Poem: Teacher to the Gods

Introduction

This poem is dedicated to every teacher - in homes, in classrooms, around the globe and across the unfolding journey of life, past, present and future.

It honours the mentors who ignite curiosity, restore confidence, and carry us through doubt with steady hands. It celebrates the sacrifices they make, their compassion, their tough love, and the way they raise us beyond what we believed possible.

It is also a tribute to those of us who now walk the same path, guided by the light they once shone for us.

Teacher to the Gods

I have so many questions

about the giants who shaped my path -

What makes them rise each morning

with a heart full of patient light?

What fire keeps them teaching

long after the world has fallen asleep?

They were my first guides,

long before classrooms and exams—

parents and guardians,

whispering wisdom into the soft clay

of my earliest days.

They planted seeds before I even knew

a garden lived inside me.

My greatest teachers

took the dull and made it shine,

They breathed life into cold equations,

wove stories of triumph and hardship,

and made knowledge feel

like a journey worth taking.

They saw the spark I could not see,

nudged me gently,

sometimes firmly,

towards the courage of self-reliance.

They taught me to think with clarity,

to reason with honesty,

to feel passion for truth.

And, on the shoulders of giants,

I stood at least a foot taller

and saw horizons I once believed were out of reach.

They showed humanity.

They showed tough love.

They showed me the road

to my own success.

One even told me I might fail

just so I could rise

and rewrite destiny with my own hands.

They sacrificed sleep

so I could meet my goals,

sacrificed rest

so I could learn how to soar.

And in those quiet hours,

they shaped the future

without ever asking for applause.

And now—

I walk the path they once walked.

I follow the footprints that lifted me.

Through the doors they opened,

I find myself flying

toward horizons I never knew existed -

toward the heavens they once pointed to,

toward the echelons and gods of knowledge 

they taught me I could reach.

Thank you.

For I am forever in your debt -

you who showed me how to rise,

you who made me believe,

you…

the teacher to the gods.

Adisha Kariyawasam

19/11/2025

🌅 #Inspiration

📚 #LifelongLearning

🕯️ #Guidance

🌟 #Mentorship

🛤️ #JourneyOfKnowledge