sound,
Of music, beauty,
Truth profound.
But then one day
I woke to find
A blurriness
Within my mind.
Now hazy lines
Were slitting throats
And strangling life’s
Pure graceful notes.
A miracle!
That’s what they said,
Now you can see!
But my heart bled
As beauty once
As bright as day
Within my soul
Was stripped away.
Reowr 
Beautiful.
I’m glad you thought so. 🙂
I did!! 😀
This is very intense… A great metaphorical spin here
I’m glad you liked the spin of it. 🙂
An interesting aspect rarely if ever taken into consideration. In a world where vision is everything, and totally deceptive, it’s interesting to think of a world full of sound. Meow…
Yes, I can only imagine what it would be like, and in my imagination it would be an incredibly beautiful world, as bright as our own in the daylight, possibly brighter because it is purer. The soul is nourished by beauty, wherever it is found.
nice to imagine. And the soul withoug beauty soon withers.
A great subject and beautifully written. So many people don’t listen, really listen to the beauty of the natural world – or just simply to the sounds of daily life going on around them – as they’re plugged permanently into music via their headphones and therefore disconnected from the world.
I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, a state of constant distraction seems to be the growing trend in our world today.
Indeed. And how do we get away from that when the world keeps sending us spiraling down that direction… How do you unplug? I have my ways, for sure, though it’s sometimes hard when you live in a concrete jungle and are connecting to the outside world via your laptop… Beautiful poem, at first I was going to ask if you were once blind; it’s been a while since I’ve exposed myself to metaphor and abstraction. 🙂 ha… Thanks for your comment. -Zil
How do you unplug? Well, some people meditate, some people go hiking in the wilderness…many different ways I suppose. I like how you called the world we live in a concrete jungle. Personally, I view WordPress as a way of being tuned into other people and the thoughts they normally wouldn’t share with the world.
Agreed – however, though WordPress is a creative, sharing platform (which I enjoy, the same as my Tumblr), where we can tap heads together with communities from all over the world, the fact remains that this is not a replacement for “live”, sun-in-our-face, I-can-see-you-smile interaction.
One has to strike a balance between sharing with the online community and living a life that will give you something to share…
No, it is definitely not a replacement for the “sun-in-our-face, I-can-see-you-smile interaction”. I love how you phrased that. Moderation and striking a balance, as you say, is the key. 🙂
🙂 de acuerdo contigo!
Omg that was so beautiful. I had a niece who went deaf through surgery and i often wondered what was worse not seeing natures beauty or not hearing music that can lift your heart. It is sad she only see ugly things when she got her sight as there is so much beauty in the world. another excellent poem but i expect nothing less from you Cubby, your amazing x
I think it is much harder to lose one of your senses later on in life than to be born without a functional sense as we cannot help but compare our condition to the pre-loss state. But I do believe people can find beauty anywhere and everywhere if they choose to seek it. 🙂
It’s an intriguing concept….to gain a sense is to lose another, deeper, sense. Some quotes I’ve seen from Helen Keller show profound wisdom in her sightless/soundless observations, but i doubt if the wisdom is a result of her limited senses. Do we get such a sensory overload when we have all our senses that we can’t fully digest it all? Or is the beauty we “see” when that sense is denied us born of a fabrication that our brain inserts to take the place of the unseen? Really good poem, and a thoughtful piece.
I believe the answer is yes to both of your questions. As this piece was meant to provoke thought, I’m glad to see that it did. 🙂
Awesome!
Thank you! 🙂
beautiful verses, as if this poem is a true event.
Thank you kindly. 🙂
There are cases where eyesight is surgically enabled for people who have been blind from birth, and they go blind again, psychosomatically. Too intense, too confusing. One man said he only knew the blur of color and motion was his wife because that was where her voice was coming from, but he couldn’t distinguish her from her surroundings. Imagine a whole new sense!
That would be mind shattering as our reality is created by our senses and how we interpret them. I think if a person born blind is happy and functional in their condition, they should not be pressured into surgery for vision. However, if they are unhappy like it seems the majority of people…well, I guess whatever they think will make them happy then.
Gave me goosebumps! Surely a sign of great poetry 🙂
If you say so…I would say it’s a sign that you are chilly and to put on a blanket. 😛
Very emotional piece, the lines of it are beauty and pain combined, the poem really makes me wonder about things in life, the way we percieve it,the way we hear it and the missunderstandings that line the in-between.
Yes, our perceptions of the world are completely based on our senses, and our senses are not entirely reliable when it comes to interpreting our world.
Lovely.
Thank you. 🙂
Beautiful, thought provoking poem.
I’m glad you thought so. 🙂
Wow, that is truly beautiful and so deep. I love the whole idea of seeing beauty without vision, then losing that beauty when you see..very creative and very well written…again! 😀
Hehe glad you liked the concept of it. 🙂
I can not say anymore other than Wonderful.
