Home | The Athenry Journal (1995–2004) | Magazine | Poem | Education, People, Poetry

What do we teach our children in school?

We teach than two and two make four

and that Paris is the capital of France.

When will we also teach them what they are?

We should say to each of them:

Do you know what you are?

You are a marvel! You are unique!

There is no other child exactly like you.

In the million years that have passed

there has never been another child like you

Look at your body – what a wonder it is

Your legs, your arms, your cunning fingers, the way they move

You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven

When you grow up, you can then harm

another who is like you, a marvel?

You must cherish one another   

You must work – we all must work…,

to make this world worthy of  its children

who are working for God and for people

Pablo Casals, renowned Spanish Ccellist

This poem was sent in by Rhiona Burke, Binn, Athenry

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Written by Pablo Casals

Published here 12 Jan 2023 and originally published December 1996

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