Chalk Dust and Quiet Faith

This poem captures the wonderful, powerful bond of the teacher and the student a bond formed not on praise or condemnation, but on trust, patience, and belief.

You didn't ask to be thanked.
You merely asked if I had tried.
Not for marks. Not for grades.
But, instead (a kind of) effort that changes who you are, inside.

You heard the noise -
The fidgeting, the silence, the fright.
Where others witnessed rebellion - boredom,
You simply saw a kid who was trying to disappear.

You didn't save.
You didn't lecture.
You listened, in-between the lines,
And taught without a speech.

Trust wasn't giving in -
It was made gently.
Like a bridge over a stream.
That never quite stopped asking how deep.

You showed me how to hold a pen
As if it could change my life.
How to ask,
Even when answers were too ugly.

When I stuttered,
You didn't fix the stutter -
You held back, sternly,
Until I could find my footing again.

You trusted me
Before I could trust myself.
Not with slogans. Not with banners.
But in the ways that matter.

Now when a world is too loud and too fast,
I hear your lessons like repeated sounds in quiet water.
Not love -
Trust.
And that's a rarer form of forever.

Reviews

[Soren]

A poetic tribute to a teacher that does not just know the material but the student and how to present the material so it can be learned that is a true teacher and as a poet you have presented this poem in a way that is truly poetic not just line after line of rhymes. Very nicely done

[Neha agrawal]

Thank you so much😊