That is more than enough. 🙂
Do we always have to give something u to get something else?
That is a very good question Gigi. From my experience, my only answer is: so it seems.
When the ugliness of this world is not yet seen by a baby, everything is perfect. Alas, we grow up.
Yes, that is why babies are so precious.
Bless them. 🙂
Very nice. I’ve really been enjoying your work. It motivates me to write more. Thanks for the boost.
I’m so happy to hear my work can motivate you to write more! 🙂
Wow, phenomenal–deeply touching.
I’m glad you thought so. 🙂
And the kitty does it again. Beautiful write.
Thank you kindly. 🙂
oh my goodness, i absolutely love this so much. it reminds me of my friend. shes blind, and she was loved music and played in our school band. she even performed in the rose parade!
It sounds like her world was beautiful with the music that filled it. 🙂
Very strangely I can relate to this. I am part Cherokee and when I was born my cheekbones were literally so high I couldn’t see. For the first 3 days I was blind because of obstruction the doctors ran tests told my mom I might be blind for life but then my dad showed up and they realized the issue and I got to go home. As a kid my vision was insane well above average but I had something wrong with my eyes and they needed to correct it so I had a surgery and I woke up unable again to see or open my eyes. I had to wear bandages on both eyes and can’t remember how long but after it was over I guess my brain just gave up on my eyes lol My vision isn’t that great and I have trouble interpreting visual input like depth and when I try to grab things I am always off, I have a lot of floaters too and am super sensitive to light. I often find myself walking around with m eyes closed without realizing. My sense of smell is my best sense now. Why not hearing brain come on get it together lol I have an insane sense of smell imagine navigating life dependent on smell, there are a lot of things I wish I could unsmell lol
Oh wow, I understand what you are saying about smell being your best sense. I have often cursed my above-average sense of smell as it seems so much less practical than the other senses, but then I met someone whose sense of smell was practically nonexistent, and it made me appreciate this sense a bit more. He said everything tasted pretty much the same to him, just different textures. It must be very frustrating when your eyes and mind will not work together to form a cohesive reality. Depression is very similar to this, in my opinion, in that reality becomes fragmented and you reach for things but find that you are off…like stumbling around in the dark. I agree with the hearing…I wish my hearing was better too.
My sense of taste is really good a bonus with the good sense of smell that I definitely appreciate. Though maybe is conspires to make me eat more lol When I was a kid I detected an electrical fire in a crowed public monument because I reported it to the man in charge we all got out safety. and they were able to fix the problem before much damage. I also medically diagnose myself through smell I took a class on infectious disease and we grew lots of common bacteria and viruses and I learned the smells. I can smell when there is any type of infection so I knew when my husband got appendicitis. So it is useful but I would love to have good vision and hearing as well. I agree about the Depression and that might be part of my problem, like my brain omits things so many things I am always getting lost lol
It sounds like quite an extraordinary gift you have! When I said I have above-average sense of smell, I meant just ever so slightly…like being able to whiff things a second before other people…but what you’re capable of doing with your sense of smell is unbelievable! That is indeed a tremendous gift I believe, although I can see the definite drawbacks of it too.
Beautifully written! 🙂
Thank you very kindly. 🙂
Very thought provoking, Cubby. All of my senses are a bit hyper, except perhaps my eyes. It’s fascinating that so much of our life experience is coloured by the potential of learning through exposure to the sense that we most favour. I discovered a great website a few years ago about teaching children through kinaesthetic experience. I now try to incorporate as many sense experiences in my teaching as I can in order to maximise the experience of learning to appeal to whatever is the favoured sense. We all have different ways of learning and we usually seek out the one that means most to us. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case in schools. Children expected to listen without enough opportunity to do, touch, see,etc.
And, as usual, so beautifully constructed. A pleasure to read.x
Yes, people do favor certain senses over others. Conventional education has always focused on visual and auditory memory, which is not always the strongest senses for some children, although very practical in our society. But I agree that teaching through being able touch and do is also a very powerful learning experience. It is wonderful that you try to use so many different methods in your teaching to optimize the learning of your students. I’m glad you enjoyed this poem. 🙂
I haven’t come across one of yours that I haven’t enjoyed. 🙂 x
So strong Cubby! If only we all used our hearts to see.
Yes, because a blind heart is the worst type of blindness.
The image of a blind heart is so devastating, but not so strange, sadly. Thank you for this insight through this beautiful piece Cubby 🙂
Yes, sadly not so strange indeed. I’m glad you found it insightful. 🙂
brilliant spin at the end 🙂
Thanks Fi! 🙂
beautiful and tragic
Fortunately not biographical. 🙂
Wow! Love it.
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