| James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871–1938). The Book of American Negro Poetry. 1922. |
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| The Teacher |
| | | Leslie Pinckney Hill |
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| LORD, who am I to teach the way | |
| To little children day by day, | |
| So prone myself to go astray? | |
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| I teach them KNOWLEDGE, but I know | |
| How faint they flicker and how low | 5 |
| The candles of my knowledge glow. | |
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| I teach them POWER to will and do, | |
| But only now to learn anew | |
| My own great weakness through and through. | |
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| I teach them LOVE for all mankind | 10 |
| And all God’s creatures, but I find | |
| My love comes lagging far behind. | |
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| Lord, if their guide I still must be, | |
| Oh let the little children see | |
| The teacher leaning hard on Thee. | 15 |
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