This Incredible Poem Written By A Boy With Autism Will Move You To Tears

Benjamin Giroux/Facebook

Here’s a story sure to make you smile—and also possibly make you cry.

Benjamin Giroux, a 10-year-old boy from Plattsburgh, New York, has Asperger’s syndrome—a form of autism. He was recently given a school assignment where he was asked to write a poem titled “I Am.”

He was given the first two words in every sentence. From there, the rest of the poem was up to him.

“When we ask him how his day went when he gets home from school, we don’t get much more than a one-word answer,” Sonny Giroux, Benjamin’s father, told TODAY.

But while he might not be one to express much emotion, Benjamin was excited for his latest assignment. He sat at the kitchen table and didn’t look up until he was finished.

benjamingiroux
Benjamin Giroux/Facebook

“I am odd, I am new. I pretend that you are too,” the poem reads. “I feel like a boy in outerspace. I touch the stars and feel out of place.”

When he showed the poem to his parents, they were of course overcome with emotion.

“At first, we felt sad and hurt that he feels isolated, alone, misunderstood and odd at school,” Giroux said. “As the poem went on, we realized that he understands that he’s odd and that so is everyone else in their own way, which is what Ben wants everyone to embrace.”

The full poem is below:

I am odd, I am new
I wonder if you are too
I hear voices in the air
I see you don’t, and that’s not fair
I want to not feel blue
I am odd, I am new
I pretend that you are too
I feel like a boy in outerspace
I touch the stars and feel out of place
I worry what others might think
I cry when people laugh, it makes me shrink
I am odd, I am new
I understand now that so are you
I say I, “feel like a castaway”
I dream of a day that that’s okay
I try to fit in
I hope that someday I do
I am odd, I am new.

The poem has since been shared nearly 37,000 times on Facebook and has nearly 50,000 reactions after being posted on the National Autism’s Facebook page.

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About the Author
Kaitlin Gates
Kaitlin is a freelance multimedia journalist with a degree in journalism and psychology. Along with Simplemost, she also writes for Don't Waste Your Money, where she loves finding great deals to help people save money.

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