The Teacher

To us kids, he was a leviathan wielding a cane. His head touched the sky.

Now he lies shriveled in his hospital bed.

And I still check to see if my shoes are polished.

Hema is an Indian-American writer who lives in Singapore with her husband and her four-year-old daughter. Her work has appeared on Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Sunlight Press, The Aerogram, WordPress Discover and in a few anthologies, including “Raising Her Voice” published by The Same. She blogs at www.hemas-mixedbag.com and tweets as m_ixedbag. Connect with her on Twitter at: @m_ixedbag