For Our Students
by Anna Clark- Martin, TN —
For Our Students
I celebrate you, each of you.
I sing of you, each of you.
Like Walt Whitman I sing and celebrate.
I see the sun around you, all morning-brightness,
all evening-glory.
I hear the wind move near you, restless power
and possibility,
blowing secrets and elusive sounds
among moonlit branches.
The moon shines for you, and you like poets
walk moonlit paths together.
The stars were placed just for you.
You stand on the edge of the universe
and count them,
finding patterns, finding pleasure in the counting,
one by millions.
Here.
Now.
Back you come into classrooms
Star counters
Star children
Star dust . . .
Shapers of the landscape
Shapers of the future
Writers,
Thinkers,
Artists,
Friends,
Individuals—
empowered by each other and the sun
and the wind and the night and the stars.
By Anna Clark, Instructor, English Department, UT-Martin