Our teacher told us one day he would leave
And sail across  a warm blue sea
To places he had only known from maps,
And all his life he longed to be.

The house he lived in was narrow and gray
But in his mind's eye he could see
Sweet-scented jasmine cling to the walls,
And green leaves burning on an orange tree.

He spoke of the lands he lomged to visit,
Where it was never drab or cold.
I couldn`t understand why he never left,
And shook off the school`s stranglehold.

Then halfway through his final term
He took ill and never returned.
He never got to that place on the map
Where the green leaves of the orange trees burned.

The map  were redrawn on the classroom wall;
His name forgotten,he faded away.
But a lesson he never knew he taught
Is with me this day.

I travel to where the green leaves burn,
To where the ocean`s glass-clear and blue,
To places our teacher taught me love--
And which he never knew.

Brian Patten(born 1946) is from Liverpool, England. He is a popular poey and performer, and a children's author. His poem are about the richness of life and imagination. His collections of poetry include Storm Damage and Armada. 

longed to be : desired to go to 

burnings : here, showing brightly

drab : dull and without colour

shook off : broke away from

stranglehold : a tight grip, tough to escape from