Starting Over

The teacher threw away his books,
his ribbons,
instruments for surgery and music.
Buried his microscope, but kept
its twin to stare at the heavens
and count the stars.
He had discovered his dilemma,
that what he tried to teach
was far less than what he had to learn,
so he returned to what he was
in the beginning,
a child who knows how to play
inside galaxies,
and be exactly where he is.