Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.
Ichabod!John Greenleaf Whittier (18071892)
S
Which once he wore!
The glory from his gray hairs gone
Forevermore!
A snare for all;
And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath,
Befit his fall!
When he who might
Have lighted up and led his age,
Falls back in night.
A bright soul driven,
Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark,
From hope and heaven!
Insult him now,
Nor brand with deeper shame his dim
Dishonored brow.
From sea to lake,
Along lament, as for the dead,
In sadness make.
Save power remains,—
A fallen angel’s pride of thought,
Still strong in chains.
The soul has fled:
When faith is lost, when honor dies,
The man is dead!
To his dead fame;
Walk backward, with averted gaze,
And hide the shame!