Sunday, January 27, 2019

CFS, heads, and calling




rightness, wholeness, calling

a school dares the attempt,
dares to listen, again and again,
to whatever speaks from the still center within,
that somehow can also seek to speak as earlier voices,
all of which seek to express 
the drive for rightness, for wholeness,
inherent within the universe,
and too often blocked, stymied,

the school creates a philosophy
and strives to structure what goes on in and out of classrooms
as working drafts re-envisioned 
as student and philosophy express themselves:

truth is continually revealed,
each of us is unique,
we can come together in community,
spirit infuses us and all life,
each of us can come into our own power,
and change the world, for the better,

today I am gifted with an hour
of the heart, of the mind, of the soul,
of four heads of Carolina Friends School,
speaking with each other of experience and value,



















the turbulence and joy of being at the center,
while realizing that each student, that each staff member,
is also the center of the school, of the universe,
that one’s job of being head of school,
at its best, is of helping hold us
to the calling of the philosophy, of the Spirit,
that “the least of these” is central to the good of the whole,

I love the laughs,
I love the stories,
I love how well each has heard, 
and still hears, the calling,
the calling to find the way
so that rightness, so that wholeness, works its way forward,
that each moment can be of celebration of student and community,
finding the power that should be the birthright of all,

a school still dares the attempt,
how wonderful it is to touch the power within the heads of school,
as each feels their feet of clay and reaches to grasp the stars.



by Henry H. Walker
January 26, ‘19

1 comment:

Don said...

My dear Henry,

Your being and your writing is such a gift to us all. Thank you for this and thank you for orchestrating these interviews. They are, in essence, fun and such a delight to reconnect with other dear people. Thanks to YOU!

Love,

Don