10/17/2001: forgot to post this a little while ago!...
mom sent me another poem. 2 actually. this time about teaching. the highs and lows of this calling. the 1st is a poem on how exalted the status of a teacher is, by Ahmad Shawqi, the Prince of Poets. the 2nd is a response to Shawqi’s poem, by a teacher... it’s about how lowly the status of a teacher can be:
Stand for the teacher and honor his rank......for a teacher is almost as a prophet
Do you know of someone nobler than...
...he who nurtures minds and hearts
You encompass all, the Best Teacher...
...You taught with the pen the earliest people
You brought this mind forth from darkness...
...and guided it to an enlightened, radiant path
For if the teacher is not just, then lost...
...is the spirit of justice in youth for certain
If the teacher’s insight lapses for a moment...
...then those under his tutelage will lack vision
If guidance and counsel are based on whim...
...and on arrogance, then call that misguidance.
Shawqi says, knowing nothing of my plight...
...“Stand for the teacher and honor his rank”
Sit, I implore you! Is someone honored...
...who for growing children is a close friend?
Anxiety grips me when the Prince says:
...“for a teacher is almost as a prophet”
If Shawqi tried teaching for but an hour...
...his would be a life of hardship and stress
A teacher’s lot is frustration and depression...
...visions of notebooks day in and day out
Hundreds upon hundreds when they are graded...
...a path leading to nothing short of blindness
Don’t be surprised if I cry out one day...
...and fall down murdered between those desks
For anyone seeking suicide I have found it...
...for a teacher does not live a long life.
IMAGE: the original arabic of the two poems i translated in this post. it's difficult to do justice to arabic poetry in english... i certainly haven't with my translation, but you get the picture.
ReplyDelete