Country Teacher Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

The forest now is black as night
No distant farmhouse glows
She's taken off her shoes and hose
As mosses hug her toes
The children walked to school today
Most without shoes
Or haircuts, cared for faces, ears
Some clean, some tattered clothes.

The city seems quite far away
Where learning took its toll
Now here she is on country clay
To change these children's role
Ferns, oaks and noises of the woods
Blot out her numbers, charts
The systematic pedagogue
A stranger in these parts

Tall Aaron soon will be a man
While Berta's just a child
And Caleb, eight, can read a book
But Dora never will
Hustles, bustles of the day
The 'dirty dozen's' throng
Can wipe out thoughts of 'what's the use? '
Or 'what is wrong? '

When slates and sponges have been cleaned
And notes put down with pen
The rural night swoops down with haste
And blots out thoughts again.

It's but a mile to teacher's house
A path where crows don't fly
Its craggy roots and stones abound
There seems to be no sky.

When daylight's lantern brightly shone
The children's hope seemed near
But night and forest's cover deep
Brought forth a teacher's tear.

Green ferns and giant oaks did cry
As did the birches tall
'Don't tamper, change, what's holy still,
Don't make the children fear.'

She kept on walking in the woods
And finally reached her den
By candlelight then said a prayer
And slowly took her pen.
'Dear doctors, ' she began to write,
'My loss may be your gain
For I must cancel all my plans
In short, I do resign.'

Nothing was said of shoeless feet
Hair filled with fleas and lice
No word of eyes, so sad and deep
Or hands that could not write
'Dear doctors, it is dangerous
To walk alone at night
In woods so dark and ferns so tall,
I cannot cope at all.'

What could they say, for after all,
To them it was a job.
They didn't know how country woods
And country kids could drain
Book learning and the word 'success'
Of all its weight and fame.

The children tried to understand
To please and comprehend
So innocent with kindly hearts,
Like garments, quick to rend.

But at day's end when all was dark
The forest made it clear
'Go home and leave those kids alone.
Don't trample what is dear.'

The teacher then recalled a truth
For once she, too, was small,
Unspoken wisdom in young eyes
Was better, best of all.

The woods today are still the same
Ferns, mushrooms hold their own,
Tow headed boys and barefoot girls
Have long since grown.

An ancient woman lives alone
And does not mind the pain
For here and there a few of them
Do visit her again.