They are, in a very real sense, getting a glimpse
into how God views us. From 1 Samuel 16:7 we get this gem on God’s choosing of David to be
King over others who were viewed by the prophet Samuel as being acceptable to be king of Israel.
“But
the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height,
for I have rejected him. The
LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward
appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
I used Thomas’s ‘Dancing
Satsuma Peel’ in my poem for ‘D’ (Dear Addict) for the April A-Z Challenge to
describe a punch to the midriff, not knowing it was, in fact Thomas's work. However, this is a much better story.
Emma, Thomas’s mother and my
darling niece-in-law (if there is such a thing.
I think of her simply as my niece) wrote the following message on my
Facebook page:
“Thomas's dancing Satsuma peel. I would be honoured to just share the thoughts
of an autistic child for just one day. They look at the world as the world is. It's raining cats and dogs, while we
"get" that it means it's raining really hard. Why don't we just say that? That freaks an autistic person out, but if it
DID really rain cats and dogs it would totally freak us all out! I think that
they are more in tune with life and it's us that have a skewed outlook that
sadly makes us "normal". Think
outside the box, as autism parents we have to do this every day. It's a pleasure to do so.”
So, here it is; a special
poem for Emma, Kyle, Amelia and most particularly for my precious nephew, Thomas...
Satsuma Man
When you look at me
 |
| Thomas's Dancing Satsuma Peel |
What do you see?
Do you know what I am?
No, I’m not eggs and ham
I can see it for real
It’s the torn off peel
You say as you widely grin
From an orange or mandarin
No, No, No
Look low
Say I
And then again look high
Look left
Past the crevice and cleft
Look right
For a wonderful sight
Keep moving your eyes
Watch it fall and then rise
Soon you’ll say, ‘Why, Yes I can’
It’s the Dancing Satsuma Man
It’s the Dancing Satsuma Man
Dancing as only he can
Arms and legs open wide
His head thrown back in pride
What a moment, what fun
See him dance; see him run
It’s the little peel man
The Dancing Satsuma Man
The Dancing Satsuma Man
Lovely, makes me want to throw my head back and dance without a care in the world <3
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful and touching poem. The dancing peel is adorable, I don't know if I'll ever look at an orange peel again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by the Untethered Realms A-Z today. Enjoy your weekend!
Ugh, meant to say look at an orange peel the same way again! I think I might already be suffering from A to Z fatigue LOL.
ReplyDeleteThe Dancing Satsuma Man... that sounds like it needs to be a story.
ReplyDelete:) That is a brilliant idea and I know exactly how I should do it.
DeleteThanks so much, Andrew.
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute Stasuma Man! I am also doing the A to Z Challenge and focusing on picture books because I am a children's picture book author. Good luck with the challenge!
Take care,
Donna L Martin
www.donnalmartin.com
What a wonderful poem! Orange peels will always dance in my eyes now too. :)
ReplyDeleteI read the poem to Thomas and he proudly said "I made that man". A little later he said "that is a really good poem mum, I liked it" <3
ReplyDeleteAwww. choking up here. Darling little man. After the A-Z Challenge, I'll chat to you about an idea, instigated by my friend, Andrew Leon. :)
DeleteReturning your visit to my blog from the A to Z challenge. I have a special needs' son, so I know so well the way that they look at life and how they do not understand language that is not literal. He appears to all to be high-functioning autistic, but the one thing that disqualifies him from the spectrum is that he can recognize (not all the time) other people's emotions. So, they lean towards a bi-polar diagnosis. I think he's somewhere in the middle. Thank you for this awesome poem. Billy would totally love this.
ReplyDelete