Poem 8 is one of many beautiful works by Tito Mukhopadhyay, a severely autistic nonverbal boy from India whose mother taught to read, write, and communicate. Tito is now author of several books and collections of poetry including Behind the Silence: My Life, the World and Autism, The Mind Tree, The Gold of the Sunbeams: And Other Stories, and How Can I Talk If My Lips Don't Move: Inside My Autistic Mind. I learned of Tito from the book titled Strange Son by Portia Iverson. This is just one of his many amazingly deep, heartfelt poems, with the most intellectual use of words and understanding of emotion that I can only hope is possible to be learned by all autistic and typically developing children alike (and everyone in between).
Poem 8
In a place called Somewhere there lived happiness
Somewhere was a place of Paradise
But one day from Nowhere
Came Sorrow from the place called Nowhere
Happiness asked Sorrow to leave
The place called Somewhere
Sorrow went back to Nowhere
And then occupied the hearts of people
Who are kind and compassionate
As they never refused anybody a place to stay
So if you feel the pain
Which a person who has lost his mind bears
If your heart aches when you see a tear in someone's eyes
If you are ready to accept such a person and help him
You can be sure
You have sheltered Sorrow in your heart
Somewhere was a place of Paradise
But one day from Nowhere
Came Sorrow from the place called Nowhere
Happiness asked Sorrow to leave
The place called Somewhere
Sorrow went back to Nowhere
And then occupied the hearts of people
Who are kind and compassionate
As they never refused anybody a place to stay
So if you feel the pain
Which a person who has lost his mind bears
If your heart aches when you see a tear in someone's eyes
If you are ready to accept such a person and help him
You can be sure
You have sheltered Sorrow in your heart
