I.
One among the million, fainting on the way,
Stricken by the heat and the burden of the day,
Looked to me for comfort, as I heard him say--
'What am I but one among the million!

'Dense are the crowds, and distracting is the strife,
A wrestle, and a bustle, and a battle to the knife;
Alas! for the woefulness and weariness of life,
To be but as one among the million!

'Everywhere a struggle, and the struggle all for self,
The wickedness of pleasure, or the worthlessness of pelf,
While each stands apart, thrust aside upon the shelf,
A solitary one among the million!

'A little wither'd grain amid the heap'd-up threshing-floor,
A leaf among the forest, one leaf, and nothing more,
A drop of the Atlantic, and a pebble on its shore,
A one small one among the million!

'Unprized in my good, and unpitied in my sin,
With none to care for how I fare without me or within,
The ride rushes by, and it stuns me with its dine--
Oh, comfort one among the million!'

II.
One among the million! gladly do I stand
To offer thee a brother's heart, and take a brother's hand;
Oh, there are thousand thousands left, Elijah's countless band,
To comfort all among the million!

Is it not a blessedness, that Christ hath bled for thee;
A wondrous and a glorious thing that He a man could be,
A man, and yet the God of men, to rescue thee and me,
And die for all among the million?

And is it not a happy thought, that, on the other side
Of time, with all its worrying cares, and all its petty pride,
For 'every one that thirsteth' floweth Life's eternal tide
Of joys for all among the million?

And is it not a gladness, that man, thy brother man,
And woman's gentle sisterhood, and childhood, where it can,
Are eager here to bless thee,-- tho' Mammon seems to ban--
To bless, yes, all among the million?

Oh! one among the million! there are millions with thee still,
To lift thy load, and cheer thy heart, and help thee up this hill;
Go on, and God go with thee! He can comfort thee, and will;
Ay, thee, and all among the million!