And You…

Veracity

Truth it is an elusive thing
Dangerous for some
As Julian Assange was pilloried for telling it
But when masked
It shapes the destiny of rogues
Are you listening?
You hypocrites who make a living
Or gain power from falsehoods
The reality of your scheming is more and more evident
To an ever increasing number of thinking observers
So take care when you go to war
To sell the weapons you make
Cease your lies that get you elected
And destroy the careers of your political rivals
Hey
You corporate dealers
Who rule our lives from backrooms
And lobby lucratively
We are onto you
So your days are numbered
By the real observers who describe reality
This above all
A new day is dawning as the doors of education open
Wisdom is beckoning us
From the stage of learning in schools and universities
Performance there will number your days
Reveal your chicanery
Students of every age
Inevitably are becoming aware of things
A real world is blooming
No
It is aflame
A beacon at the end of a tunnel of infinite darkness

Deep Affection

Don’t be afraid of love
It won’t hurt you
It may even save you from disaster
Stand by you in times of stress
Give you hope when things have turned against you
Be a reason for living
When life has turned sour
Trust me
When age has crept up on you
And time ruthlessly makes you decrepit
If you have loved someone sometime
That memory will ease your pain
Become a beautiful rose in your garden of despair
So take the chance
Dare to give all that you are in tribute to someone else
Share yourself
Be unafraid
Willing to risk the ignominy of unrequitedness
And become a lover
A true friend
A companion amidst hostile forces of darkness
Yes, give yourself to that cause
And notice what changes
Devotion has many forms
It may be a friendly ear to share another’s sadness
A forgiveness at a time of guilt and regret
Or parental understanding when things go wrong
And the greatest joy
That brings you peace
Amidst the chaos of life’s morbidity
When other dreams have fallen apart
Will be love returned

The Road Taken

Once long ago
I came to a junction of two roads
Equally attractive they were to me
But with directions unspecified
As signposts were missing
Time was not my friend
It was rapidly passing and I had to choose
So I chose this one
And on it I have stayed for all my days
Sometimes it has led me into trouble
Antipathy and questioned virtue
While my progress was hindered by self doubt
Yet I kept on with my journey
For that is the way I tend to deal with things
Other times have been different
Quite often in fact
I have encountered new vistas of awareness
Learnt by observation as I passed by
With a touch of new self-respect
Further still along this path
The road taken
On which I have stayed resolutely despite the scenic change
I have come upon one final encompassing joy
It is a body of listeners
Who share many moments with me responsively
Who question me when understanding lapses
Remarkably at the same time
Helping me gain a better understanding of my own world
And, dare I say it, of myself
That is where I am at this stage of my journey
My voyage of discovery still
To my chosen destination, for I am a teacher

Pills To Cure My Ills

Here I am, old and infirm
Weak and frail and disabled
But I have the ultimate cure
They’re the pills I have recently tabled
There’s one for my moods
When pain intrudes
And one for my aching knees
Blood pressure too is well catered for
Plus a nose spray when I sneeze
My eye sight is weak which makes me seek
A capsule to fix my vision
It costs so much it makes me pay
My chemist with some derision
My feet are sore with pain galore
But I have a costly pastille
It works so well if you fired a gun
I would almost storm the Bastille
My stomach is wild and I tend to belch
Whenever I take a meal
The tablet for this is a hit or miss
It’s just a placebo I feel
There’s one more grief I have to endure
And that is a runny nose
The tablet for this has little effect
Yet that’s where the money goes
Each day for me, as you can see,
Is nothing but a ritual
I’ve learnt to take each caplet I buy
In a manner purely habitual
But there is a pain I must endure
For which all hope is lost
It’s an endless incurable ailment
For my pills the bloody cost

Education

To our first nation

When you educate
Do you lead out along an approved, predetermined pathway
Or do you nourish and let the learner decide
On the destination?
For that first pathway, the derivation is educere
For the second, educare
An important decision this for teachers
Are events to be selected in a prescribed pattern
Or is the learning experience aimed solely at discovery
An enrichment uncontaminated by censorship?
Do you wash the brains for a chosen goal
Or do you nourish unrestrainedly
And wait for a crucial something to happen
In the minds of each fledgling?
Is learning open or selectively controlled?

We must portray a cheerful history
Said a powerful, influential guru
No black armbands belong in our schools
Reality begone
But the facts came inevitably to haunt him
An indigenous voice
Sang a song of sadness that echoed in the hallways
And down the ages as an inevitable consequence
So that the reality of life was discovered
Amidst a learning garden free of dioxin
The tragedy of a treatment was revealed
And another guru said he was sorry

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