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In Their Own Words – If You Knew
This poem is by Lisa Madren, whose son has autism.
You do not know my child
But if you did, you’d regret the time spent that you did not know him
He is different
But that does not mean he is not a wonder to behold
Sometimes beauty lies behind what is considered “normal”
Sometimes the beauty of a special soul lies within an enigma
A pearl that lies imprisoned in a tough clam’s shell
A treasure that you must work hard to get at
To pry open
To find the jewel underneath
And once you saw that pearl, you would want to admire it
You would want to possess it
You would want to display it proudly
And you would wonder why you had not seen it underneath its shell before
And you might stop to observe the other previously unnoticed gems in the sea
You might discover that not all the coral must be red
Or all the fish must be golden
Or that all the seaweed must be green
To have value
To deserve friendship
To be capable of love
If you knew my child your vision would widen to see all the colors and possibilities
That lie within all of God’s creatures
If you knew my child
If you really knew my child.
“In Their Own Words” is a series within the Autism Speaks blog which shares the voices of people who have autism, as well as their loved ones. If you have a story you wish to share about your personal experience with autism, please send it to editors@autismspeaks.org. Autism Speaks reserves the right to edit contributions for space, style and content. Because of the volume of submissions, not all can be published on the site.
