She taught numbers
And the colors of the rainbow
Like so many little bars
To build a big ladder

She gave them the ABC
Offered them recitations
To all these poorly armed children
As small ammunition

She talked to them about all the books
She taught them all the letters
To become free men
And make their own windows

And even the last of the dunces
Listened to The Charterhouse of Parma
She said that a hand stained with ink
Is a hand that will not hold a weapon

She taught them, you see
That a book can change a life
She taught them, you see
That a book can be a friend

She had the slightly crazy dream
That a book can change a life
And that there are no thugs
Only people who have learned nothing

Today, I think back to her
To all the lives she changed
With her consonants and vowels
And all the sentences she sowed

I see her at her desk
Head tilted to the side
Fixing their words
As one would treat the wounded

She taught them, you see
That a book can change a life
She taught them, you see
That a book can be a friend

She had the slightly crazy dream
That a book can change a life
And that there are no thugs
Only people who have learned nothing

This teacher, she was my mother
Having shared her a little
I feel rich with sisters and brothers
That I have never met

Free flowers and wild flowers
May life water them
With love, knowledge and work
As much as a garden of thoughts

She taught them, you see
That a book can change a life
She taught them, you see
That a book can be a friend

She taught them, you see
That a book can change a life
She had this slightly crazy dream
That a book can be a friend

Can be a friend
Can be a friend
Can be a friend

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