Louis Braille: You Gave Us Light Poem by Rajnish Manga
Louis Braille: You Gave Us Light
Generation after generation through
Thousands of years we have traveled
In a tunnel of darkness
Ruing and Cursing our stars
Learning to live in a sightless world
Making mental images of things
We could feel and sense and touch
Until you were driven by
Your inquisitiveness to discover
The realm of thoughts and ideas
Scattered around you through reading
Like millions of people with normal vision
Were blessed to do for ages
You won over your visual disability
And invented an amazing new language
Carrying your name- Braille
Which made reading and writing possible
For those sailing in the same boat
Ferrying hapless voyagers devoid of eyesight
In the darker side of the world
So, On behalf of myself
And on behalf of the parents and teachers
Brothers, sisters and friends
Of visually impaired men and women
(Who were used to being called blind sarcastically)
In all parts of this planet
I kneel down and bow my head
To pay my respects to you
And to the language of finger reading
That you gave to us close to two centuries ago
And known to us as Braille
We remain for ever grateful to you
For you gave us light.
a wonderful tribute to a man for whom a dramatic change came in the lives of those who have lost eyesight. Thank you for this poem
Thank you for being on this page with an inspiring and appreciative note, Bipasha D.
It must be incredibly hard to make out letters and words by touch, a different, harder sort of reading. I doubt if I could do it. I would have difficulty sailing in that boat.
Yes, I also feel the same as you do. But, through continuous practice one can master the language- any language for that matter. Look at the practical side. No one else could offer a better alternative to this touch language. Thanks for your kind words of appreciation, Michael.
A great tribute to Louis Braille, the inventor of the tactile system of reading for the visually impaired! In the lives of millions of handicapped people with defective eyesight, this invention turned out to be such a blessing! When we have eyesight, we never know the value of it. Only when we are deprived of it, we come to know how blessed we are who are born without any physical deformities! Only because of Braille, Helen Keller could rise to such heights! Beautiful poem!
You are absolutely right, Valsa ji. We realise the value of something useful to us only when we lose it or it is taken away from us forcibly or through accident. Helen Keller was a big name who took utmost benefit of this touch technique to read and write. Thank you for this wonderful critique and also for adding value to it.
Whoa! Rajnish. I am not able to say, very often, that I was overwhelmed. This is a heartfelt and warm tribute.I could not begin to write such a thing. You are a poet. I thank you for a great start to my day. I really am taken with the expression I kneel down and bow my head
I am humbled by your kind words and the sentimental expressions. Thanks.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/10/2024 12:57:19 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Wonderful tribute, well expressed. Salute to Louis Braille - for his Incredible vision.
Thanks for this lovely review of this poem whose contribution to the world cannot be quantified.