poemranker ::Students by Blue Magpie

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Sonnet № 126951

Students

by Blue Magpie

Member since 2002 · Posted 14 Jun 2005 · 7 comments

So beautiful these children that I teach, once one learns to look beyond the thorns the needle teeth and bifurcated horns they use to keep their minds beyond my reach. Like candles burning in an ancient church they cast their awkward shadows in my soul; rough diamonds tossed into a beggar’s bowl; strange-seeming answers to a heart-felt search. They drag me to their battlefields and cry, “See now our dreams, our laughter and our tears, and share with us the horror of our fears, for we are bright and wish to touch the sky. Give us your heart! For we would learn to fly, and have no love for those who fear to die.”

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7 comments

[7] Dovina 14-Jun-05/2:24 PM Reply
I like the first 5 lines. Then it gets too much caught up in form and etherial meaninglessness.
[6] deleted user › Dovina 14-Jun-05/4:48 PM Reply
Include line 6, that's a nice one too.
[7] Dovina › deleted user 14-Jun-05/5:06 PM Reply
12 though has got to go, and 13 is nonsense.
[n/a] Blue Magpie › Dovina 14-Jun-05/11:26 PM Reply
Dear Dovina,
I am honoured that you have taken the time to consider this poem so well, and to reply three times. All I can say in defence is that perhaps my students here in Greece are a little different to those you know in where-ever. OK I admit they are not all that bright but there are definately some who like look hard to find the limits and to go beyond.
[9] woodstock20000 15-Jun-05/12:12 PM Reply
Coming from the viewpoint of a teacher's assistant, I found it wonderful. *smile*
[9] Dan garcia-Black 16-Jun-05/7:37 PM Reply
I hear children's voices reading lines 12 through 14. I would hope that there are teachers in this country who might listen to their students as well as you seem to listen to yours. I admit that lines 7 through 11 are a bit off putting in that the images have already been overused in the daily media. But all in all, it seems to be an honest effort.
[n/a] Blue Magpie › Dan garcia-Black 19-Jun-05/12:53 AM Reply
Your comment on lines 7 to 11 is noted, but as I do not read American or even English newspapers and watch no TV in any English speaking country at all, and haven't done for years, there is little I can do about it.