Voices from the Dust

By Vernice Wineera Pere

I cannot clean this chalk-board.

No matter how I rub,

my scribbles from lessons past

still faintly proclaim

my teaching of you.

Nephi, Lehi, Moroni:

All speak indisputably,

indeed, indelibly,

voices from the dust

of colored chalks

that daily coat my fingers

(and, I hope, your hearts).

Reading these reminders

of long-gone lessons

I recognize principles

we probed together

in our learning.

How I hope their meanings linger,

mapped upon your memories

as stubbornly as they challenge

my efforts to erase them

from the dust

upon my chalk-board

this late morning.