These Are My JOTtings...

Free Verse: "Guiding the Next Generation"

Watching. Waiting. Guiding. Striving.
Young ones need to see the path to go.
Hoping. Joying. Loving. Living.
Lead their minds through every new day.

Teachers teach. Students learn.
One or many, faithful I must be.
Teachers learn, when students teach.
Knowledge flows from side to side.

In the past I taught the group to know
English gives our thoughts expression.
Mathematics needs to truly add up.
History helps us to wisely plan the future.

Today I teach my progeny
through example of written words,
through acting in this life's long play,
through hopes I hold to live them out.

Watching. Eyes see the progress that she is making.
Waiting. Thoughts contemplate the success of doing.
Guiding. The chute is fixed. The luge flies through.
Striving. Heart is full of the giving of life's richest gifts.

Hoping. My eyes are fixed on the best for her.
Joying. My heart dances each day to see her become.
Loving. Commitment latches onto the one I bless.
Living. Going on to breathe, to feel the heart beating, to digest Life's Greatest Good.

To know she still seeks my face,
To know she still values my thoughts,
To feel the warm embrace of my loving child,
I know I'm guiding the next generation aright.

by Jay O'Toole
on February 27th, 2018