Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN APPEAL FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, by GEORGE MURRAY (1830-1910)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN APPEAL FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, by                    
First Line: Deaf! Not a murmur or a loving word
Last Line: Making the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear.
Subject(s): Deafness; Eyes; Sight; Touch (sense)


Deaf! Not a murmur or a loving word
Can ever reach his ear. The raging sea,
The pealing thunder and the cannon's roar
To him are silent—silent as the grave.
Not quite; for, ever when God takes away,
He gives in other shape. The tramp of feet,
The crash of falling things, the waves of sound
Strike on a deaf man's feelings with a force
To us unknown. Vibrations of the air
Play through his frame on sympathetic nerves,
Like fine-strung instruments of varied tone.

Dumb! Not a murmur or a loving word
Can ever pass his lips. The cry of rage,
The voice of friendship and the vows of love
Freeze on his tongue, so impotent of sound.

But deem not that intelligence is null
In that doomed mortal. Gaze upon his eye—
A speaking eye—an eye that seems to hear
E'en by observing, and that gathers more
From flickering lights and shadows of a face
Than duller minds can gain from spoken words.

The age of miracles hath past; but man
Can summon art and science to his aid,
And cause the faculties of sight and touch
To act imperfectly for speech and ear.

The deaf-mute seems by Nature formed to be
A delicate artificer, and skilled
In subtle operations of the hand;
He can be taught to read, and thus to learn
The story of the Present and the Past,
Or by quick signs to share his inmost thoughts
Chiefly with those for whom he yearneth most,
His fellow-sufferers! Nay, it sometimes haps
That men, like Kitto, reft of senses twain,
Have by their lore electrified the world
And won the crown of literary fame.

Spare not your gifts, ye wealthy of the land,
To these afflicted brethren. Ye to whom
Heaven grants that sweetest of all blessings, health,
And the keen joys of each corporeal sense,
Aid those to whom these blessings are denied,
And shed some sunshine o'er their gloomy lives.
Let us all tread, as closely as we can,
In the blest footprints of that Holy One
Who went about forever doing good,
Making the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear.





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