Thank You Mr. S.

I wanted to be a writer When I was just a young teen But I was so incredibly shy And kids can be so mean. Then a new teacher came along. He had such a different view. I no longer felt embarrassed By the writing that I'd do. He made me feel I had a gift And that it should be shared. To him I admitted my hopes And I felt that he really cared. Mr. Sowden encouraged extra work, To write about whatever we wanted. So I wrote and wrote and wrote some more. The words just flew, undaunted. My grade ten English teacher Read my work out loud And winked when the class applauded, For the first time I felt proud. I never signed my real name. The class didn't know it was me But my work garnered admiration, On display for all to see. That was the year I learned that What I wrote was pretty good. I just needed time for confidence to grow And that, Mr. Sowden, understood. He made us see the written word In a way that made us aware. So I would like to thank him, The English teacher who really did care.