Teachers

I regret that it has taken me
Decades
To realize the effect various
Teachers
Had on me.

I know some, most, are
Gone
Others I would not 
Know
How to find. 

At a reunion some time 
Back
In a Hollywood hotel a 
Block
Or two from

My high school, I was able to
Apologize 
To my ninth grade home room
Teacher 
For being a fourteen year old jerk 

He was either very 
Gracious
Or he simply did not
Remember
My violations.

Regardless, I discharged an outstanding
Obligation
With the long over due
Apology.
Soon after I
Learned

He was gone too, about the same
Time 
I learned that the cranky
English 
Teacher who introduced me

To Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Dylan
Thomas,
And poets between, was also 
Gone.
Criminy, he was cranky

I never spoke to him after that
Class.
I wasn’t a good student but I still
Read,
Re-read,
Those poems and poets. 

These are only two but there are a whole
Slew
I remember, even if I 
Failed
To honor them, back then

I hope my recall now is 
An appropriate, though
Belated,
Salute to teachers 
Once unsung,
Now dearly honored.