what graduation can mean

graduation: within, before, after


the seniors mill around,
finding their friends,
readying their appearance,



each almost giddy with excitement--
pride at what they’ve accomplished,
keyed-up in anticipation of all the forks of possibility before them,


they’re at the rim of the nest
ready to leap and fly, because they’re “there”,












and also not ready at all, because they’re also not “there,”
for each can see, more clearly now than ever,
where they’ve been
and how sure it is that there is reality to their leaving the old reality,
that old reality often comforting and sure,
for another reality, where they can expect to soar,
yet, of course, each can also expect another possibility
and they can fear a fall,

a baby is born
and it knows nothing of what to expect
while we can be almost delirious








in imagining the possibilities that she will fulfill,
that he will realize,

I love to visit the early school
and see the person start releasing the self,







and the love and care of the teachers
as guides to that release
as self expands in power and definition,


I love to visit the lower school
and see the traits & skills & realities





of the young ones coming more and more steps fully into their own,

I love to teach in the middle school
and to honor every step into sureness,







every release of the best within,
every appreciation of the best without,



I love to watch the dance, to hear the music,







to watch the performance,
to sit in on a class,
and appreciate the upper school


where the potential
of the infant,
the preschooler,
the child,
the young adolescent,
blossoms into a reality that can be awesome,
and scary,

at graduation I love to look at the graduates,
all ready to leap,
and I hope they can remember
where they’ve been, where they hope to go,
and how to live the moment full,




how to get themselves,
how to get the other,


and how to make their world as extraordinary
as each of them can be and become.

by Henry Walker
June 7, ‘09