Thank God for teachers

I don't know
as students
that you are ever fully aware of
just
how
much
your teachers care
about you

that long after you are gone
they strive to keep track
of what you are up to
genuinely invested in each of your
successes and failures
it is like playing a game
without realizing you have
cheerleaders on the sidelines
fans in the stands
it is easy, sometimes
to think that you are alone
but it is never true.

I don't know as students
that you are ever fully aware of
just
how
much
your teachers care about you

until 9 years after your final class with them
13 years after the first one
they get tears in their eyes
talking about what it is like
to watch students grow
and how hard it is
to watch them graduate and go
out  into the world
never knowing if you'll see them again

that is when you know
that is when I knew
just how much those teachers care.

Those glistening, teary eyes,
laid that soul bare.