a poem

To the teacher who knows what’s best:

You’ve only experienced children in captivity

Allowed only to act within your rules

Allowed to learn from each other in ways you manage

Allowed only to meet your ends.

You’ve not considered them as free:

When they’re among their sisters,

Among their cousins, their friends,

Perfect strangers at the park

They are more than they can be

When they are under your rule

But you can’t see it

Because you’ve been schooled

To see only what you must

And not all what’s there.