Your voice has gone the way
Of the whistle-stop and the mountain lion's cry
Of the dark shadows hanging over well-hidden hollars
Of the rattle-trap stills and the mule-drawn plow
Of the tobacco stake and the fattened sow.
Of the mandolin's trill and the fiddle's squeal
Of tobacco spit and the Blue Tick Heel.
That brave young girl travelling so far
From her feather-down bed and city church spire,
To teach those biscuit-faced babes in the woods,
All that she could; All that she could.....
Marianne Larsen Reninger
I just re-red this poem today and I still love it. This time, I enjoyed the word choice and the rhythm that the words make when spoken aloud. The imagery is amazing and so evocative and in a way unique to the area you are writing about. You are so talented. Love this! This is a fitting, artistic, supremely well-crafted tribute to Lenore and to all teachers.
Just finished the painting last weekend and will have it up on Pinterest next week. So glad it brought you joy. Just had a friend stop in and re=read also aloud and she had the same reaction. Always good to hear from you Pamela!
Your poem and your comment - all teachers all over the world etc touched me deeply. I was an English teacher for 34 years and it was a vexed experience of extremes - the best job in the world when students respond or are won over, the worst drudgery if students are uncooperative. But that sense of common goal is a wonderful reconciling thought. And I sense in the repetition of the closing line this teacher's excitement and commitment'
Lenore was a real person whom the Katherine Marshall book and tv series, Christi, was based. She left the comforts of Asheville, N.C., my current home town for the appalachian wilds to teach in 1902. Yes, all teachers, all over the world share a common goal.
Lovely tribute to the idealistic teacher. I come from a family of teachers. I don't know the person you mention, but your description brought so many images and ideas to my mind... Little House on the Prairie, the Peace Corps, The Appalachians....... Thanks for sharing...
thanks again Pamela! All teachers all over the world share the same goals!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Wonderful little teacher bravely describes about thought shared here is really amazing and wise with theme....10
thanks Kumarmani; this is about the first teacher who ventured into the Blue Ridge Mountains in East Tennessee, U.S. around 1920 when there were no schools even in large cities like Asheville, N.C., my home.