Listen ©

When the teacher speaks,
you ought to listen.
Pay close attention,
focus.
Just listen.

Do not talk when she talks,
Do not speak when she speaks,
Only sit in silence,
patiently, just listen.

Listen as she
breathes a breath of life into you;
as she gives you the knowledge you need to understand
and grow.
Just listen.
Patiently.
Respectfully.

And if you are eager,
to genuinely ask a question,
humbly raise your hand
and speak what is needed.

And then listen.
Listen to how much she is pleased
when she knows a sincere heart
willing to hear and know more
of the breath that gives you life.

Just listen.
When the teacher speaks,
you definitely ought to listen.
Listen as she spends her time invested in you
her life sacrificed for yours
all her strength
all her emotion
all her breath into words into meaning.

If somebody were to come up to you,
and wants to show you something
a work or a masterpiece of their own
consider yourself fortunate to be even considered worthy
to have her open up to you.

This is all she is
Her identity,
Her life,
Her purpose,
Her soul.

And if you were to treat her
like how you treat your teacher in the classroom
well then, consider yourself unworthy
because by then, you would have lost something
which she had deemed so precious.

Respect was all she asked for in return.
Yet, you disregard her
like the air you breathe.
And make mockery of her art.

If I were to be such a person,
and have you treat me like a teacher,
if you should ask me for a poem
or a song,
I'll just shake my head
and sit in silence.

- Aaron J. Patrick