Disabilities - The Escape

The boy dressed in black Is well-loved by his family They’re there, and they care But somewhere, in their subconscious minds, They breathe, “This is not what we hoped for… We wanted so much more… We wanted so much more” The boy sits in the corner Alone, and afraid “Come,” says teacher “Tell me your name,” As the children sneer and snicker The boy puts his face to his knees He sighs…He sighs… The children laugh, the children poke fun “He’s only different,” says teacher “He can’t think or speak like we do” But the children can’t stop smiles From creeping up the corners of their mouths And the boy knows better: He hears every word He longs to call out…shout out… But he can only thrash out Time out…time out To them, the boy was different The boy was strange But himself was all he knew They looked down And he frowned The teasing, the ridicule It was just too much He needed an escape…an escape The boy found what his heart longed for And what his mind needed In music It called to him And he could not resist the pull of its rope, The tightness of its grasp Music pulled him deeper Into rhymes and rhythms he swam, Into melodies he sank He was engulfed…he was engulfed The strumming of his very first string The striking of his very first key It brought tears of joy to his eyes It was his time to shine… His time to shine. I sit here in the audience And the boy dressed in black Slithers onto the stage, Sunken eyes to his shoes, But his face to the light Deep breaths…deep breaths The audience buzzes The audience hums But is shocked into silence The sounds of the boy’s piano Are too colorful to capture, Too beautiful to bear, Too magical to make into words… Far too magical The music pours from his fingers Like rain from the sky But the music originates from somewhere else: From his heart And somewhere, in the dark recesses of his mind, There is something powerful, Something wonderful, Something bursting with life… Like a single pink flower In the dry, barren desert There is hope…there is hope. If we look hard enough, We find that we, too, have this greatness within us For this boy, we simply had to look a bit deeper… Deeper