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Portrait of the Artist as a Lone Tree

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Alton Towers

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You look as happy as a millionaire,
with streaks of choc'late through your cute blonde hair.
You show no troubles as we drive away -
we're always back again another day.
This great big playground makes a happy home,
a place for little boys to freely roam;
here we can put aside the painful past,
and yet I wait to hear your words at last:
they say 'autistic'; but I say 'my son',
the one I think of when the day is done.
So when my life seems like a hopeless case,
I long to take you to your favourite place.
You stare intently, and your thoughts are heard;
you say 'I love you', but you have no words.

(Alton Towers is Britain's largest amusement park. For some autistic people, to look into the eyes of another person can be physically painful. To do so was all that this mute little boy could do to express his love - it was an act of pure sacrifice for him to do so.)

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