To My Visiting Teachers

By Emma Lou Thayne

I’m glad you came, my friends.

Today was not a day marked on my calendar

in red—or black.

It was just a day.

Until you came.

You came to me

and I was all I had for you to see.

My props and backdrops, even my supporting actors

were somehow unimportant on the scene:

Just you. Just me. We three

in good companionship.

Or maybe, yes, I’m sure, there was another

who talked and laughed and felt with us.

Because, here now, behind the door

that I just closed

as you two touched my arm and said

you’d come again

the day is new

and I’m not alone at all.

Photography by Steve Bunderson