Empty Doorways...

Because we're nearly at the end of the semester and because we ARE at the end of April, another poem I wrote this week.  It was an answer, in many ways, to a poem that a student wrote.  All of my teacher-friends will understand this poem keenly....

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Empty Doorways

    For Tami


 
Many are just students - good, bad, strong, struggling.

But some of them are thinkers and dreamers, thirsty.

Drinking in all we can give, and seeking answers alone

If we can't give them what they need.


 
They are often tired and overloaded, stressed and nervous,

Beyond that, they have walked many varied roads to get here.

Each shares a passion for knowledge, wisdom, and skills

Often just for the sake of having them.


 
And, oh do they challenge us and push us, make demands on us

They question what we say, seeking clarity for the smallest confusions

Yearning to succeed in everything, they take up all our time

They seem relentless in their dedication.


 
And then one day, after a flurry of chaotic energy, they are gone

Like so many others, they are moving through and onward

Their time with us has ended, leaving our doorways standing empty

They seek greener pastures, different lives.


 
And when our new rosters come and we begin the cycle anew,

We look for others like them, though it won't be quite the same,

Because we know that for all their questions and all their fears

They made us better than we were.