A poem for Teacher Appreciation Week

Robert Bruno is the school board president in Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41. He's written the following poem in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, running May 4-8.

“The Courier”

Waking early with coffee

Papers still to grade

Emails like morning traffic

Families hunt for shoes that match

Stacked up as toast burns.

Before the bell rings

I arrive on site to find

Students here and there

All eagerly searching for

Their desks, books, screens, and new worlds

Filled with empty space.

I wait for minds to explore

Secrets, like atoms floating

Through history felt

In numbers, signs, songs and prose.

Somebody interrupts, “Yes?”

I say, but no one

Hears over the learning curve

Bending now before my eyes.

Each day ends with hope

Stuffed into heavy backpacks,

Where the kids hide my hard work

Under class notes, for

Archaeologist to find

Later after the last bus

Departs and calls made

When their future is my past.