Living in the Land of the Unseeing

by Cheryl Merrick

They look, but they don’t see.
As a child I thought
they were teasing our teacher,
but gradually I came to know
that they really could
see and not comprehend
and hear and not understand.

At first, feeling sorry for their weaknesses,
I attempted to help them,
only to realize,
many emotional bruises later,
that not only do they not see,
they do not want to see.