My Elementary School Kids

My California days are spent at school

Feeling like I'm inadequate feeling like a fool

Those twenty two bodies sit and stare

While I think of what I'm doing there

This elementary school is filled with little ones

So afraid of bullies and home life and guns

And I sit here and lesson plan

Tossing all my notes into the garbage can

Because nothing I could teach would let them know

How much they inspire me so

Everyday they remind me of their power

Thier hurt and sorrow beat hour by hour

In this area where low income families live

The community really doesn't know how to give

These kids a freedom from the abuse and the lies

And all the awful things they've seen with their young innocent eyes

So they put them in school to learn and to grow

To distract them from what gives them so much sorrow

All day they act tough and mean

To hide what lies beneath their fragile screen

I've never seen so much love

Despite the fight and the shove

They understand more than I can

And will do so much good in their lifespan

Because even though they grew up where it was tough

They still believe that if they try they will be enough

To change the world and the evil that lies within

Because they've been through the thick and the thin

These kids I teach for hundreds of days

Inspires me in all sorts of ways

Their desire to be the best they can be

Leaves me wondering what I have in it for me

I want to do better for my class

To help them through, to help them pass

The struggles that I cannot comprehend

All they really want is a friend

I'm inspired by their courage and faith and vunerability

They've shown me all they can do with their ability

Little artists and athletes and scholars

Practicing without the extra help of some dollars

I spend my California days at school

Where the kids don't think I'm cool

So instead of teaching them what I've been trained to teach

I listen to them and what they have to preach