Blind

Israel Zangwill (1864–1926)

LAUGHING, the blind boys

Run ’round their college lawn,

Playing such games of buff

Over its dappled grass!

See the blind frolicsome

Girls in blue pinafores,

Turning their skipping ropes!

How full and rich a world

Theirs to inhabit is!

Sweet scent of grass and bloom,

Playmates’ glad symphony.

Cool touch of western wind,

Sunshine’s divine caress.

How should they know or feel

They are in darkness?

But—O the miracle!

If a Redeemer came,

Laid fingers on their eyes—

One touch—and what a world

New born in loveliness!

Spaces of green and sky,

Hulls of white cloud adrift,

Ivy-grown college walls,

Shining loved faces!

What a dark world—who knows?

Ours to inhabit is!

One touch, and what a strange

Glory might burst on us!

What a hid universe!

Do we sport carelessly,

Blindly, upon the verge

Of an Apocalypse?