Lyric Poem · Peace
The Lost Leader
1Just for a handful of silver he left us,
2 Just for a riband to stick in his coat —
3Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us,
4 Lost all the others she lets us devote;
5They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver,
6 So much was theirs who so little allowed;
7How all our copper had gone for his service!
8 Rags — were they purple, his heart had been proud!
9We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,
10 Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,
11Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,
12 Made him our pattern to live and to die!
13Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us,
14 Burns, Shelley, were with us, — they watch from their graves!
15He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,
16 He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!
17We shall march prospering — not through his presence;
18 Songs may inspirit us, — not from his lyre:
19Deeds will be done, — while he boasts his quiescence,
20 Still bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire:
21Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more,
22 One task more declined, one more footpath untrod,
23One more devil's-triumph and sorrow for angels,
24 One wrong more to man, one more insult to God!
25Life's night begins: let him never come back to us!
26 There would be doubt, hesitation, and pain,
27Forced praise on our part — the glimmer of twilight,
28 Never glad confident morning again!
29Best fight on well, for we taught him — strike gallantly,
30 Menace our heart ere we master his own;
31Then let him receive the new knowledge and wait us,
32 Pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The Lost Leader” by Robert Browning — quilloak.com/poems/the-lost-leader
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Lost Leader
- Poet
- Robert Browning
- Length
- 32 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Peace, Love, Death & Loss
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 32 lines · 2 stanzas of 16 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 10-12 syllables (median 11). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Browning1812–1889
- Source record
- PoetryDBThe Lost Leader by robert-browning, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 00f09cbaf04e61b5…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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