Silent School Days

I am refusing to look back fondly
On the so-called best days and years of my life
So my memories will not deceive me
With rose tinted reminiscence and hindsight

School was nothing more than a breeding ground
For close minded and close hearted thinking
Education was drip fed like water
But was too contaminated for drinking

We were fenced in along side our ambition
And watched it fade as we were forced to learn
From teachers for whom our best interests
Did not seem to be any of their concern

Most days it felt more like a factory
Than a fertile field of free thought
Manufacturing these children’s futures
With the useless information that they taught

Truth is they were bound by bureaucracy
Their once nurturing hands tied up in red tape
And without any passion for teaching
They began to neglect and humiliate

So I’d go to the library, see spaces on shelves
This told me that there were others like me
Wanting to lose themselves between book covers
Before losing their true identity

So I kept my head down and carried on
With an intention to see it through and depart
And spend the rest of my life trying to shake off
Those silent school days from my silent heart