YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT BLINDNESS FOR ME BY FIONA CUMMINGS

YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT BLINDNESS FOR ME

BY FIONA CUMMINGS

What is it like to not be able to see

This is the question which gets asked to me

I walk down an avenue of tall trees

Hearing the rustling caused by the breaze

Feeling the branches touching my face

Sometimes they hurt causing a graze

A careless person has left some litter

So I kick it as I walk

It makes me flicker

Deep in the country I hear a hawk

I smell the grass

As I walk with care

On the undulating paths

I feel a tare

As I catch my coat

On a rickety fence

If I catch a boat

Feeling a little tense

As the ground doesn’t feel safe

Keeps moving about

Going over the waves

Fills me with wonder

Will this boat come back down

Without a blunder

Then up another wave

 And back down again

In the middle of nowhere

Will I ever be on land I ask?

Sometimes boats are a pleasure

Then sometimes they are a task

They are meant for leisure

Not to fill you with fear

It’s just the feeling of nothing close

Feels a bit remote

Nothing to reach out to

Apart from a moving vessel

Now then, going to our town

Can be such a hassle

Bumping into people even just a fraction

Meeting with posts, seems to be my attraction

Where is the door where I need to be

Gosh if only I could see?

No it’s not there

 As I stop and get my Barings

As people pass I feel like I should have sirens

I just want to share with them

How lucky they are

To see what they are looking at

No matter how far

What it must be like to get in a car

Drive where you want to go

But we blind people can’t let it show

How tough life can be

Just to get from A to B

OK back in the town

I smell the fresh bread

And hear the merry go round

Find the flower bed

And listen for the sound

Of the swinging doors

Then try to go through them

Count the gap

Tell yourself when

Learn to judge

OK some people I may nudge

I will apologise

Though they will tut at me

If only they knew

What it was like not to see

The beautiful clothes hanging there

I feel the fabrics

People just stare

“How can she shop for clothes

How does she know what she is buying?”

Well stop your chat and staring

And ask if I need help?

Oh no, they can’t do that

I may infect their health

So I ask for assistance

From a paid person

Thank God for their existence

Could my day worsen?

Oh yes, I need groceries

But first have to catch a bus

Through the people once more

Don’t want to, but it’s a must

Through the revolving door

Just made the gap

Now I have to think

With my built in map

First I need a drink

But it’s too hard to find a place

I hear the coffee cups

I end up with a red face

Because I enter a china shop

But gladly don’t ask for a latté

Just come away

Continue with my dry throat

Go past the bumpy road

I feel the open air

So I know the bus stop is there

Just on my right

Is my bus in?

How good it would be with sight

I ask people is it number two?

They say

The bus you need is blue

Well that’s not helpful

As what is blue?

It’s like to the sighted

Showing Braille dots

Asking them to find the letter D

They won’t know if they can see?

I catch the bus

And find a seat

You just don’t know who you will meet

Who will sit next to you?

Will he be handsome

Will she be a shrew?

What will they be wearing?

Will they have nice shoes?

We blind people don’t know how you will be dressed

Will it be casual

Or right to impress?

The handshakes from you

May give us a clue

A quick whisper of a sleeve

Shall lead us to believe

That you are wearing a soft fabric

I say I like your jumper

You think I perform some magic

You wonder how I know

I give no clues

Don’t let it show

The back of my hand

Feels like the front

My handshake may gently touch your jacket

Don’t worry

I don’t hook you like a bracket

In fact you will not guess

If I have had a peak

 As my lips are sealed

I will not speek

Until today

I’m giving all my secrets away

Walking on the sand

Is like a new land

One step forward and two back

As I sink in the soft ground

That goes nowhere to me

I would love to see the sea

But I can dream

Of ocean spray

On a summers day

What does the sun look like?

The same as the snow

Just we feel warmer

It gives us a glow

What does rain feel like

Being in the shower

Do you miss the beautiful flowers?

It depends on what is beauty

It doesn’t always need to be seen

I can smell and feel

What beauty is to me

Sitting with my love

Under a shady tree

What you feel when you hold your child

So excited inside

A kind person gives their time to me

That is what beauty is to me

How do I know what is on my plate?

Unless I have put it there

Ile just have to waited

How do I cook?

Just like you

I can read from a book

 With a recipe or two

How do I know when the hob is on?

Turn the dial and feel the heat

How do I know when things are cooked like meat?

Like you stick a fork in and see if it’s tender

How do I hang a picture up?

With a nail and a hammer

I guess what I am saying

I am just like you

But don’t have the luxury of sight

This is so true

Have to depend on my minds view

And good people like you