Old School Ties Poem by Sheena Blackhall

The lines of pupils enter, one by one,
The bell rings out the start of each school day,
For school life is one station of the path,
It colours part of their whole destiny

And passing through in rows, the world's tomorrow,
Novelist, poet, journalist and doctor
Teacher and preacher, MP, media star
Sport Ace and actress, world famous singer

And some will form friendships that will last
And others will walk on and not look back
And some will have warm memories of the past
And some will take a whole contrary tack

The highlight that I hold to like a pearl
From my schooldays: a sunny history class,
A tiny woman, pert as William Pitt
Who made the war dead rise from bloodied grass

And this was genius of the quiet kind
She taught her pupils to learn empathy
Without regard to wealth, or lucky birth,
To understand truth and intregrity.