My First Teachers

             TEACHERS' DAY

         Here are these few verses,
         Dedicated to my first teachers, 
        Who taught me even before,
         I was able to reciprocate.

       My mother  who was second --
       To none but  Nature herself,
       Who taught me to express myself ,
       With just a few gestures.
      

          When I could express myself ,
          Only through  a few signs, 
           Sometimes with sweet smiles, 
           Sometimes with loud cries.  

           But she could understand all,
          Without  my uttering a word,
          And  sense my humblest  need, 
          As if it were her own.

          My Father, who helped me enter,
          The vast world of knowledge,  
          Starting with the first alphabet, 
          To all about the three Rs. 

           Having made me familiar with, 
            Letters, numbers and  figures,
           He took me by hand one morning,  
           To a school for formal learning.

           And that was a new beginning, 
           But  not the end of  their role, 
           As mentors and guides to me, 
              In facing life's ordeals.

           Till the close  of their  own  times,
           They kept enriching  my mind, 
           With precious pearls of  wisdom, 
            They themselves had gathered.

            These precious gems of wisdom, 
             I  treasure as priceless assets, 
             I'll preserve  with pride always,  
             As long as this life permits.

            For though the teachers  depart,
            The legacies they leave live  on,
            And carried forward in time,
           To benefit generations to come.