Sunday, June 17, 2012

the crucible of middle school


who we are   

years come and go, decades, too,
and I still know the kid
behind the eyes of the adult before me,

as words tumble from them
of classes they took,
experiences they loved,
insights about themselves and the world
that seemed to have slapped them in the face
to wake them out of lethargy into wonder,
to pull them out of loneliness into friendship,
I hear the wonder that creation could come from within them,
that the difference in a hawk  and a turkey vulture
could clearly reveal itself and is worth noticing,
that doors to learning and to other people
can be open and real,

one former student declared
 that she can’t call up as much from college
as she can from middle school,

what is forged can cut mighty swaths in one’s life,
yet what many remember today is the crucible
where much of who they are coalesced into being,

at my best I am but a catalyst,
an enabler of a process
that is as close to God acting upon the world
as I can imagine.

by Henry H. Walker
June 16, ’12

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