The Burning Ring

[Teacher]

Gentle breeze welcomed me 

Lifting the red sand off the ground

I stepped between the brown walls

It was my second home 

I walked into

it was the school

the teacher in me, walked into 

[Student]

I sat on the wooden bench 

scribbling off words her comforting voice spoke 

But the thought kept coming to me

Like a bee to a flower

My eyes blurred, i tried

Making out the words of chalk

Knowing it was For the last time

[Student]

The school bell rung my heart loudly

I went to the teacher

And the warmth in her eyes

Made me want to pour out

Every single word through my tears

they are going to send me, i said 

for i am to wear a ring

before the graduate cap

[Teacher]

A student getting married; It was wrong 

But little could I do 

the night kept me awake 

the words kept coming to me 

like the clouds over the moon 

But then clouds began fading away; I realized 

I was wrong to think 

that little could I do 

[Teacher]

Finally the sun came up 

along with what I had 

finally decided I would do 

I called for the mother

to ask if it were true 

Sad nods and teary eyes 

told me the village never believed 

in what a girl could do 

[Teacher]

But I was determined 

like the blazing afternoon sun 

to tell the village 

what a girl could do 

I spoke all that was in me 

For my mind could only 

picture the misty eyed girl

and her dreams too big 

to be forgotten in the starless dark

All I could hope for was 

to burn the ring 

through the fire in my words 

to the mother I spoke 

[Teacher]

Years passed, the girl faded

through my mind for 

I never saw her

and the mother again 

until years later 

I was in my own world 

and there rang the telephone 

[Student]

I clutched tightly at the phone 

praying over and over 

and my prayer was heard 

and so was the telephone that rung 

the teacher asked who it was 

who had called 

I spoke ; my joy knew no bounds 

My words poured out 

like birds flying out a cage 

The words she had said 

I now echoed

For this student had fought the war 

and become a teacher she had seen in her

She was the dream

that she had woken up to think big 

She was the fire

that had burned the ring