John Greenleaf Whittier: Collected Lyrics
183 / 271
Public-domain lyrics

The Lost Statesman

John Greenleaf Whittier

“The Lost Statesman” as printed in The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).

John Greenleaf Whittier: Collected Lyrics Text 183 1895 · historical text
Public domainBalladAmerican song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

As they who, tossing midst the storm at night,

While turning shoreward, where a beacon shone,

Meet the walled blackness of the heaven alone,

So, on the turbulent waves of party tossed,

In gloom and tempest, men have seen thy light

Quenched in the darkness. At thy hour of noon,

While life was pleasant to thy undimmed sight,

And, day by day, within thy spirit grew

A holier hope than young Ambition knew,

As through thy rural quiet, not in vain,

Pierced the sharp thrill of Freedom’s cry of pain,

Man of the millions, thou art lost too soon!

Portents at which the bravest stand aghast,—

The birth-throes of a Future, strange and vast,

Alarm the land; yet thou, so wise and strong,

Suddenly summoned to the burial bed,

Lapped in its slumbers deep and ever long,

Hear’st not the tumult surging overhead.

Who now shall rally Freedom’s scattering host?

Who wear the mantle of the leader lost?

Who stay the march of slavery? He whose voice

Verse 2

Hath called thee from thy task-field shall not lack

Yet bolder champions, to beat bravely back

The wrong which, through his poor ones, reaches Him:

Yet firmer hands shall Freedom’s torch-lights trim,

And wave them high across the abysmal black,

Till bound, dumb millions there shall see them and rejoice.

Credits

Written by John Greenleaf Whittier

Words by John Greenleaf Whittier. Historical text published in The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895), “The Lost Statesman”

Every text in this 1895 collected edition is by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), who died more than 133 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-27. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
Keep tracing

More from John Greenleaf Whittier: Collected Lyrics.

01Lord and Father of MankindPublic-domain lyrics02The LaurelsPublic-domain lyrics03The Rock" in El GhorPublic-domain lyrics04A Christmas CarmenPublic-domain lyrics