Deep Water

"Here is the deep water."

--poem by an unknown second grader

Every Friday at our school one of the classes reads a poem over the loudspeaker to the whole school. For a few brief moments before beginning the day, every child in the school pauses, listens and considers the world through poetry. We call it "Poetry Aloud."

Today was a special day. The last Friday of the school year (and thus, the last "Poetry Aloud" of the school year...). And our current Principal's last Friday at our school.

To mark this occaision, he read the poem for the day. It was a poem he first read as a student teacher.

Before beginning to read he warned us that it was going to be short, but I think most of us were stunned at just how short. After he finished he added, "That's it."

But then he went on to talk about endings. And beginnings. About how much he has loved being at our school, but that like a child learning to swim he must head out for ever deeper water. About how each of our children will be doing the same next year when they come back to a different grade, a different class, a different teacher.

It was a quiet, profound moment and made me remember, once again, the French word, "approfondement."

I hear this poem as a call to be in the present moment, fully, deeply. HERE is the deep water.

How do you hear it?