Learning Curve

I learn at the feet of the great ones before me
The storied and laurelled
The unsung and devious

Where I wait they are swift,
My eyes blinkered by things I am barely conscious of

the awe of the student becomes annoyance
the painful lesson
the wheel cannot be reinvented

annoyance fades to acceptance
fluidity of understanding
temperance of time

I learn at the feet of the great ones before me
my eyes now open
to see the cracks of their soles
and the weariness of their smiles

M. Woodham March 2007