Waltzing with Braille

1809–A Wonderful Year

                In 1809, at least three remarkable individuals were born–Louis Braille on January 4, Edgar Allan Poe on January 19, and Abraham Lincoln on February 12.  While I was extremely pleased to visit the historical homes and burial site of President Abraham Lincoln and enjoyed teaching Edgar Allan Poe and his writings, I keep in touch with Louis Braille–the inventor of the system of raised dots for tactile reading and writing–every day.  Thus, for this first WORDWALK blog post of the new year of 2021, I have for you a piece focusing on Louis Braille.  After a multitude of accomplishments in his relatively short life of only forty-three years and two days, Louis Braille passed away on Epiphany, January 6, 1852.

                To learn much more about the life of the amazing Louis Braille, I highly recommend that you read the extremely well-researched book LOUIS BRAILLE:  A TOUCH OF GENIUS, by C. Michael Mellor, copyright 2007.  To pay a small tribute to Louis Braille, I share with you the following new poem.

* * *

Waltzing with Braille

By Alice Jane-Marie Massa

Unlike a ballerina,

I am not tiptoeing over the braille dots:

I use the pads of my fingers, not the tips.

Although I first did hesitant, measured movement over the braille dots,

I am now waltzing over the delightful dots.

Dot six, then dot one, followed by dots one, two, three.

In the middle cell are dots two and four–

but There’s more–dots one and four, then dots one and five.

Yes, within these magical dots,

invented by the fifteen-year-old Louis Braille,

I found myself by finding a new method

of reading and writing:

once again, letter, words, sentences, stories

came to me–not through my too tender eyes,

but through the heart in my hands.

Alas, I was no longer a wallflower at the Word Ball,

I was waltzing with braille

and cheering for the literacy

which braille promises on any dance card.

As I read

LOUIS BRAILLE:  A TOUCH OF GENIUS,

by C. Michael Mellor,

I want to hear the wheels of the stagecoach

in which Louis’ father took the young boy

from their home in Coupvray

to Paris, France, for his education.

while I read these words of dots,

I want to hear the music

that Louis played on the piano in the parlor

or played on the pipe organ at Notre Dame de Chartres.

Before I close this braille volume,

I will remember and give thanks

to the hands and mind,

the strong and determined heart

that invented these precious raised dots

so that children and adults who are blind

may read and write,

read and write in the remarkable code

of Louis Braille’s raised dots.

On this anniversary of his birth–

January 4, 1809–

let us raise a glass of great gratitude

to the gift of Louis Braille.

Cheers!

* * *

NOTE:  The series of dots in this poem spell the word “Alice.”  For more information about the braille alphabet, please return to WORDWALK next week as the celebration of Braille Literacy Month continues.

God bless America, and New Year’s blessings to all of my WORDWALK readers!

Alice and Leader Dog Willow

January 7, 2021, Thursday

Advertisement