Poetry Friday is hosted this week at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.
The end of the school year is always bittersweet. This year was especially so. One of my students finished sixth grade which means she is moving on to middle school. We have been together since she was in third grade. I love all my students, but sometimes one comes along who connects a little deeper. We become more than teacher and student. Kaylie is one of those students. Kaylie loves what I love. We shared books and favorite authors. We became writing partners. She read and commented on my writing as much as I did hers.
Kaylie’s mother wrote me a note saying that Kaylie was crying about leaving. She told Kaylie that I was like a mother bird that has prepared her birds to fly. It was time for her to fly. Kaylie stopped crying and said, “That was a great metaphor, Mom.”
I am so grateful for this special relationship. Kaylie wrote a poem for me. She put it in a book she made on Snapfish including pictures of us through the years. (Yes, I cried.) I wrote a response to her using her form. I put it into an accordion book, also with pictures. Call and response, so to speak. These poems are very personal, so I hesitated printing them here. But sometimes the deeply personal touches a universal theme.
What if
By Kaylie
What if you asked me-
just wondering-
If you wanted me to write
about our four years together?
What if you wanted me
to put that into a poem
Like the one you’re reading now?
Would I write about peanut butter,
nonsense talking sticking in my mouth
like the real stuff?
Or, that dreaded summer reading?
Would I tell you that I hated that?
Would I remember Daisy and Poncho,
the most beautiful spider story
I have ever heard?
Hmm…let me think…
I would definitely have to mention
all that writing: stories, poetry,
every letter, every word from my pen
inspired by you.
I would try not to talk about the tears
that shed when I left, though.
No.
I will only think of what you showed me,
and how I will use it in my life.
If you told me to write a poem about all of that,
just to remind you of me now and then,
I think this poem
would do just that.By Kaylie
What if?
What if you wanted me to write a poem
about our four years together?
Four years, really? Hard to believe.
No wonder you are so much a part of my life.I know you. You know me.
Greater than a teacher and student,
yet not a mother and daughter.
(Even though I caught myself sometimes calling you my daughter.)
My poem would have to say how
teaching you was easy, fun, delightful.
I watched you blossom from a tiny, shy seed
to a dancing flower singing,“Anything you can do, I can do better.”
And yes, you can. You can be
whatever you want to be.
Be who you are.You are a writing teacher’s dream,
but more than that…
You trusted me with your heart,
your mind, your creativity.If you wanted me to write a poem about our time together,
I would write through tears,
wipe them away
and say
You are ready
to fly,
sweet bird.
Your wings will
soar!
–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved
Reflections on the Teche 
[…] 5. Margaret Simon (“What If?” – Saying Goodbye to a Special Student) […]
How beautiful that your lives intersected in this magical way, and you were able to grow together. Lucky teacher, lucky student. I am glad that I read this today.
I am definitely lucky and blessed to have had the chance to teach her (be with her) for 4 years. She wrote at the end of the Snapfish book, “My journey with you is not over,” and she left a few empty pages for more pictures. I hope that we do keep in touch.
How beautiful and poignant. Wonderful that you both celebrated your special relationship with call and response poems. Teacher becomes student, student becomes teacher. 🙂
I knew when I read her poem that the only way to respond was with a poem.
cJust lovely – first that you made this connection, and second that you both recognize how special it is to have connected in this way.
I am learning that connections are so important. Connecting in the Poetry Friday world has helped me feel more like a real author.
Thank you, Margaret, for sharing these beautiful poems, and for allowing us to catch a glimmer of the spark, which is love, between you and Kaylie. I would have been overjoyed to have such a mentor during my own childhood years… and so would anyone. Maybe, just like with your own children, you’re not really letting go… your relationship is merely transitioning.
I am lucky that her mother teaches right across the hall and she has younger siblings that I may teach. I think we will stay in touch, but the special loving and learning environment will change. Not necessarily bad, but it will change.
Thank you for sharing those. They definitely did capture universal themes–the sweetness of memories, the bittersweetness of moving on. Both Kaylie’s and yours got me teared up, too. And I love her response, “That was a great metaphor, Mom!” Good job, student and teacher!
Thanks for your comment. I always worry that what I post means more to me than it possibly could to someone else. But I write it anyway. I have to be true to myself, right?
Wow, beautiful poems and beautiful relationship. That is what teaching is all about – for both of you. Thanks for sharing. =)
Thanks for stopping in Bridget. Happy Poetry Friday! My favorite day of the week.
I understand your hesitation about sharing these, but I’m so glad you did. How wonderful to see this student-teacher relationship, and to understand what you have meant to each other. What a gift you have given to Kaylie and she to you.
Thanks for your comment. It is hard to know when something personal will touch others, too. I got permission from Kaylie and her mother, so I felt better about posting.
This brought tears to my eyes- but I wiped them away :-). What a lovely student and teacher bond, and how you both inspired each other!
So beautiful! This made me cry. A teacher/student relationship like that is a wonderful gift.
WOW WOW WOW, Margaret. This really made me tear up – what a wonderful, wonderful thing this is. Kaylie’s poem is so sophisticated and thoughtful – and that’s the real tribute to her writing teacher. I had a couple of these relationships and know how special they are. Teacher and student – equally lucky to have each other! Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thanks, Renee for coming by. When you have a student like Kaylie, the job is easy. Most of the time I got out of the way and just let her go. My hope is that she will have other teachers who nurture the talent she has. So hard to let her go.
**tears** LOVE both of your poems!
I will say goodbye to some students that I have been lucky to teach/learn with for two years. The more painful the goodbye, the deeper the relationship, so there’s actually a lot of joy in that pain!!
I like your comment “A lot of joy in that pain.” So true. The joy comes from knowing you will always be a part of this child’s life. I have students who are adults come back and tell me how much I meant to them. This is why I teach. My goal is to hear an author on NPR one day thank me, her teacher.