A volunteer in green draws aside the red curtain; ①
We walk into a cavern of four hundred spirals.
So dark that fingers of the hand are invisible;
Only human whispers are heard around.
A blind guide is explaining the exhibition;
The tone is intimate and the voice sweet.
Visitors follow a serpentine line along the wall;
Left hand on the wall, right on the shoulder.
Wonderful scenery unscrolls along the Pujiang;
Spring tide swells as if between the fingers.
Nanpu Bridge is held up by tightened steel cable;
Dongfang Tower is built with arches interlock.
Cultural Centre seems to crouch under hands;
Its smooth shining shape is a round dome.
A vender’s cry, suddenly heard, reminds us,
Of the arrival at a busy commercial street.
Our feet step on the gangplank at the port,
With hands on palm rope, wind caressing the face.
Fragrance of flowers, music of birds and insects,
A random stroll on the lawn of green grass.
The best is blind athletes’football match;
Passes and shoots take place amid loud shouts.
In the dark I put on the night-sight glasses;
The miraculous soccer skills dazzle the eye.
Wonders of Heavenly Sight finish in five minutes;
The experience in darkness will last many years.
The healthy eye, in dim light, becomes blind;
Rewinding it, the mind hangs upside down.
We with just a taste of it feel so horrified;
The blind living so all life should be pitied.
Who understands Helen’s world-moving words,
“If I were given the use of eyes for just three days”? ①
Note: ①“Three Days to See”is an essay written by Helen Keller, blind American writer, educationist and social activist.