"Lost for 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 want of a word! "Lost for want of a word!"
All in the black night straying
Among the mazes of thought;
False lights ever betraying;
Oh, that a human voice
The mirky darkness had stirred!
Lost and benighted forever!
Lost for want of a word! "Lost for 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 want of a word! "!Lost for want of a word!"
A word that you might have spoken;
Who knows what eyes may be dim,
Or what hearts may be aching or broken?
Go, scatter beside all waters,
Nor sicken at hope deferred;
Let never a soul, by thy dumbness,
Be lost for want of a word!