The Teacher Taught by Samuel T. Coleridge

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jun 16, 1904

The Teacher Taught

By Samuel T. Coleridge

O’ER wayward children wouldst thou hold firm rule, And sun thee in the light of happy faces? Love, Hope, Patience,—these must be the graces, And in thine own heart let them first keep school! For, as old Atlas on his broad neck places Heaven’s starry globe, and there sustains it, so Do these upbear the little world below Of education—Patience, Hope, and Love!

Methinks I see them grouped in seemly show,— The straitened arms upraised,—the palms aslope,— And robes that touching, as adown they flow, Distinctly blend, like snow embossed in snow; O part them never! if Hope prostrate lie. Love, too, will sink and die.

But Love is subtle; and will proof derive, From her own life, that Hope is still alive, And bending o’er, with soul-transfusing eyes, And the soft murmurs of the mother dove, Woos back the fleeting spirit, and half supplies. Thus Love repays to Hope what Hope first gave to Love!

Yet haply there will come a weary day, When, overtasked, at length, Both Love and Hope beneath the load give way, Then, with a statue’s smile, a statue’s strength, Stands the mute sister, Patience,—nothing loath; And, both supporting, does the work of both.

—Samuel T. Coleridge.