John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

SO fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn

Which once he wore!

The glory from his gray hairs gone

Forevermore!

Revile him not,—the tempter hath

A snare for all;

And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath,

Befit his fall!

Oh! dumb be passion, stormy rage,

When he who might

Have lighted up and led his age,

Falls back in night.

Scorn! would the angels laugh, to mark

A bright soul driven,

Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark,

From hope and heaven!

Let not the land, once proud of him,

Insult him now,

Nor brand with deeper shame his dim

Dishonored brow.

But let its humbled sons, instead,

From sea to lake,

Along lament, as for the dead,

In sadness make.

Of all we loved and honored, nought

Save power remains,—

A fallen angel’s pride of thought,

Still strong in chains.

All else is gone; from those great eyes

The soul has fled:

When faith is lost, when honor dies,

The man is dead!

Then pay the reverence of old days

To his dead fame;

Walk backward, with averted gaze,

And hide the shame!