Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GREAT TEACHER, by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL Poet's Biography First Line: I love to feel that I am taught Last Line: Our saviour-god shall see. Subject(s): God | ||||||||
I LOVE to feel that I am taught, And, as a little child, To note the lessons I have learnt In passing through the wild. For I am sure God teaches me, And His own gracious hand Each varying page before me spreads, By love and wisdom planned. I often think I cannot spell The lesson I must learn, And then, in weariness and doubt, I pray the page may turn; But time goes on, and soon I find I was learning all the while; And words which seemed most dimly traced Shine out with rainbow smile. Or sometimes strangely I forget, And, learning o'er and o'er, A lesson all with tear-drops wet, Which I had learnt before, He chides me not, but waits a while, Then wipes my heavy eyes: Oh what a Teacher is our God, So patient and so wise! Dark silent hours of study fall, And I can scarcely see; Then one beside me whispers low What is so hard to me. 'T is easier then! I am so glad I am not taught alone; It is such help to overhear A lesson like my own. Sometimes the Master gives to me A strange new alphabet; I wonder what its use will be, Or why it need be set. And then I find this tongue alone Some stranger ear can reach, One whom He may commission me For Him to train or teach. If others sadly bring to me A lesson hard and new, I often find that helping them Has made me learn it too. Or, had I learnt it long before, My toil is overpaid, If so one tearful eye may see One lesson plainer made. We do not see our Teacher's face, We do not hear His voice; And yet we know that He is near, We feel it, and rejoice. There is a music round our hearts, Set in no mortal key; There is a Presence with our souls, We know that it is He. His loving teaching cannot fail; And we shall know at last Each task that seemed so hard and strange, When learning time is past. Oh! may we learn to love Him more, By every opening page, By every lesson He shall mark With daily ripening age. And then, to "know as we are known" Shall be our glorious prize, To see the Teacher who hath been So patient and so wise. O joy untold! Yet not alone Shall ours the gladness be: The travail of His soul in us Our Saviour-God shall see. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MOUNTAIN IS STRIPPED by DAVID IGNATOW AS CLOSE AS BREATHING by MARK JARMAN UNHOLY SONNET 1 by MARK JARMAN UNHOLY SONNET 13 by MARK JARMAN BIRTH-DUES by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE SILENT SHEPHERDS by ROBINSON JEFFERS GOING TO THE HORSE FLATS by ROBINSON JEFFERS CONSECRATION HYMN by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL I DID THIS FOR THEE! WHAT HAST THOU DONE FOR ME? by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL A BIRTHDAY GREETING TO MY FATHER, 1860 by FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL |
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