CRY OF THE UNDEAF
Coral Gathman Cook
I am the Undeaf
She who is able only slightly still
To perceive Sound
Yet not as One
Who can truly be called Hearing
There is a tremendous Chasm
Fixed between the Two
A Great Gap
An Awful, Lonely and Isolated Endurance
In which I have Dwelt
Since the Beginning of My Time
I Bear about upon me
The Mere Pretense of Hearingness
Yet I also Bear
The Devastating Marks
To be seen
Upon the Souls of the Deaf
Yet I am Neither
And I am Both
I am So Much More
And I am So Much Less
There is no Place for Me to Walk
No Real Earth beneath My Feet
Nor any kind of Sky above My Head
I am not a Citizen of Anybody's World
I am a Citizen of the Gap
Coral Gathman Cook
I am the Undeaf
She who is able only slightly still
To perceive Sound
Yet not as One
Who can truly be called Hearing
There is a tremendous Chasm
Fixed between the Two
A Great Gap
An Awful, Lonely and Isolated Endurance
In which I have Dwelt
Since the Beginning of My Time
I Bear about upon me
The Mere Pretense of Hearingness
Yet I also Bear
The Devastating Marks
To be seen
Upon the Souls of the Deaf
Yet I am Neither
And I am Both
I am So Much More
And I am So Much Less
There is no Place for Me to Walk
No Real Earth beneath My Feet
Nor any kind of Sky above My Head
I am not a Citizen of Anybody's World
I am a Citizen of the Gap