Expressions From the Heart
Last Updated: November 09, 2003 14:21 -0500 (New poem added)
Expressions From the Heart
Last Updated: November 09, 2003 14:21 -0500
(New poem added)
Listen carefully and you will hear the heart beat of the Deaf. You will gain access to their world and their understanding and culture. You are privileged to be allowed to glimpse inside their world. Handle it gently. Allow yourself to feel what they feel, to experience what they have experienced. Allow it to impact your heart and then to bond you with this world. If you do, you will be forever changed...
Can you hear me?
Listen, not with your ears
But with your eyes.
To you they speak,
My silent hands.
Hear me tell my tale.
Hear me sing my song.
Learn my language,
My beautiful native language.
Hear my hands,
Hear my music and story.
Learn my language.
Speak to me with your hands.
Share my beautiful language.
Hear my silent hands.
We have a tale to tell,
A song to sing.
Open your eyes
And hear me speak.
Author: Sandra L. Brooks
Thoughts
of a Deaf Child
My family knew that I was deaf
When I was only three, and since then fifteen years ago
Have never signed to me.
I know when I'm around the house,
I try and use my voice,
It makes them feel more comfortable;
For me, I have no choice.
I try, communicate their way-
Uncomfortable for me.
My parents wouldn't learn sign
Ashamed or apathy?
I never cared about the sound of radios and bands;
What hurts me most is, I never heard
My parents' signing hands.
Stephen J. Bellitz, Reprinted from Senior News, July 1991
Ode to a Deaf Child . . .
One day I saw a little child as lovely as a flower,
She danced and ran, she jumped and turned ...
I watched her for an hour.
This child of God was all the things I'd want my own to be,
Magnificent of heart and limb a curiosity.
But when God made this little one he didn't give her sound,
He left her in silent world where quiet is profound.
A deep abyss, a lonely world, away from all who hear,
To never know the voice of man in happiness or fear.
And as I watched her hands make pictures in the air,
A silent unknown rhythm that I could never share.
For in this world of silence the hearing rarely go,
Because they lack the picture words it never can be so.
This causes me to wonder about the world of sound,
What is it that we're missing where the silence is profound?
And then I knew the answer, it suddenly was there--
To live and love together means people have to share.
Thus in the world of picture words where pretty symbols flow,
The meanings of I LOVE YOU is there for all who know.
And so I guess the world of sound will stay a world apart,
Until it learns the picture words, it cannot share the same heart.
Philip A. Bellefleur, Ph.D.
My Hands
God chose that I should never talk
and share a voice with you.
My world will be a silent one--
my ears hears nothing, too.
Why was it I was chosen to be
so all alone--
My inner voice was asking if
the answer could be known.
Then I look into the mirror and
saw good things looking back,
I had to take the positives--
put them on the right track.
I thought a lot about it,
and now I want to shout,
The wondrous gifts God gave me
outnumber what He left out.
So let me take the challenge in
meetings life's demands--
I have the power to change things,
and it lies here in my hands.
Stevie Drown
A Deaf Christian's Prayer
Do the angels sing in heaven Lord?
Will I hear the music there?
Or must I stand in a corner,
While others join in prayer?
Will I wonder what they are saying Lord?
Like I often do down here?
Must I sit still and be patient
While the bells ring loud and clear?
Can I read your lips in heaven Lord?
Or will I be brushed aside?
While I hide my hands in my pockets
Because of wounded pride?
Will the saints all stand to praise thee,
While I sit in silence wait?
Will you have a place for me,
Or must I wait at the gate?
And God who loves the humble,
Whispered into the anxious ear.
"My child has no one told you,
There is no deafness here."
"Hold out your hands my little one,
For heaven all to see."
"We've heard them pray so many times.
Each prayer reached up to Me."
"See, all the angels are waiting.
The gate is open wide."
"Your crown of life is waiting.
And I shall be your guide."
"I have a song to give you,
Your song will be loud and clear."
"Your song of praise my deaf one,
Will be the sweetest song up here."
(This poem was written by a very special young lady who was deaf.
She fought but lost a very courageous battle with leukemia.
Her family has requested that she remain anonymous.)
You Have to be Deaf to Understand
What is it like to "hear" a hand?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be a small child,
In a school, in a room void of sound --
With a teacher who talks and talks and talks;
And then when she does come around to you,
She expects you to know what she's said?
