Ask me now teacher?

Imagine one Black Teacher?
She wrote it on the chalkboard:

“Literature is indispensable to the world. The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way a person looks at reality, then you can change it.” ~ James Baldwin

I knew it was important; everything she wrote on her chalkboard was. Why is Literature indispensable young Jess? I was far too young to fathom the why at 17. Ask me now, TEACHER? Ask me now at 64, ask me now in the middle of this pandemic, ask me now that I live long enough to bury my grandparents, parents, sisters, students, and dear friends.

Mrs. Stanfield Honor English Grade 12

Sometimes:                                                                                                                                            The hate,
The evil,
The injustice,
Crushes me.

Sometimes the lack of:
Humanity,
Compassion,
Empathy,
Love,
Crushes me.

Sometimes even my:
Prayers are not enough,
A candle burning in the dark is not enough,
Falling on my knees is not enough,
Not enough,
Crushes me.

Sometimes hope eludes:
My prayers,
My hopes,
My prayers,
Eluding hope,
Crushes me.

In my lost hours,
I plead oh Lord intervene,
Do here,
Do it now,
Intervene now,
Crushes me.

When all is darkest:
I search scriptures,
I remember her lessons,
I hear her despair, not young Jess,
Mrs. Stanfield,
Did I not fortify you,
Look on your shelves,
I gave you:
Whitman,
Dickerson,
Thoreau,
Poe,
Frost,
Angelou,
Ginsberg,
Brooks,
Giovanni,
Martí,
Burgos.

With her lessons, I cannot be:

Lost,
Hopeless,
Not enough,
For she gave me heroes.
I am uncrushable.

God saves:
Scripture holds me steady,
I am never alone,
Candles and prayers are my armor,
I am uncrushable.

Literature is my Shepard:
In the valley of death,
When I am the one out of the 100 lost,
My better prayers are on my shelves,
In my treasures of found,
Poems,
Books and,
Stories,
I am uncrushable.

Uncrushable because:
My Faith,
My Prayers,
My Candles, and
Her lessons,
Imagine if she was your teacher,
Imagine your heroes,
Imagine her lessons, and know:
I am never alone.

Imagine if she was your teacher?

If you are wondering what this Walking Man listened to on his walk this morning? Its Crosby, Stills, and Nash > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vnYKRacKQc <