Two Men on a Bench

"Tell me what you see," said the blind man to the deaf man, but the latter did not respond. The blind man heard a moan from his neighbor and thought to himself, "He must be blind, like me."

The deaf man was watching the lips of his comrade, falling in the unshapely grimaces of a man who has never looked in a mirror and watched himself speak.

"What do I look like when I speak?" asked the deaf man of the blind man, gesturing with his hands in the only language he could formulate, but this latter did not respond. He continued to stare straight ahead, as though deep in thought. The deaf man sighed audibly at this lack of response, although he couldn't hear the breath between his lips.

What misfortune, thought the blind man, listening to his neighbor's breathing. Two blind men on a bench with nothing to say to one another.

He reached out and took his neighbor's hand.