Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.

He is usually listed as one of the Fireside Poets. John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17 1807 – September 7 1892) was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Highly regarded in his lifetime and for a period thereafter he is now remembered for his poem Snow-Bound and the words of the hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind from his poem "The Brewing of Soma" sung to music by Hubert Parry.