Capes

From the depths of 12th century came the western masters,

Ancient Middle Eastern and Asian scholars,

Crusades reigned in a world of terror,

Yet all they did was share ideas,

Instead of stealing lives, they snatched knowledge,

And today the little ones pull out their hair and scratch the flesh out of their body.

"Stop teaching me about mitochondria and tell me how to do taxes!",

They write in their black and red placards,

Two pennies a week and giving their life up to bring back intellect in a dead country,

"It's easy, all they do is sit and mess up our lives",

My friend texted me last week.

I had an English professor in school who wore flowers in her hair,

She held delicately the dreams of her students in the folds of her saree,

Once she told me, "Darling, you can be anything",

And I opened my heart and brain only for her to see,

And when people throw stones at her window, I am ready to take the hit.

Not all heroes wear capes and not all heroes shoot guns and draw blood,

Some are meant to sit in broken offices with piles of ungraded papers,

Tweed shirts and a caffeine addiction and high powered glasses,

I will forget the names of my childhood loved ones one day but the ones who taught me life shall remain forever.