Wednesday, May 11, 2011

I'm in a poetry mood

On perspective

Beneath the sun,
Beneath the skies,
Beneath a tree,
A stone there lies.

Dark and drity,
From dusk till dawn,
There in the grass,
Upon the lawn.

Many years
Will come to pass,
Before anyone sees
The stone in the grass.

One sunny day
A human comes
It matters not who she is,
Nor what she's done.

But she steps on the stone.
And open it cracks.
Kicked to the side,
Just one half.

Now nudged into the sun,
The lonely brown stone
With brilliance casts light,
Colors,
Brilliance.
The world now aglow.

One inch to the left,
Or one to the right,
The sun would have missed,
The stone never shone bright.


In case the meaning is unclear here (I'm not sure; it's perfectly clear to me!), the stone is the child with autism. On the outside, all you see is difficult behaviors, imperfect communication, and puzzling repetitive speech and behaviors. But if you find out how to work with that child just so, how to teach him in a way that truly reaches him... well, you may stumble upon brilliance.

2 comments:

  1. Well said. The meaning was very clear to me. I am grandma to Anthony, 23, with autism (aspergers & PDD) I have suggested your tiny chat to him. Terri

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  2. This is beautiful! I love it and think I'll share it with my mom -- she has a few kids with autism moving up a grade and into her classes next year and she's not sure what to do with them.

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