Every Time We Asked Her

Every time we asked her
How to spell a word
She pointed to the shelf
Full of dictionaries

We would always grumble
About having to work so hard
And would joke about not being able
To look it up if we could not spell it

She would smile her little smile
And just repeat her direction
Adding that she was not there
To make things easy on us

Every time we asked a question
She turned it back on us
Poking and prodding to hear our ideas
And to make us think for ourselves

It amazed us that she was the teacher
Yet never seemed to have the answers
Or even to know much of anything
For certain at all

And now almost thirty years later
I have come to realize
That she taught me more
Thank anyone else ever did

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