School Charms Me

Written by Harris Tobias

Education and teachers leave a lasting impression many of us.

'School charms me'

Gulliver among the little folk

Among the still forming inheritors of the world

How will I save them from the errors of their fathers?

Who saved me?

What debt do I owe them

Ramon, Ricky, Lily

What business is it of mine if they succeed or not

They’ll outlive me

and spend their days far from my influence.

But they are really the teachers

Peanuts, Irma, Paul

They fill me with their childish ways

And force me to recall

The dingy schools and wicked twisting

of the days when I was twelve.

Harris Tobias, 2021

#harristobias

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Image credit: Classroom (verso), Heinz Koppel (1919–1980), Leicester Museum & Art Gallery