On Words and Autism

This poem takes a few words from a well known duet and weaves them into something different. I have always thought of the first few lines "if I had words..." as almost (if seen apart from the song) about autism and the limited nature of language that some autistic people have. The imagery of “crumbs” instead of “bread” evokes scarcity, but also resilience: even fragments nourish. 

It’s a portrait of communication as both struggle and grace, a quiet assertion that meaning can emerge from the smallest utterances. For it is amazing how much they manage to communicate with just those fragmentary words, not structured like you and I speak, but still, miraculously, making their needs known, telling us about the world, and bringing joy to all who hear them.

On Words and Autism

If I had words to make a day for you
I would, but only fragments come
Speech is hard, the words are few
It is not bread but left over crumb

I'd sing you a morning golden and new
And I can sing, remember just so well
Old songs my memory is just so true
New I cannot, but old can always tell

I would make this day last for all time
But time worries me, the days laid out
Each hour, I wait for clock to chime
The pattern sooths, fixed turnabout

I have some words, and precious they
They help me navigate every day