The School

The School

Long, long ago

near the pebbly shores

of the Mediterranean blue

there was an old school of philosophy.

For four hundred years

it taught boys and young men

into their twenties

the ways of rhetoric and wisdom.

To help fund the school

the students would search

the nearby beaches for garnets

which they would put

into small, clear bauble jars sealed with wax

to sell in town.

One afternoon a pair of the older students,

with two heads of black hair and brown skin,

Pedro, and Sharif, were down at a cafe talking

about the days search on the beach.

Pedro took a drink of his tea

and proudly said, “This morning I found twenty garnets.

That's enough to fill two bauble jars.

Sharif, nodded and said,

“You did good then. As for me,

I swam looking in the waters near the rocks.

Eventually, I found clams and therein

eight white pearls, enough for two more jars.”

Pedro, scowled, “You are foolish,” he said in a hurry,

“We only sell garnets!

In the time you found eight pearls

you could have found enough garnets to fill four jars.”

Pedro's words were like a sharp slap to him.

Sharif bowed his head in sudden anger

and quickly changed the subject.

Soon, he finished his tea, excused himself

and returned to the school.

Later, as the gold afternoon sun

swam slowly down the sky

Sharif sat talking to Carib, the school master,

who wore a long gray robe, walking stick beside him.

He told Carib of his conversation with Pedro,

then he asked,

“Master, was Pedro wrong to criticize me?”

Or am I the one who is foolish

just as Pedro says?”

“Why do you think Pedro was upset?”

asked master Carib.

“He thought I was foolish,” answered Sharif.

“Look deeper,” said Carib.

Sharif thought a few moments, then he said,

“Perhaps he was threatened by my success

at finding pearls.”

“And why do you still feel bad

about the conversation?” asked Carib.

“Because I was angered so easily,” answered Sharif.

“Don't look to where you fell, my son.

Look to where you slipped,” said master Carib.

The student thought for a minute then said,

“Pedro accosted my sense of success, so I was angry.”

“What should you therefore do?” asked Carib.

“I should not depend on my deeds of accomplishment

to define my self-worth, but look to my soul instead.”

“And so who made you angry? asked master Carib.

“I myself did,” grinned the student.

Master Carib smiled softly.

As the sun slid below the horizon,

fading to deep blue and orange

he extended his hand to Sharif and said,

“You have freed yourself, my son.

You graduate tomorrow

young master.”

Dewey Dirks