Post by Mindy Kinney on Aug 6, 2009 3:12:56 GMT -5
This poem is dedicated to Robert, Bob White, 12th grade English teacher at Randolph Central School in Randolph New York. He passed away suddenly of a heart attack the day before Christmas vacation 2000. He was the last person I saw the day before. I went to turn in a paper I had been given an extra period to finish (happened to be on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, although he hadn't read the books, something I was working to change). I had been to his house and was friends (not the closest but close enough) with his daughter, a year older than me.
A man who's always
Ready to help
Whether tutoring
Those incaple
Of coming to learn
Or allowing those struggling
To have a chance
to try again
Never unwilling
To assist
In proofreading essays and term papers
For another's class
The first to laugh
At a good joke
Or even a bad one
And always ready with a smile
One of those people
Whose faces
At the slightest
Moment of enjoyment
Light up like
a little child's
When a wish is granted
Diving more joy
to those around them
Than they feel themselves
Always ready
To take a jest in fun
And sent one right back
A sense of humor
So sarcastic
Almost anything's funny
To him
A pretender
Always picking on friends
Or getting picked back
Always willing to chat
To listen to others
Even if he didn't care
Always there for others
Striving to improve
The few lives
He could influence
Attempting in some way
To make the world
Better
Through them
English may have been his subject
But his
And most other teachers'
Impact on the world
May never be known
Ready to help
Whether tutoring
Those incaple
Of coming to learn
Or allowing those struggling
To have a chance
to try again
Never unwilling
To assist
In proofreading essays and term papers
For another's class
The first to laugh
At a good joke
Or even a bad one
And always ready with a smile
One of those people
Whose faces
At the slightest
Moment of enjoyment
Light up like
a little child's
When a wish is granted
Diving more joy
to those around them
Than they feel themselves
Always ready
To take a jest in fun
And sent one right back
A sense of humor
So sarcastic
Almost anything's funny
To him
A pretender
Always picking on friends
Or getting picked back
Always willing to chat
To listen to others
Even if he didn't care
Always there for others
Striving to improve
The few lives
He could influence
Attempting in some way
To make the world
Better
Through them
English may have been his subject
But his
And most other teachers'
Impact on the world
May never be known