Bearing Blindness

By NANCY JASPER

RIPR – The renowned seventeenth-century British poet John Milton began to lose his sight in his early 30's. Milton opened his poem entitled On Blindness with these words: "When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days in this dark world . . . ." Milton spent considerable time reflecting on his blindness and also wrote these poignant words: "To be blind is not miserable; not to be able to bear blindness, that is miserable." Nancy Jasper shares her own poetic reflections on this remarkable challenge.

Nancy Jasper, a graduate of the Rhode Island College School of Social Work, is a clinical social worker at Child and Family, a comprehensive social service agency in Middletown.