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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NOCTURNE IN A MINOR KEY by CONRAD AIKEN SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 3 by CONRAD AIKEN ABOVE AND WITHIN by DAVID IGNATOW LETHE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE MOTHER by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE MIDDLETON PLACE by AMY LOWELL CHARLOTTE CORDAY (REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL, JULY 17, 1793) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |