Enlightenment

Lacking vision, curiosity, the inner fire to learn. 

Totally uninspired, no self-motivation, unmoved 

by the wish to acquire knowledge. Some 

damning report card commentary that was. No 

one crept into the head of the young Indigenous 

student to gently ask what he thought of it all. 

Only many years later, an acclaimed poet honoured

for his vision and for his ancestral pride; at that 

juncture finally undertaking the completion of 

his neglected formal education to achieve that

graduation certificate his earlier self set aside

did he tell the tale of a teacher's disparagement 

of a child's native religion and language as pagan

that he and his ancestors would all meet in hell. 

Humiliation when the teacher subjected his name

and background to class perusal culminating in 

sneers and guffaws at his shy, determined efforts at 

rebutting false assertions, he knew that school 

attendance was not the ultimate teaching ground for 

those like himself already exposed to far more 

learning experiences than could be countenanced 

for a child steeped deep in the practised study of 

nature and clan exposure to the humility of existence 

based on tribal oral traditions of humanity.