Helen Keller

    mute, sightless visitant,     From what uncharted world Hast voyaged into Life’s rude sea,       With guidance scant; As if some bark mysteriously Should hither glide, with spars aslant       And sails all furled!     In what perpetual dawn,     Child of the spotless brow, Hast kept thy spirit far withdrawn—     Thy birthright undefiled? What views to thy sealed eyes appear?     What voices mayst thou hear     Speak as we know not how?     Of grief and sin hast thou,       O radiant child, Even thou, a share? Can mortal taint   Have power on thee unfearing   The woes our sight, our hearing, Learn from Earth’s crime and plaint?       Not as we see Earth, sky, insensate forms, ourselves,     Thou seest,—but vision-free     Thy fancy soars and delves, Albeit no sounds to us relate       The wondrous things     Thy brave imaginings Within their starry night create.     Pity thy unconfined Clear spirit, whose enfranchised eyes     Use not their grosser sense? Ah, no! thy bright intelligence     Hath its own Paradise, A realm wherein to hear and see     Things hidden from our kind.     Not thou, not thou—’t is we     Are deaf, are dumb, are blind! 1888.