You have to be deaf to understand.
Or the teacher thinks that to make you smart,
You must first learn how to talk with your voice;
So mumbo-jumbo with hands on your face
For hours and hours without patience or end,
Until out comes a faint resembling sound?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be curious,
To thirst for knowledge you can call your own,
With an inner desire that's set on fire --
And you ask a brother, sister, or friend
Who looks in answer and says, "Never Mind"?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What it is like in a corner to stand,
Though there's nothing you've done really wrong,
Other than try to make use of your hands
To a silent peer to communicate
A thought that comes to your mind all at once?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be shouted at
When one thinks that will help you to hear;
Or misunderstand the words of a friend
Who is trying to make a joke clear,
And you don't get the point because he's failed?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be laughed in the face
When you try to repeat what is said;
Just to make sure that you've understood,
And you find that the words were misread --
And you want to cry out, "Please help me, friend"?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to have to depend
Upon one who can hear to phone a friend;
Or place a call to a business firm
And be forced to share what's personal, and,
Then find that your message wasn't made clear?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to be deaf and alone
In the company of those who can hear --
And you only guess as you go along,
For no one's there with a helping hand,
As you try to keep up with words and song?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like on the road of life
To meet with a stranger who opens his mouth --
And speaks out a line at a rapid pace;
And you can't understand the look in his face
Because it is new and you're lost in the race?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to comprehend
Some nimble fingers that paint the scene,
And make you smile and feel serene,
With the "spoken word" of the moving hand
That makes you part of the word at large?
You have to be deaf to understand.
What is it like to "hear" a hand?
Yes, you have to be deaf to understand.
(Written at 1971 by Willard J. Madsen, professor of journalism at Gallaudet University.
This poem was translated into seven different languages and reprinted in publications,
including DEAF HERITAGE, p. 380.)
Do the angels sing in Heaven, Lord?
Then God, who loves the humble,
Whispered in the poor deaf ear
My child, has no one told you,
There is no silence here.
Hold out your hands, my little one,
For Heaven all to see.
We've heard them pray so many times,
Each prayer reached up to Me.
See, all the angels waiting.
The gates are open wide.
Your crown of life awaits you,
And I shall be your guide.
I have a song to give you,
You'll sing both loud and clear.
And the song you sing, my dear one,
Will be the sweetest song up here.
From Donna Lankford
What is
it like to be deaf?
People have asked me.
Deaf? Oh, hmmmm, how do I explain that?
Simply, I can't hear.
Noooo, it
is much more than that.
It is similar to a goldfish in a bowl.
Always observing things going on.
People talking all the time.
It is being a man on his own island
Among foreigners.
Isolation
is not a stranger to me.
Relatives say "hi" and "bye".
But I sit for five hours among them.
Taking great pleasure at amusing babies.
Reading books, resting, helping out with food.
Natural
curiosity perks up
Upon seeing great laughter, crying, people upset.
Inquire only to meet with "never mind",
"Oh, it is not important".
Getting such a summarized statement
of a whole story.
Supposed
to smile to show the happiness.
Little do they know how truly miserable I am.
People are in control of language usage,
I am at loss and real uncomfortable.
Always
feeling like an outsider
Among the hearing people
Even if it was not their intention.
Always assume that I am part of them
By my physical presence, not understanding
The importance of communication.
Facing
the choice between the Deaf Camping
Weekend and Family Reunion.
Facing the choice between the family commitment
and Deaf friends,
I must
make the choice constantly,
And wonder why I choose Deaf friends???
I get such great pleasure at Deaf Clubs,
Before I realize, it is already 2 am
Whereas I anxiously look at the clock
Every few minutes at the family reunion.
With Deaf
people, I am so normal,
Our communication flows back and forth,
Catching up with little trivials, our daily life,
Our frustration in the bigger world,
Seeking the mutual understanding.
Contented
smiles, and laughing are musical.
So magical to me
So attuned to each other's feeling.
Truly happiness is so important.
I feel more at home with Deaf people
Of various colors, religions, short or tall,
Than I do among with my own hearing relatives.
And wonder why?
Our language is common.
We understand each other.
Being at
a loss of control
Of environment, that is, communication,
People panic and retreat to avoidance,
Deaf people are like the plague.
But Deaf
people are still human beings
With dreams, desires and needs
Of belonging, just like everyone else.
Original Page date - January 28,
1999
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