A Poem for My Students

soon
it will be time,
soon we will
see each other
walking across
green and brick
and my soul
will soar and
say to itself,
“There they are!
My Dear Companions!”
How I have missed you!
How thinner is my
learning (like thin
leaves in August heat)
without your breeze,
your laugh, even the
November shower
of your complaints!
I know they teach me,
too. The beach is
wonderful, but the
ocean is you —
vast and deep and
drunk with possibilities
—  and breaks are lovely,
but vacation from
The Meaning of
One’s Life?  Long
enough I have
meditated alone.
Longing
to see the super
novas of your
selves, overjoyed
to read the journals
of stars (your voices
push light through
the most examined
nights) soon
you will see me,
waving to you
from across the quad
like someone meeting
his ship coming in,
because it will have,
because you are.

Previously published in Wayne-Daniel Berard, The Realm of Blessing (Portland, OR: Unsolicited Press, 2020).