When You Have Done Your Best Poem by RIC BASTASA

when you have done your best
and they all begin to like
your art
your ways and what you want to become
when they also want to become like you
when you tell them now where to go
and what to do
when they are now at home with themselves
in their own chosen climates and houses
when they have understood their fears
and learned to live with their longings
when they have learned the power
of laughter
when they have learned to dream
when they have learned
how to talk to a tree,

it is time for you to go
you have freed them all from their shackles
you have taught them how to fish

it is time for you to go
your presence has become useless
it is now time to go
human reconstructor.