My 5th grade English teacher stole my Shel Silverstein book.
It was A Light in the Attic, and if I recall correctly (it’s been awhile), I’d only had it for about a month. Long enough to read through it a few times, but definitely not long enough. I was an avid reader and we were talking about poetry and I told him my mom had just got me that book and I enjoyed it very much. I brought it in to let him borrow it, and although I kept reminding him, he kept forgetting to bring it back. Or “forgetting,” but I like to give him the benefit of the doubt. I changed schools the following year, so never saw him again. The experience traumatized me so much, I never owned another Shel Silverstein book again.
The reason we were talking about poetry was because he would challenge us to memorize different poems, and he was running out of ones to assign us. Well, to assign me, anyway. I don’t really remember anyone else in the class reciting them, and I was quite good at memorizing back then (I may still be, if I could concentrate long enough on anything to try…) The poem he’d given us right before I gave him the book (to borrow) was called “Don’t Quit,” by an unknown author. I recognized it had a good message at the time, but now, *undisclosed number* years later, the words run through my head as clear as they did in that classroom and encourage me to keep doing what I’m doing.
So, thanks, teacher who’s name I can’t remember. You may be a thief, but you made a positive lasting impression.
Don’t Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he’d stuck it out.
Don’t give up, though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are -
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit -
It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.