a quandary for the teacher

who is at the switch?

if only what I think I’m saying

would be just what you are hearing,

if only what I seek to teach,

would be just what works for you to learn,

it pains me to fear

that it is the quality of what I give that is the problem,

and not the other’s inability to receive,

how much does the horse by the water

bear responsibility for not drinking?

or, expressed in another way,

when the light won’t go on, I always fear

that I am the one at the switch. 

by Henry H. Walker

November 26, ’14