Chance

/ Poetry /

You're right, you said. We ought to milk it for all it's worth.

There are so many things about me you have yet to unearth

but you are in that place where you aver nothing I can do

or say will put you off, so I'll take you at your word,

take you as you are, make a wish on every evening star,

try not worry about how long it will last, when the milk

will expire, when the glow will pass as I watch the winter moon

beyond my study glass cross the sky, watch my students struggle

not to cry as they grapple with a test that has no meaning

to their lives, their all-important splendor, and in the end I ponder

how we all ache to shine through shadows we would rush past

if we could but when we do, they just press closer and don't you want

to be a lighthouse for your child, don't I want to make things better

for the student who bows down head to chest when life seems out

to best her and all I want to do is hold a bit of moonlight in my hands,

keep the magic near, ward away her fear, so I say “Look” and play

the witch, twitch my fingers up and down in shadow figure dance,

one more chance to make her smile, perhaps entrance you for a while.