why to do?

internal validation?

I have gifts that I like to use,

that I like to share:

I am a teacher because I can see a student

and help that student see self more truly

than self-doubt wants to allow,

as I studied to be a teacher,

I wrote that the teacher’s work is 

to make him/her self dispensable,

like an enzyme in a reaction,

important, but more catalyst than participant,

I work to resist that part of me

that wants to be seen, to be noticed, to be appreciated,

for my joy should be vicarious, and not personal,

my words are like that, too,

I can write of seeing another, impressively,

of seeing experience, the moment, with power,

I work to resist needing to know

when my words work for another,

of finding my own worth as tallies of numbers,

sometimes of those who have followed my poetry blog,

of finding my self-worth in those 

who have clicked and posted a comment,

I am still working to do, because it’s right,

a rightness I know intrinsically,

I should not need others to confirm my path.

by Henry H. Walker

December 7, ’17