This is one of the poems from Reaching the Stars:<\/p>\n
Anne Sullivan Teacher to Helen Keller<\/strong><\/p>\n * Helen Keller lost both her sight and hearing as a baby. She became very frustrated as a child until her family employed Anne Sullivan, who cleverly found ways to help communicate with her and help her communicate. Anne was Helen’s teacher and companion until she died – by then, she had enabled Helen to get to college, learn to type, speak, get married, tackle issues such as women’s suffrage, and even write a book.<\/p>\n .<\/span><\/p>\n I started with the word for ‘doll’,<\/p>\n finger spelling on her hand.<\/p>\n This child could neither hear, nor see –<\/p>\n how could I help her understand?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To fill the space for song and bird,<\/p>\n all that sound and light explain;<\/p>\n out of reach did not exist<\/p>\n and dark and silence had no name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Until I spelled into her hand<\/p>\n under a pump – though deaf and blind,<\/p>\n the word for water and the water<\/p>\n flowed together in her mind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That living word grew in her hands,<\/p>\n gave her ways to hear and see,<\/p>\n let in hope and joy and love<\/p>\n with words that set her free.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a9 Liz Brownlee<\/p>\n