to rise toward fullness

Carolina Friends School

as the 1960’s struggled,
great currents pulled it
back toward the way it had been
and forward toward the way it could be,
skin color and gender tossed about
with no clear channel just forward,
war pulled the current its way,
and some called to us to hold to a course
that the best within our hearts saw,

in that time the piedmont of North Carolina birthed a vision,
midwifed by Quakers who opened themselves
to witness truth continually revealing itself,
and they chose to act upon the hope they saw,

a school births itself with little money
and yet with the enabling power of knowing
both what should not be and what can be,

always child-centered, beginning with the youngest,
and adding on as the students added years on to themselves,
like an artist comparing the canvas to the scene before,
we have always strived to make sure anything we do
fits the shape of the child,
while we appreciate whatever is empty,
we believe in the power of the self
to fill toward wholeness,

student after student, teacher after teacher,
have passed through our rooms, within our faith and our love,
and many’s the time when each has learned how
to open more surely the gift of themselves,

like in the 60’s, great currents struggle within every person,
and I love the challenge to which Carolina Friends School must rise:
to see the best that can be
and to help each within its charge
rise toward fullness.












by Henry H. Walker
February 22, ’12