School and Home

I dreamed I stood in a studio

And watched two sculptors there

The clay they used was a young child’s mind

And they fashioned it with care.

One was the teacher, the tools she used

Were books and music and art;

One was a parent with a guiding hand

And a gentle , loving heart.


Day after day,

The teacher toiled with touch that was deft and sure,

While the parent labored by her side

And polished and smoothed it o’er.

And when at last their tasks were done

They were proud of what they had wrought,

For the things they had moulded into the child

Could neither be sold or bought.

And each agreed they would have failed

If they worked alone,

For behind the parents stood the school

And behind the teacher , the home.