With My Glasses Off Poem by Jim Yerman

I was born with poor eyesight so for me it has been fated…with my naked eye I will never see the world the way it was created.

Everything I see without my glasses is fuzzy and obscure…but sometimes I like to walk without them…and experience the blur.

I imagine there are some people who think this is absurd…but here is why I like to walk around in a world where everything is blurred:

With my glasses on when I see the clouds…I know their shapes…as much as my knowledge has allowed…with my glasses off when I look up…all I see are clouds

With my glasses on…the differences in every tree I see…with my glasses off…when I look…all I see is tree.

With my glasses on in a field of flowers I see how each flower varies from stem to stem…with my glasses off I can only see how beautifully the colors blend.

With my glasses on when I look at people…so many differences in them I see…with my glasses off all I see is how everyone looks like me.

I use to think with my poor eyesight…
I was star-crossed…
unlucky…
ill-fated…
Now I wonder if I wasn't given a gift..
to see the world as it was meant to be created.