A teacher is no noble beast -
no phoenix summoned forth to feast
on dark unknowings, wreathed in flames
and ash. Nor are his students priests

to worship with bowed heads at pieced-
together rites. A brow increased
by faith will only bless or blame
a teacher. Is

a rough pile of cogged notions greased
thus? Only if devotion ceased
to grind them edgewise and became
a chance to find a better name
for truth – which is what (at the least)
a teacher is.