Lessons in life (Part 1 Don't be a dickhead)

[vagabond]

Mr Barker chose to teach, it didn't choose him,
it laughed at him, pushed past him
showed him all its failed floors
and ugly scuffed rough corridors,
it spat manic in his face
tried to trip him, open his case.

He trembled and couldn't control
the class or his body,
holding chalk was a chore.
I gave my advice for free,
keep away you tosser
before you infect me.

I was outside college
hugging coffee cups for warmth
as the elephant shuffled onto the ice.
It rattled like a witch doctors bone bag
its legs shook with each mouse size step.
Shoulders heavy under the weight
of knowing it would only get worse.
I fell, offering an apologetic hand,                                        this is stunning in how much it says.
taking an arm as strong as a spasm.

For the first time I saw it,
the tired effort beneath such frailty,
grey wrinkles of desperation
in search of normality,
hiding in the chaos of the herd.

As the elephant drove away
I saw his secret graveyard
and how he would arrive there alone.

From then on when Mr Barker chose to teach,
I chose not to be a dickhead.

it´s skillful how you observe this. to me the images show both the teacher´s despair and the subject´s developing empathy.
some things i can´t make sense of ( like the graveyard) but that´s not the fault of the poem but mine.