You Have To Be Deaf To Understand

What's it like to hear a hand?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like to be a small child,

in a school, in a room void of sound,

with a teacher that talks and talks and talks;

and when she does come around to you,

she expects you to know what she said?

You have to be deaf to understand.

Or the teacher thinks that to make you smart,

You must first learn how to talk with your voice,

so mumbo-jumbo with hands on your face,

for hours and hours without patience or end

until out comes a faint resembling sound?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like to be curious,

To thrist for knowledge you can call your own,

With an inner desire that's set on fire

and ask a brother, sister and friend

who looks in answer and says "Nevermind"?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like to stand in a corner

Thought there's nothing you've done really wrong,

Other than to try to make use of your hands

To a silent to communicate

A thought that comes to your mind all at once?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like to be shouted at

When one thinks that will help you hear,

or misunderstood a words of a friend

who is trying to make a joke clear

and you don't understand because he's failed?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like to be laughed in the face

When you try to repeat what is said;

and you find the words were misread-

and you want to cry out "Please help me friend?"

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's like to have to depend

upon one who can hear to phone a friend;

or place a call to a business firm

And be forced to share what is personal,

and then find that your message wasn't made clear?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like to be deaf and alone

in the company of those who can hear

And you only guess as you go along,

For no one is there with a helping hand,

as you try to keep up with the words and song?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like in the road of life

To meet a stranger who opens his mouth

and speaks out a line at a rapid pace,

and you can't understand the look in his face

Because its new and you're lost in the race?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like to comprehend

some nimble fingers that paint the scene

and make you smile and feel serene

with the "spoken word" of a moving hand

That makes you part of the world at large?

You have to be deaf to understand.

What's it like to hear a hand?

Yes, you have to be deaf to understand.