MY PRIDED-BUT-PITIABLE TEACHER By Sanni Kay. Yusuf

Once I wallowed
In the ocean of ignorance
While I swam
In the stream of nothingness
Sailed through was I
By no other but
MY PRIDED TEACHER
Rescued was I
From the ordeal of no-knowledge
An ordeal that would have been eternally injurious

While my brain was receptive of no subject
While my playfulness couldn't make me cope in class
While my homeworks were usually undone
While all had given up on me
My teacher stood firm, sacrificially
He stood by me, tenaciously
Tolerating my frustrating excesses

Despite the monthly peanuts
So zealous he was
Discharging the duties of his calling
To bring me out of a nobody
Into a somebody

Not monetarily rich
But heartily wealthy
The remuneration not enticing
But his work enriching

Imagine MY PRIDED TEACHER
With no vehicle of his own
Having served for decades

Imagine my teacher
With no personal shelter on his head
After donkey years of making professionals
Presidents - he made them
Governors - he produced them
Doctors - he taught them
Farmers - he grew them
Entrepreneurs - he moulded them

Imagine my teacher not being able to afford varsity education for his only child
Imagine! Just imagine!

Imagine my life without my teacher
MY PRIDED TEACHER
I would have been useful for no one
Not even for myself.

Life without teachers is a loss!