| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 572. Helen Keller |
| | | By Edmund Clarence Stedman |
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| MUTE, sightless visitant, | |
| From what uncharted world | |
| Hast voyaged into Life’s rude sea, | |
| With guidance scant; | |
| As if some bark mysteriously | 5 |
| Should hither glide, with spars aslant | |
| And sails all furled! | |
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| In what perpetual dawn, | |
| Child of the spotless brow, | |
| Hast kept thy spirit far withdrawn— | 10 |
| Thy birthright undefiled? | |
| What views to thy sealed eyes appear? | |
| What voices mayst thou hear | |
| Speak as we know not how? | |
| Of grief and sin hast thou, | 15 |
| O radiant child, | |
| Even thou, a share? Can mortal taint | |
| Have power on thee unfearing | |
| The woes our sight, our hearing, | |
| Learn from Earth’s crime and plaint? | 20 |
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| Not as we see | |
| Earth, sky, insensate forms, ourselves, | |
| Thou seest,—but vision-free | |
| Thy fancy soars and delves, | |
| Albeit no sounds to us relate | 25 |
| The wondrous things | |
| Thy brave imaginings | |
| Within their starry night create. | |
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| Pity thy unconfined | |
| Clear spirit, whose enfranchised eyes | 30 |
| Use not their grosser sense? | |
| Ah, no! thy bright intelligence | |
| Hath its own Paradise, | |
| A realm wherein to hear and see | |
| Things hidden from our kind. | 35 |
| Not thou, not thou—’t is we | |
Are deaf, are dumb, are blind!
1888. | |
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