The teacher

by CD Richards

On a monadnock somewhere south-east of Tibet
sits an ageing guru chanting mantras in space,
while a new-age disciple of Peale reels them in;
he will sell you success, with a smile on his face.

As the priest from his pulpit says prayers for your soul
and the altarboy seeks to make sense of his world,
the whole sermon's concerned with the wages of sin;
so then, why are your wrongs, not the clergy's, unfurled?

Each must find their own way, and in that I believe,
but my mentor wears neither a cassock nor smock;
for my teacher's experience— all I have learned
was delivered to me by the hands of a clock.

With good judgement and luck we will learn as we grow
and assimilate knowledge as time passes by;
Yet we strive for enlightenment, but with a catch—
well before we attain it, we're destined to die.

For our life is but brief, and too soon it is done,
and what happens has often no reason nor rhyme;
but within lies the key to find meaning in life—
with experience, thought and the passage of time.

Time is the great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its students. — Hector Berlioz

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What's that? Armchair philosopher, you say? How rude!

This morning, I was reading (of all things) a book about currency trading, and came across the above quote from the famous musician, Berlioz. Then, I looked at my "word for the day", monadnock, and somehow the two combined to produce this. Thanks for reading.

Today's word: monadnock (n.) an isolated hill or mountain.

My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.

Image source: http://bestanimations.com/HomeOffice/Clocks/Clocks.html

Note: "judgement" and "ageing" are British spellings.

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A poem in anapestic meter

A chapter in the book A Potpourri of Poetic Curiosities

The teacher

by CD Richards

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