When I was young in school, no claim, no care:

Like all the others: ignorant, active, loud:

Name for a boy's face: nothing, or something, there,

No teacher need have known me among the crowd.

But knew me, taught me, little by little, well,

Till great words spoke to me from the printed page.

But not for my sake. No, but because it fell

To them to teach us for their woman's wage.

When I think they may never be told we learned

By bounty, by all they gave each year to all,

It seems not enough though honor doubly earned

Were bronze and hung in the center of the wall.

When we were older, there was more than one

Not empty-handed while our hands were out.

That work was forever only well-begun-

It was not for us to guess how often in doubt-

It was not for us to know that year by year

They worked beyond the letter of law, nor how

A patient anonymous joy in making clear

Was always theirs. By grace we know it now.

But now, for all the plenty we could boast,

We have not among us praise enough to give

The teachers who in their time and at their post

Helped us in hundreds to be men and live.