Teacher

TEACHER
by Alexander Soifer (lyrics and music)
March 7, 1998, 1 PM, composed on board of a plane en route to Ft. Lauderdale

                To Paul Erd;s

Remember the one
                who came through
          to your inner self
                first,
That elderly man
                or a woman
          of wit
                and vocation,
And dropped I my ball
and I followed
           him
                as he paused,
And sweet was the instant
and lasting was
           this
                convocation.


I carry that spark,
that baton
           that he placed
                on my palm,
His hope and his gaze
at the Book
           that he thought
                was transfinite,
And feel I my way
to the Book
      with heart threatening
                calm,
And lives he in me
and continues
           this infinite
                drama.