Carry On Koby

“Some quotations really resonate,

and this one, by James Michener, is great:

‘I love writing. 

I love the swirl

and swing of words

as they tangle with human emotions.’

Now, THAT is a notion, 

replete with emotion, 

which really strikes 

a chord with me.

Thanks to depression and ADHD,

which numbed my mind,

made me ‘blind’,

as a kid at school,

I just couldn’t see it:

to get my English Language ‘O’-Level

took a re-sit!

History was a mystery;

in Latin, I’d be chattin’,

I simply couldn’t concentrate,

in class, I couldn’t integrate,

but the conditions weren’t recognised,

and instead of help and a leg-up, 

most of the teachers gave up

and stuck me at the back of the room

– I may as well have been plonked on the moon!

If I’d had the pills for my later-diagnosed ills,

I’d have done my duty,

but, more, I’d have seen the beauty 

in English, in all of my subjects,

in learning, in education,

lessons wouldn’t have been a bore,

homework wouldn’t have been a chore.

What could have been,

if I had seen,

if my days hadn’t been hazy,

if I hadn’t been labelled naughty and lazy.

They tried to slam the door,

but I still got into uni to study law,

and, what’s more, 

I came out fighting, 

I discovered the beauty of the English language, reading and writing.

I guess, for all my costly education,

all that was bought,

I am largely self-taught.

Well, I did have some teachers who, for me, gave up their time,

perhaps it’s thanks to them that I am writing this rhyme.

But now I’m on a journey of discovery,

and it is beautiful,

it fills me with awe to my very core,

it is meaningful, fulfilling and thrilling

so I cannot be beset by regret.” – koby