Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Videos
Resources
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Quotes
Short Stories
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 3.147.2.112
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
It was my first day back at work…I was behind the counter in the store…when a woman pushing her baby in a stroller walked in through our front door. I greeted them as I always do…Mom nodded when I caught her eye…and I waved to her baby…who waved back…as he went rolling by. After shopping for a while…perusing every shelf…she was ready to buy three books for her baby…and one book for herself. Children’s books during the month of July are all to be sold tax-free…and because of the system in our store they have to be rung up separately. As I was explaining this to this woman she stared blankly and pointed to her ear. If I was reading her body language correctly…she was telling me she could not hear. So I looked at her and spoke more slowly and clearly…hoping she could read my lips…but she just shrugged her shoulders, still staring blankly, with her hands upon her hips. And I realized the reason she couldn’t understand my words had nothing to do with clarity or speed…it’s because…with a beard and a mustache…I have no lips to read! Thankfully she was patient with me even though she didn’t understand a word from our little chat…then she made a sign for writing…hey…given time I might have thought of that! So I picked up pen and paper and began writing her a note……but I was a little nervous…I wrote too fast…even I couldn’t read what I wrote. I help up the note an again she shrugged her shoulders…I looked to the baby who waved to me and then…I threw away my first note and began to write again. This time she smiled and nodded…I think even her baby understood…perhaps he’s a bit precocious…I imagine Mom and baby both would have agreed my handwriting was atrocious. But we muddled through and I held the door as they walked out into the crowd… The mother walking in silence…while her baby was quite loud. As I watched them walk away I was hit with a feeling so profound…wondering what it must be like to live in a world devoid of sound. To miss the everyday sounds around you…the voices…the bird as they soar up to the sky…to never hear the melody of your baby when he sings or laughs…or cries. How some of us are born lucky…we can hear and speak and see while others have to overcome the capricious hands of destiny. As I watched them fade into the crowd…two thoughts struck me as I slowly turned around… how I need to work on my penmanship and how I’ll never take for granted another sound.
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required