The Blindman's Song
The Blindman's Song - meaning Summary
Sightless Isolation and Grievance
The poem presents a blind speaker addressing sighted "outsiders," calling blindness a curse that breeds isolation and despair. He depends on his wife to guide him through "empty air" while feeling uniquely tormented and unheard, with an internal outcry he cannot name. The speaker contrasts his inner darkness with the sighted world of sunlight and faces, arguing that sighted people cannot fully comprehend his solitary suffering.
Read Complete AnalysesI am blind, you outsiders. It is a curse, a contradiction, a tiresome farce, and every day I despair. I put my hand on the arm of my wife (colorless hand on colorless sleeve) and she walks me through empty air. You push and shove and think that you've been sounding different from stone against stone, but you are mistaken: I alone live and suffer and howl. In me there is an endless outcry and I can't tell what's crying, whether its my broken heart or my bowels. Are the tunes familiar? You don't sing them like this: how could you understand? Each morning the sunlight comes into your house, and you welcome it as a friend. And you know what it's like to see face-to-face; and that tempts you to be kind.
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