Speaking To My Father

By John I. Blair

As a boy I learned to talk
To my Dad in a special way.
Deaf from childhood,
He could not understand
What I had to say
Unless I spoke straight to his eyes.

I did not think it odd
Speaking to my father
With such care;
Only later, when I had grown
Too busy to bother
Did I lose patience with him.

Now I too am deaf
And often have to ask
For others to repeat
And take them to task
If they don’t face me
When they speak.

Sometimes I call this justice
For the times I was impatient with my father;
But I treasure that I learned from him
When I was young
To think about the needs of others
As often as I do about my own.

©2002 John I. Blair