Patricia Andreo Vila from Spain has shared a poem by her late sister, the blind writer Pilar Baumeister (née Andreo). Born without sight, Pilar first mastered Braille in the 1950s, when the tactile script was one of the few means of education and communication available to blind people. She later authored poetry, short stories and essays in both German and Spanish, giving public readings and lectures straight from her Braille notes. Her poem “Louis Braille among us” voices her deep gratitude for the system that unlocked language, literature and creativity for her.
Thank you, Patricia, for sharing the legacy and memories of your sister with all of us.
Luis Braille among us
Justitia
A house with large windows
Holding much light and much air:
These six mysterious dots
That helped us become of age,
Get mature, dynamic,
Capable of learning more and more.
Rescued from illiteracy, our hands
caress the exciting pages,
Thoughtful, tireless
Whilst others sleep.
We do not rely on electricity, candles or daylight.
We are adventurers,
We read,
We travel in the dark
Without torches,
And not with our eyes, but with our fingertips.
Only thus can you touch thoughts on paper
With such a degree of intimacy.
Impressed,
The sighted watch us read,
The movement of our hands,
The six dots they cannot make out:
The incredible miracle of reading at any time
Without sight or external visual aid.
About the experience of writing with those fantastic dots in relief
So mythical, and yet, so real,
I can tell you even more
Than about the experience of reading.
If only speech had been available to us,
Our words, without the mental exercise of writing,
Would have remained poor,
Wild, confused,
clumsy, malformed.
Thanks to the wonders of technology,
The Braille line on the computer
Transforms the language of the sighted
Into the language familiar to us:
The six dots of intellect and love
are there
And enable us to survive.
Spanish original Version
lustitia:
Louis Braille vive todavía
Una casa con grandes ventanales, donde se hospedan mucha luz y mucho aire…
Estos seis puntos misteriosos que nos hicieron mayores de edad, maduros, dinámicos,
capaces de aprender siempre más.
Liberadas del analfabetismo nuestras manos acarician pensativamente las excitantes páginas,
sin fatiga, incluso mientras los otros duermen; somos independientes de la electricidad, de las
velas y de la claridad del día. Somos aventureros, leemos,
viajamos a oscuras sin pilas ni linternas
y no con los ojos, con las puntas de los dedos. Sólo así se puede tocar el papel los pensamientos
con una tal profunda intimidad.
Los videntes observan impresionados
nuestra lectura, el movimiento de nuestras manos,
los seis puntos que no saben descifrar:
este crónico milagro en nosotros de poder leer
a todas horas sin vista,
sin ayudas exteriores visuales.
Y sobre esta fantástica escritura con esas letras míticas en relieve, que sin embargo son tan
reales,
aún podría decir más que sobre la lectura. Tan sólo nos hubiera sido accesible el habla pero sin el
ejercicio meditativo de escribir
se hubiesen quedado nuestras pobres palabras Como medio animales,
perdidas, torpes, mal formadas.
También la línea Braille en el ordenador transforma
la escritura de los videntes en la nuestra familiar
gracias a los prodigios de la técnica. Los seis puntos del intelecto
y el amor están allí. para que podamos sobrevivir.
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