Eating the Elephant
At a school reunion
festive and grand
a young teacher
makes a point
with a retired teacher
about problems
in education today.
He asks her
how does one
eat an elephant.
Then he chuckles
and says
one bite at a time
but the lady
is not amused.
She tells him
when she taught
teachers ate no
elephants and
children learned
to read and write,
add and subtract.
Then she tells him
children knew teachers
were serious
and parents stood
behind them.
They knew school
was hard work not
a day at the zoo.
Donal Mahoney
