Shadows

ON BEING A TEACHER

73 ON BEING A TEACHER As a teacher, I’m saying I have frequented a tiny part of God’s kingdom; It means I have been at it over and over To understand how vast is His wisdom. As a teacher, I mean I’m not the best; I’m saying I fell and fell trying to conquer until I learned I could not do it alone. The Master had to lend me His hand and my students, their cooperation. As a teacher, I’m confirming the narrowness Of what I have a good understanding of; I’m in fact only saying I know What it takes to understand even a little. As a teacher, I’ve been on a long journey And I remember well where I stumbled: The potholes, the dust, mud, and sludge even, And I want to navigate you to avoid these. As a teacher, I have learned mastery over My temper, the knowledge that only a few Students and parents value us; to the rest I am a mere teacher whose salary they think they pay. As a teacher some students disrespect me Sometimes. But then I think of Christ. As a teacher some parents slight us; I smile, Because their children’s future is in my hands. As a teacher, even my employers care 74 Less about me. I am only a means To their wealth and the popularity of Their institution; this is the truth. Yes, as a teacher, I train others They graduate and make ten times more; When they fail, I’m a bad teacher, When they succeed they worked hard. As a teacher, I am always a teacher; My joy lies in knowing that I am serving, To the few who remember my effort, that’s My reward, the real pay cheque—I am a teacher. As a teacher, I don’t think that I know all, I am in fact excited if I can be challenged, Respectfully, by my student, Like Niyi Osundare taught and urged me to do, Like Dan Izevbaye permitted me to do, Like Robert Wren confirmed and confessed in class. As a teacher I would have succeeded If my students can smile in the course Of their journey whenever they think of me, Else a noble course have I betrayed. As a teacher I can smile after all these years Looking back in time and cringing only occasionally, But for the better part I can smile in victory As I into so many faces from time to time do stare, And encomiums on me alight from successful Pupils now masters in their specialties. 75 Yet there are those, even if unacknowledged, That as a teacher I must not have touched; Mea culpa! I was only trying to be a teacher And by now they all know what manner of job it is. ...