A Few Seconds Longer

By Jim Abbott

It might take me a few seconds longer
To say what I have to say.
It's not by choice, it wasn't my choice.
It just seemed to work out that way.
You see I just happen to stutter a bit.
Some days are better, some worse.
Some days my speech flows easy and free.
Some days it just seems cursed.

Times when you see me struggle,
Look in my eye's.
Don't turn away.
It's just that certain words, certain sounds
Are a little bit harder too say

Please don't finish my sentences.
Please don't say words for me
Just give me a few seconds longer
To say what I have to say.

Sometimes listening to me stutter can be difficult
There's no doubt, 100%, I agree.
But as hard as it is to listen to
Imagine what it must feel like for me.

I could never expect you to understand
The extent of a stutterer's pain
But imagine how it would make you feel
To be unable to say your own name.

How could you know the feeling we get
To have to order a meal we don't want to avoid embarrassment
Picking out something not too difficult to say
Of course it makes us angry, but it's easier this way.

Talking on the phone, for you
Is a very simple thing
You know nothing of the fear we feel
Everytime we hear it ring

These are things that people who stutter
Must face up to every day.
And yet we manage somehow
To make it thru okay.
Now I'm not asking for your pity.
Spare me your sympathy.
Just allow me a few seconds longer
And I'LL say what I have to say.