Lessons in life (Part 1 Try a little Kindness)

Mr Barker chose to teach, it didn’t choose him,  
it laughed at him, pushed past him  
showed him all its failed floors  
and ugly scuffed rough corridors,  
it spat manic in his face  
tried to trip him, open his case.  

He trembled and couldn’t control  
the class or his body,  
holding chalk was a chore.  
I gave my advice for free,  
keep away you tosser  
before you infect me.  
 
I was outside college  
hugging coffee cups for warmth  
as the elephant shuffled onto the ice.  
It rattled like a witch doctor's bone bag  
its legs shook with each mouse size step.  
Shoulders heavy under the weight  
of knowing it would only get worse.  
I fell, offering an apologetic hand,  
taking an arm as strong as a spasm.  
 
For the first time I saw it,  
the tired effort beneath such frailty,  
grey wrinkles of desperation  
in search of normality,  
hiding in the chaos of the herd.  
 
As the elephant drove away  
I saw his secret graveyard  
and how he would arrive there alone.  
 
From then on when Mr Barker chose to teach,  
I chose not to be a dickhead.