The Garden of the Mind

Don't fence the sky and call it learned,

Or chain the wind with rules and lines,

The greatest lessons aren't just earned

By filling boxes, marking times.

True learning isn't just a shelf

Of dusty facts and dates you hold,

It's learning how to know yourself,

A story that is yours to mold.

It's in the question, "What if? Why?"

That dances on a curious tongue,

The courage when you first must try,

The grace to stand when you're undone.

It's in the paint that smears your shirt,

The song you sing a little wrong,

The science project in the dirt,

The friendship that can make you strong.

It's history's echo, felt, not heard,

The number's dance, the poet's sigh,

The meaning in a single word,

The truth you cannot just deny.

Some teachers build a prison cell

Of standardized, expected thought,

While others help your mind to swell

With all the battles wisdom fought.

So do not let them clip the wings

Of what your imagination breeds,

For education truly brings

The every-growing, planting seeds.

Not to conform and be the same,

To pass a test, to win a race,

But learn to kindle your own flame,

And find your unique, brilliant place.

For you are not a vessel, see,

To be filled up from some great source,

You are a ship, upon the sea,

And learning is your guiding force.

So study hard, but study wide,

Let wonder be your favorite class,

With curiosity your guide,

Let no true, burning question pass.

For in the end, you'll understand,

The greatest lesson you were taught:

To simply hold the world in hand,

And love the beauty of a thought.