keeping the lights on

keeping the lights on

they didn’t know it

they couldn’t see it

perhaps they hoped it

if they could dream that far

when they put on the miner’s lamp

went down into the coal mines

of pennsylvania

deep into the earth

breathed the dust heavy air

that blackened their lungs

they didn’t know

they were lighting the way

for his path

preparing the climb out of the mines

beyond the factories

for their grandson/son

so that he could

walk the ivied halls

mine the treasures of academe

wearing the robes they laid out for him

lifting the lamp

they placed in his hand

lamp light

he has faithfully tended

it has not gone out on his watch

flame around which

he has carefully cupped his hands

torch he has passed

to the next generations

faithful to the memory of the mines

the ancestors lives/gifts

he has labored joyfully in the classroom

lifting the lamp of learning

putting light in the eyes

fire in the minds

of cherished students

who now shine like the

morning stars

all around the world

christie for stan, my best friend,

upon reading the letters from his students

sent on the occasion of his retirement

after 40 years of teaching mathematics

and chairing the department of mathematics

at anderson university, anderson, indiana

april, 2011