All of You (& Block C)

You are:
fishtail braids and crutches,
a brown shirt and English freckles,
square glasses and pink highlighters,
braids and stoicism,
a heartbreaker in the making,
quiet — but not too quiet,
in love with love and much too young,
afraid of who you could be,
ponytail and white sweatshirt — indelible,
beautiful and rising,

You are all rising.
I want to know you, I want to know everything about you,
but we have five days left,
and I can only think about all the things I didn't do right.

I'm sorry for showing up late sometimes,
for being too tired to smile,
for spending too little time with your writing,
for letting your words float through my ears while my thoughts stay elsewhere —
I could have done more.
I'm sorry.

Thank you for your brilliance,
for your furrowed brows when you focus too hard,
for your laughter that rebounds off the classroom walls,
for all the times you've been tired, too,
and indulged my theatrics anyway.
For showing me why the most important thing you can do is
love,
For showing me that you need nothing more than people to get by —
people who want to know why
the rhythm of your lungs is the way it is,
why your eyes glimmer like they do
while the rest of the earth lays shrouded in darkness,
you are the sparkling secrets the world has yet to discover.

Thank you, students. Thank you.