[CT-NFB] Not blind enough

[Mary Silverberg]

Allison & Deb,
Thank you for sharing this one.   I love it.  How very true.
Mary


On Mon, Jun 9, 2025 at 8:06 AM Deb Reed via CT-NFB <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Happy Monday!
> Recently, one of our affiliate members, Allison Arbuckle, shared this poem
> with me. It is an experience that many of us with residual site in our
> journey of blindness have experienced. Here is the poem she shared:
>
>
> From Dave Steel, The Blind Poet
>
>
> “Have you ever felt not blind enough?
>
> Been told that you don’t look blind?
>
> As if the cane you hold’s a prop,
>
> or truth is something they define.
>
>
> They see the way you turn your head,
>
> how sometimes you still meet a gaze,
>
> and question all the silent wars
>
> you fight inside the dimming haze.
>
>
> “Your eyes are clear, you’re looking straight,
>
> you smiled before you took your seat—
>
> you joked, you laughed, you found your way…
>
> So blindness? That can’t be complete.”
>
>
> But they don’t see the constant strain,
>
> the way you memorize each space,
>
> how shadows steal the world you knew,
>
> how fog and fear have blurred each face.
>
>
> They never feel the stumbles made,
>
> the silent prayers with every street,
>
> the noise that swells without a frame,
>
> the panic dancing in your feet.
>
>
> They only see the parts that pass
>
> for something they define as “sight,”
>
> not knowing how it shifts and fades
>
> from morning glow to black of night.
>
>
> And so you’re caught between two truths—
>
> not fully seen, not fully gone—
>
> you wear your courage quietly
>
> while strangers tell you to “stay strong.”
>
>
> But strength is found in every step
>
> where darkness walks beside your day,
>
> in every time you hold that cane
>
> though pride or doubt gets in the way.
>
>
> So if you’ve heard, “You don’t look blind,”
>
> or felt like you don’t quite belong,
>
> know that your truth is yours alone,
>
> and living it is being strong.
>
>
> You don’t owe proof to anyone—
>
> your story’s written in your stride.
>
> There’s more to vision than the eyes,
>
> and more to blindness than what’s spied.
>
> #TheBlindPoet”
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Deb Reed
>
> Central CT Chapter President of the National Federation of the Blind
> Deb.reed57 at gmail.com
> Cell-860-378-5370
>
> “Bloom where you are. “From mother, Theresa of Calcutta.
>
> _______________________________________________
> CT-NFB mailing list
> CT-NFB at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> CT-NFB:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/marysilverfox%40gmail.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/attachments/20250609/9bed8e97/attachment.htm>