Blindness

A friend of mine who lost his vision due to macular degeneration has given me permission to share this poem he wrote with you.

SUBSTITUTION

by

Earl Leonard Langguth

My ears are now my eyes.

Alert to grasp the softest, slightest sound

Especially those sords yet whispered low,

So that my hungry mind may grasp the scene

I need to picture so that I might know

How things begin and end, and in between,

Create those portraits bright, precise, profound,

To make alive all that brief words convey,

Replacing what my eyes cannot portray.

My ears must be my eyes.