Teacher

Ideals are like the stars,
  Always above our reach.
Humbly I tried to learn,
  More humbly did I teach.

On all honest virtues
  I sought to keep firm hold.
I wanted to be a good man
  Though I pinched my soul.

But now I lie beneath cool loam
  Forgetting every dream;
And in this narrow bed of earth
  No lights gleam.

In this narrow bed of earth
  Star-dust never scatters,
And I tremble lest the darkness teach
  Me that nothing matters.