Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest

When Love Fell on Deaf Ears
by Rehani Perera

TwEnty-SEVENTH Contest
third Place

I, a deaf person
have never experienced the bliss of sound
the tinkling of church bells or the wind I feel on my ears
When late in the afternoon, 
I take a quick stroll around the old block
I would always stop by the town's most famous inn
where i would see instruments,
all tall and short or bent and curved
being tinkered and tampered by merry old musicians
I then sit on a bench outside, 
one that overlooks the setting sun 
where i wonder every day how sweet music must be to hear

I, a deaf person
am not lucky enough to hear the birds that flew over me
who occasionally perched on the window sill to make me smile
though my little pup Timmy kept strangers away with his bark
I have never heard him to do it so
Was it a zzzzz or an ooooo or an eeeee?
This is why i love trains,
their engines move my world, both above and below me
It puts a smile on my face you know

I, a deaf person 
still consider myself the luckiest in the world
Because my little son makes me so
I don't get to hear him say " i love you papa"
or cheer him on when he races
But when he falls asleep on my chest
and I can feel his little heart thump
I feel love... sweet sweet love pouring down
from millions of heavenly waterfalls
washing away every tear and need from my aching heart
To say my son's love is worth every sound in the world
is the greatest understatement

About the Author
Rehani Perera, a student, loves reading, writing, experimenting, her three pet rabbits and her pup, Jimmy, and devouring oodles of chocolate. This poem, as everything else she writes, is entirely dedicated to the Lord, her fountain of inspiration.