you don't need to stop

you don't need to stop

i who am so good with words
fail at giving you words
you don't need words,
sitting there on the floor.
all you need is your smile
and your hands.
your joy is obvious as they "flap."
you don't need to stop.
you don't need to stop.
it's who you are.
when you babble and shake your head
(in character, the only word in my language you know
is no.)
and sit, unwilling, unmoving,
you make your point.
words don't make points like that.
you don't need to stop.
you don't need to stop.
it's who you are.
you don't have a disease.
you aren't disabled.
you don't need to stop.
you don't need to stop.
it's who you are.
i expect from you what i expect from everyone.
and that's what's fair.
you are as capable as you can be.
you don't need to stop.
you don't need to stop.

(This is for my girl Danielle. She has Down's Syndrome and is on the autistic specturm. That's who she is. She is no less normal than I am. I love her for her sudden need to run and shake across the room. I love her for her crazy laughter on the ground in the student center at BYU. I love her for who she is. We are all strange and different and weird. Imagine how bizarre our talking and touching and hugging seems to her. She is beautiful.)