May each child be prepared to think and learn and know
and go home each day feeling as if today they’ve grown.
May the underpinnings of each mind sparkle in every eye
May the children come tomorrow because their teachers care
May this room become a respite and the safety therein compel
each child in its embraces to spread the learning somewhere else
May order be required regardless of the price
and successes profound enough to counter exhaustion that it costs
May answers spill off pages and methods grow on trees
May these magical provisions reflect its stewards’ mastery
May those who make it possible from behind classroom doors
be waltzed around and lauded for having worked so hard.
In response, may those with nothing and those who have it all
entrust their precious children to work together in these walls.
May we apply our teachings on cooperation to ourselves
ensuring opportunity not be predicated on ever having had.
May all we’ve learned from age to age not lead us to repeat
nor make us act preemptively about the future yet unseen
May we never lose account of what the basic premise is:
every child is capable, and every child can succeed.