Reading Time by David Wilson

A large tree in the middle of green woodland. Large white text reads: Reading Time. Smaller text reads: Discussing disabled characters in fairy tales and folklore.

28 bowed heads before me
Eager eyes scanning across pages
Confidently drinking in the text
Or slowly deciphering word by word
Each page a labour and a triumph
 
Two whose fingers dance
Across rows of raised dots
Finding meaning in a different code
As fading eyes give way
 
20 minutes of silent reading
Tales of adventure, love or sorrow
Heroes in fiction or in fact
Brought to life through ink or Braille
Living for a time in youthful minds
 
This short time to enrich the mind
In the bounty of the written word
To be immersed in imagined lives
Or carried in the ebb and flow
Of poetic voice
 
These are moments to savour

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About the author: 
Though he was born in Nigeria and brought up in Botswana, David Babatunde Wilson has lived in North Yorkshire for the last 32 years. He divides his time between his jobs as a Dad, household cook, taxi driver to his daughters, writing poetry and, despite his own disabilities, working as a Special Needs teacher.