| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| The Lost Leader |
| | | Robert Browning (1812–89) |
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| JUST for a handful of silver he left us, | |
| Just for a ribbon to stick in his coat— | |
| Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us, | |
| Lost all the others she lets us devote; | |
| They, with the gold to give, dol’d him out silver, | 5 |
| So much was theirs who so little allow’d; | |
| How all our copper had gone for his service! | |
| Rags—were they purple, his heart had been proud! | |
| We that had lov’d him so, follow’d him, honor’d him, | |
| Liv’d in his mild and magnificent eye, | 10 |
| Learn’d his great language, caught his clear accents, | |
| Made him our pattern to live and to die! | |
| Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us, | |
| Burns, Shelley, were with us,—they watch from their graves! | |
| He alone breaks from the van and the freemen, | 15 |
| He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves! | |
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| We shall march prospering,—not thro’ his presence; | |
| Songs may inspirit us,—not from his lyre; | |
| Deeds will be done,—while he boasts his quiescence, | |
| Still crouch whom the rest bade aspire. | 20 |
| Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more, | |
| One task more declin’d, one more foot-path untrod, | |
| One more devil’s-triumph and sorrow for angels, | |
| One wrong more to man, one more insult to God! | |
| Life’s night begins: let him never come back to us! | 25 |
| There would be doubt, hesitation, and pain, | |
| Forced praise on our part—the glimmer of twilight, | |
| Never glad confident morning again! | |
| Best fight on well, for we taught him—strike gallantly, | |
| Menace our heart ere we master his own; | 30 |
| Then let him receive the new knowledge and wait us, | |
| Pardon’d in heaven, the first by the throne! | |
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