Subject to Change
A reflection on my students
They are so beautiful, and so very young
They seem almost to glitter with perfection,
These creatures that I briefly move among.
I never get to stay with them for long,
But even so, I view them with affection:
They are so beautiful, and so very young.
Poised or clumsy, placid or high-strung,
They’re expert in the art of introspection,
These creatures that I briefly move among-
And if their words don’t quite trip off the tongue
Consistently, with just the right inflection,
They remain beautiful. And very young.
Still, I have to tell myself it’s wrong
To think of them as anything but fiction,
These creatures that I briefly move among-
Because, like me, they’re traveling headlong
In that familiar, vertical direction
That coarsens beautiful, blackmails young,
And turns to phantoms those I move among.
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