A Poem for My Students

For the last few days, as I've been pulling together lesson plans, and making last-minute tweaks to my syllabus, I've been turning over in my mind how I wanted to encourage my students at the start of a brand-new semester. This morning, I realized that what I had to say worked better as a poem than as an essay. So I wrote it up, and I present it to you now. 

If you're a student, and you're in my class this semester, this is for you.

If you're a student, but you're not in my class this semester, it's for you too. 

If you're a teacher, feel free to pass the sentiment (or the poem!) along to your own students. 

If you don't fall into any of these categories, stop reading now! Just kidding. In all honesty, I hope you enjoy the poem and are challenged by it as well. 

To My Students, At the Beginning of a New Semester
Forgo the safety of your home, forget
Your fears of finding bears in the forest,
Your fears of losing the way, and
Wander at will amid the wild woods. 

There, forgo your well-worn routes, forget your
Short, unsurprising strolls along smooth
Old paths and choose instead the winding,
Shaded way whose end you cannot see. 

Forgo too the safe path, forget about
The straight and level way, with no
Stones to stumble on. Instead forge upwards
Along steep paths, past menacing boulders 

Till you reach the summit, and see the beauty
Of the heights, and far-off peaks to scale. 

From the summit of Mt. Belford