Lesson Plan

And so the lesson began,

a brief poem to read, “two roads diverged …”,

questions asked, questions answered,

metaphor and simile, rhyme and meter,

new vocabulary, a new way of seeing,

and a brief essay to write showing meaning,

understanding, new skills acquired;

 

then the announcement came:

“go into lockdown,

this is not a drill!”

 

So we sat huddled in the corner,

away from the door, away from the windows,

the lesson abandoned, the poem, the questions,

the answers, abandoned, too,  a new way

and the essay, unexplained

as we sat, quiet and still, scared

and sobbing, wide-eyed, wondering;

 

this is not the lesson I had planned.