A schoolgirl’s touching poem about being dyslexic is going viral.
In it, the writer speaks about how she will never succeed – but reading the lines in reverse, its message is quite different.
The poem, entitled Dyslexia, begins;
“I am stupid/ Nobody would ever say/ I have a talent for words.
“I was meant to be great/ That is wrong/ I am a failure
“Nobody could ever convince me to think that/ I can make it in life.”
The poem was written by a ten-year-old pupil at a school in Hertfordshire in the UK.
Teacher Jane Broadis shared it on Twitter this week, saying it had “stunned” her.
Today in Y6 we looked at poems that could be read forwards & backwards. I was stunned by this one written by one of my 10 year olds. Please share – I would love her work to be appreciated further afield. I wonder if it could even find a publisher? pic.twitter.com/tmEQpiRrhq
— Jane Broadis (@Jb5Jane) February 27, 2019
Jane had been teaching her class about poems that could be read backwards as well as forwards.
“I was absolutely stunned when this tiny and humble 10-year-old showed me the poem,” she told Pretty52.
“I can’t believe she wrote something so beautiful and powerful in such a short space of time – she wrote it during her one and-a-quarter hour lunch break.”
The tweet has been liked over 150,000 times on Twitter in just two days.
It has struck a particular chord with others who suffer with dyslexia.
I am dyslexic, I learn differently, I find some of the things my brain comes up with hilarious. This young students poem is wonderful. Well done. Dyslexia doesn’t stop you doing anything. You just have to find a way around the obsticle. Side step it.
— Jen (@jennywhitwot) February 27, 2019
Thanks. My second grade teacher threw a paper in my face and asked if I was stupid. My parents got me dyslexia training through the Shriners. Result: 2 college degrees and a 40 year career as a journalist/writer.
— rgratcliffe (@rgratcliffe) February 27, 2019
Thank u for sharing my D’ter is dyslexic and it took me months and months to get anyone to acknowledge there was a problem. I wish she had u as a teacher
— Suhi (@Suhi43969762) February 27, 2019