Thimk!

 

 

If you saw it at the first

You’d know what it should be,

If you didn’t and you are honest

By now you should see.

I am just asking that you think-

The “n”, and not the “m”

As you read this little note

That I am about to send.

It’s one of those times again

When I have writer’s block,

I sense a need that I should write

But in my mind is not a lot.

I am pushing myself to think

Hence, the title of this poem,

If you saw the “m” up there

You know my problem.

I recall a certain math class

When I was still at school,

On the board a teacher wrote “Thimk”

And I thought that was so cool.

I was one of the first to see it

And I drew it to his attention

Whereupon he changed the “m”

And replaced in with an “n”.

That day I felt very smart

But that was where it stopped,

As you and I very well know

Mathematics is not my slot.

Yes, I heard that “What!”

And I heard that gasp,

I notice I had fooled you too

But that will soon pass.

  

I know very little math

But what I know I teach well,

My spelling is not that great either

But I guess you can tell.

I trust you have thought out

What I am trying to say,

Whatever you can do,

Do it in the best way.

If it is correcting people

Simply do it in love,

Just like our Heavenly Father

That lives above.

Don’t ever be boastful

Or be proud of heart,

This is not a good course to charter

So, don’t you even start.

Instead “think” as you go along,

It’s like thinking on your feet

And if the “m” crops up

Just strike delete.

This is a simple poem,

In which I have not said a lot

But if you saw “think” when it was “thimk”

Then you too had a block.

Stewart Russell © April 2020