Interior Castle

Severe autism, where there are no words, no way of communicating, resembles a castle, where the autistic individual is shut away inside a castle, the drawbridge taken up, a moat sealing off the outside world. There is no easy way to sense or understand what is going on inside that kind of autistic mind. It is a million miles from more able forms of autism, which usually are termed aspergers. This poem reflects something of that severe kind of autism, and the sense of loss it gives to parents.

Interior Castle
 
If you had words, you could speak out
Tell us what happens inside your head
But all is silence, from whisper to shout
And words are lost, the sounds are dead
 
What causes laughter, and causes tears
The pattern of your life, a broken thread
Tell us of happiness, and of your fears
But words are lost, the sounds are dead
 
Your mind is a mystery, closed away
It may be so always, such the dread
We see shadow play, and not the day
For words are lost, the sounds are dead
 
With passing years, and no break through
If only I could give my words to you