POEM: To Be a Teacher

TO BE A TEACHER

To be a teacher,
you must stand directly
in the fires of the present moment.
You must hold up your sincerity
like a signal light.
Your music must be swing
and smooth jazz
and the lonesome blues.
You must make the mountains
a struggle to climb.
Your heart must be the lake
that lets in every river and stream.
Your thoughts must be like
spears or flashlights or nets
or shovels or clubs
or stars rising in the darkness.
Your lessons must have wings.
You must speak the words
of both frost and summer,
as well as those that unfasten hearts.
You must test the tightrope
each day.