Saturday, October 12, 2013

the tablet of the self



tabula rasa

I am in wonder
as each person
learns to write upon the tablet of the self,

at how, by middle school,
much of structure is already there:
formatted, ready to move forward
with more and more elaborate
exposés of thought and feeling,
of responsiveness and will,

my wife teaches 6 and 7 year olds
who have more of a blank slate before them
than do my students,
as in any journey, those first steps presage success, or not,
and a young person who starts the journey well
can more easily handle the challenge of the age
when I companion in the journey
than those with glitches in hardware and software,

I feel awe when I imagine the effort of each step before
that has helped the students in front of me
ready themselves to write true upon each tablet of the self.

by Henry H. Walker
October 2, ’13

3 comments:

Eddie Jeffries said...

We were so fortunate in having wonderful teachers like our mothers who were really able to teach and really cared about us. Too bad my typing teacher was not more successful!!

Mountain Class said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mountain Class said...

Thanks so much, Henry, for always supporting those who impact children before and after you. I'm grateful that we can send them on to you with happy hearts knowing what's to come.
Love,
Lisa