Today I traipsed down memory lane
and back to school I went, yet again.
Oh! How hard it hit, that nostalgic wave;
I wish those memories I could forever save.
You know the first thing that I saw there?
It was the backbench, I once sat where.
A flood of memories that brought on
of giggles, tiffins and friends now gone.
I sat down to reminisce at my old desk,
ran my hand over the wood and the clefts.
I felt the groove of the initials I had carved.
My eyes closed, I sighed, and I yearned.
How simple were the days of my childhood!
A life with friends, family and all things good.
Laughter was gay, had an abandon in its spirit;
Ha! Friendships over studies had taken merit.
Even though our world had been filled with hues,
to the black board and white chalk we owed our dues.
The source of our learning; what has become of us.
It transformed us kids, gave us adult status.
I sat at my desk and gazed at the board,
to it I owned what I became down the road.
To the white chalk that led, I said grateful thanks.
After all that was what filled in all the black blanks.
Image – Mwesigwa Joel via unsplash