Lost for the Want of a Word.
Lost for the want of a word!
Fallen among thieves and dying—
Priests and Levites passing
The place where he is lying;
He is too faint to call,
Too far off to be heard;
There are those beside life's highway
Lost for the want of a word. Lost for the want of a word!
Too high, it may be, and noble,
To be ever checked in his sin,
Or led to Christ in his trouble.
No one boldly and truly
To show him where he has erred—
Poor handful of dust and ashes!
Lost for the want of a word! Lost for the want of a word!
A word that you might have spoken!
Who knows what eyes may be dim,
Or what hearts may be aching and broken?
Go scatter beside all waters,
Nor sicken at hope deferred;
Let never a soul by thy dumbness
Be lost for the want of a word.