DEAF DUMB AND BLIND

  

One Sabbath morning as the church

Grew boisterous with a joyful noise,

Two parents entered as I watched,

Led hand in hand behind a boy

 

Who could not see or speak or hear,

Yet led them to the rail and stood

Between the two, to worship there

The Father of the just and good.

 

Behind their backs the hypocrites,

So eager to be seen and heard,

Saw nothing but the masks that fit

Their roles, and thus had their reward.

 

The boy his parents’ hands released

And raised his head in silent prayer,

When suddenly the clamor ceased,

As in his thoughts I seemed to share:

 

“My friends had come to visit me.

I signed with them in great delight;

But all too soon I grew fatigued,

For nothing that we said seemed right.

 

“But now, with Thee to speak I turn

Within my lone and silent heart,

Where I of Thee can ever learn,

And never dwell from grace apart.

 

“But when I visit with my friends,

I put my finest garments on

And fret to please and humor them,

And tire when they stay too long--

 

“Because my mind cannot be free

When it is bound to others’ wills.

They share but gossip’s words with me,

And leave me desolate and ill.

 

“But O my Father, comest Thou,

And I lift up my soul to see;

And with thy Presence in a cloud

My heart is cheered, at rest in Thee.

 

“And though I cannot speak or hear,

And cannot view the world outside,

I would not trade my petty cares

For man’s or angel’s senses five

 

And be without the One I love,

Whose heart beats in the life of all,

Yet dwells in blessed dark above

This world where mind and senses crawl.”

 

Thus prayed the child, in words quite lost

Upon the self-adoring crowd,

Which, thronging to the golden cross,

Pushed him aside with praises loud.