Poem: ‘Identity’ by Martyn Brown

IDENTITY

For far too long
I took the coward’s way
The sheep that never strayed
From the safety of sameness

Anonymous
Comforted by shadows
Evading detection
Making my presence unheard

Stubbornly proud
To suffer in silence
No voice to call my own
Confidence ebbing away

Buried the truth
Less chance of rejection
An air of mystery
Much easier to convey

Armour intact
No weakness on parade
Better to play the fool
Than announce myself as me

Smoke and mirrors
Educated guesswork
Nods and random answers
Communication roulette

Human nature
So hard to intercept
Takes a magician’s touch
To conjure words from thin air

Another world
Brought realisation
That I am not alone
Many more have trod this path

Recognition
Amongst fellow strangers
Common understanding
A feeling of coming home

Identity
My face finally fits
A future to relish
Ghosts of the past laid to rest

Martyn Brown is a deaf grandad in a hearing family. He regularly regularly speaks for NDCS and (from 2017) Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. He relies on digital aids, lip reading and is a black belt in the Deaf Nod.

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