Tuesday, April 12, 2011

SETTING LAMPS OUT


"Two Turq Lamps", watercolor, by Gretchen Kelly
On some days the belief that he is a bad teacher
or that his students can be unsuccessful
slides away like clouds fall off to the west.
Then he sees again that his thoughts are lights
that always lead the way,
and that his students’ thoughts are also lights --
little ones as wonderful as his.
He sees that light is all that lives in his classroom,
and that ignorance always gets up and leaves
when he and his students set their lamps out
at the start of every English class.