What is a teacher?

To a mind of flint,
the teacher must be iron, and strike sparks.
To the empty pitcher,
the teacher becomes a well.
To the fallow mind,
a planter of seeds.
To the cluttered mind,
a gardener to weed, shape,
and clear a space for growing.

To the lens,
the teacher is light,
and to the mind of light,
a lens.

To the sleeper,
the teacher is the wake-up call of birds at sunrise.
To clay,
the teacher is potter, sculptor, and trainer in self-shaping.

To the wanderer,
the teacher is a knowing guide.
To the developed mind,
the teacher is colleague, listener, and friend.

To all,
the teacher is a mirror that shows not only the self
but the path and its choices, the
task and its demands--the difficulties, the joys.

To all and from all,
the teacher is a learner, a person--and a prism
through which the ordinary continuously
reveals itself to be miraculous.