to be there for the student

 

why I am not yet retiring

why not retire?

I still see the students,

and I can still know them well enough

to grasp at the reality of the effort they live,

of the goodness within their hearts,

of the power within their minds

that doesn’t want to wait to work

to find the keys that unlock that which is hidden,

I still feel for the battles each fights

in their own way, on their own terms,

and often hidden from the rest of us,

as an educator, I still feel that the tools I can wield

still work well to help me see the students 

and know them well enough

so that I can be there for them on their journeys,

when I don’t have eye and heart and soul, and energy enough,

I can retire, for then I will lack what I need to keep it up,

I love to help them move forward with their lives,

not with sureness of result,

but with sureness that they see the paths before them

and believe enough to boldly go forth.

by Henry H. Walker

June 13, ‘21