I, the teacher and I, the student

He  peeled slowly off the wall

Like my treasured potted plants

That finally yielded to the elements

Slow, irresolute, to move or not to move

Laboriously, he picked his way across the room

It was not me he wanted, it was not him I wanted.

He wanted someone like him

Young, white,  blue-eyed, good-looking

I wanted someone like him, young, white,

Blue-eyed but more confident, winsome in his ways.

He lost his target to a faster mate, I lost mine to a younger mate.

He eyed me slowly, hesitating

Not ready to play the wall flower

I took the plunge, "you want to dance?"

We held hands, our feet keeping time with the music

Our bodies afraid to touch, our ears filled with the music from our hearts.

We waltzed until the rhumba stuff came

He couldn’t do this  one, I showed him how

All evening, we danced half-way and around the world

I the teacher, confident, he the student, unsure but willing

Our feet matching now, then stepping on each other's toes

We kept on all night until we got it right, finally meeting each other's eyes.

On the lake, it was time to try something new

Waltz, rhumba, chacha, these my feet could challenge

My skating story had started and ended with watching TV stars on ice

I was contented to skirt on the edge of fantasy, not dreaming I’d ever step on ice

But then my dance partner and student appeared in classic princely mode

I looked at his lean sad Jesus face, unsure  he could keep me from falling.

As we  walked - he walked, I wobbled -  he the teacher, I the student

He ensuring I didn’t fall and I trusting in his strength

We were reminded of God’s promise to keep our feet from falling

And if,  through our weaknesses, we do He’ll always lift us up

It was a lesson on skates but we left the lake filled with His presence

God the teacher and we His students in the course of our Faith.

Patience Akpan, December 1995