Adonis Diaries

Great Teachers

1.   I have no musical ears.

I tried to learn and read notes.

My classmates waited my turn to sing

To rewind and have a good time.

That was a long time ago,

And it was too late, even then,

To train my ears.

 

2.   I have been told

That Maestros can allow a mistake

At the beginning of a piece,

That they can forgive a wrong note

In the middle,

But the ending has to be perfect and glorious.

 

3.   Great teachers see the end products of their students.

Their job is to discover who their students are.

Then, they make them repeat the endings

Until tears of boredom and despair are running,

Until they master the ending,

Flawlessly and grandly.

 

4.   Great teachers don’t care about the beginning of an assignment:

All it takes is one step.  We can take one step.

Great teachers don’t care about finishing a task:

We can, somehow, make a task end.

Great teachers are after how much human life

You’ve got inside you.

 

5.   How much human life have you got inside you?

Only you can know yourself:

That is not an Earth shattering truth.

You will never know yourself

As long as there is a soul in you.

Reinvent yourself and then, repeat, repeat, and repeat.

 

6.   While you reinvent yourself,

It does not matter

How soon death comes,

Or how great

People think you are.

You died perfect and in glory.