rockin'robin
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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...
Silent Hands
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
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.
Deaf Poetry
Silent Hands
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
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.
Deaf Poetry
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