Hope Town
for Anna Albury

bursting out of her blindness
that enthusiastic about life
that in love with life, with living it
with getting on, with going places

see Ray Charles on YouTube, singing
"Hit the Road Jack,"
think of how expressive he is or was
how super talented

think of Stevie Wonder
one of my favorite artists
in any field, of any time, in all the world

it is to this group of super stars
super men and super women
that she very likely belongs

well on her way already
appearing in TV as she does
jumping off docks in Abaco
as she does

head girl of her school as she is
all the things she does blind

does what so many who can see
do not
goes where so many with sight
do not dare

she is fearless
forward, it seems,
is what- is all she knows
she is destined to go places

this year she won
most outstanding
primary school student of the year
in The whole Bahamas

determined to transcend her handicap
we all have handicaps
one form or another

some allow theirs to cripple them
incapacitated, go nowhere
crushed from inside or from without

hers is a spirit, bubbling up, bubbling over

what in the world is she going to be
hope I am around still to bear witness

seems as if there is no limit
not impossible to touch the sky
it is where she came from, that is evident

without sight but what light she brings

what an extraordinary person
bouncing along, over-exuberant

eager to continue
destination to get to
light to get to, heights to get to

what holds us back
to get over, to get through


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
12:23 p.m. 15.07.11