Teachers Tribute Poem by John A'Hern

A tribute to Teachers does unfold
Men only in this boy's teenage World
An area called working class
Boys on the brink of lost without trace.

Teach them or befriend them?
Their fate in the Teachers hands
Lunchtime breaks discussing
Heads held in hands, where to next?

Expel or explain their path in life
Parent quick with justice when told.
Discussion unable to break the mould
Day after day same surroundings.

Interest ebbs until the bells sounded
Teachers lives not in the reckoning,
They tried their best in strict surroundings
As for me a survivor of these times.

I must thank this thin long line
I remember your names as if yesterday
Your character remains, what more can I say
What did you do at the end of your days?