| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 214. Ichabod |
| | | By John Greenleaf Whittier |
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| SO fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn | |
| Which once he wore! | |
| The glory from his gray hairs gone | |
| Forevermore! | |
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| Revile him not, the Tempter hath | 5 |
| A snare for all; | |
| And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath, | |
| Befit his fall! | |
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| Oh, dumb be passion’s stormy rage, | |
| When he who might | 10 |
| Have lighted up and led his age, | |
| Falls back in night. | |
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| Scorn! would the angels laugh, to mark | |
| A bright soul driven, | |
| Fiend-goaded, down the endless dark, | 15 |
| From hope and heaven! | |
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| Let not the land once proud of him | |
| Insult him now, | |
| Nor brand with deeper shame his dim, | |
| Dishonored brow. | 20 |
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| But let its humbled sons, instead, | |
| From sea to lake, | |
| A long lament, as for the dead, | |
| In sadness make. | |
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| Of all we loved and honored, naught | 25 |
| Save power remains; | |
| A fallen angel’s pride of thought, | |
| Still strong in chains. | |
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| All else is gone; from those great eyes | |
| The soul has fled: | 30 |
| When faith is lost, when honor dies, | |
| The man is dead! | |
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| Then, pay the reverence of old days | |
| To his dead fame; | |
| Walk backward, with averted gaze, | 35 |
| And hide the shame! | |
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