Abraham Lincoln | Page 2

Epitome;
To share, yet rise above?Their shifting hate and love.
Common his mind (it seemed so then),?His thoughts the thoughts of other men:
Plain were his words, and poor--?But now they will endure!
No hasty fool, of stubborn will,?But prudent, cautious, pliant, still;
Who, since his work was good,?Would do it, as he could.
Doubting, was not ashamed to doubt,?And, lacking prescience, went without:
Often appeared to halt,?And was, of course, at fault:
Heard all opinions, nothing loth,?And loving both sides, angered both:
Was--_not_ like Justice, blind,?But watchful, clement, kind.
No hero, this, of Roman mould;?Nor like our stately sires of old:
Perhaps he was not Great--?But he preserved the State!
O honest face, which all men knew!?O tender heart, but known to few!
O Wonder of the Age,?Cut off by tragic Rage!
Peace! Let the long procession come,?For hark!--the mournful, muffled drum--
The trumpet's wail afar,--?And see! the awful Car!
Peace! Let the sad procession go,?While cannon boom, and bells toll slow:
And go, thou sacred Car,?Bearing our Woe afar!
Go, darkly borne, from State to State,?Whose loyal, sorrowing Cities wait
To honor all they can?The dust of that Good Man!
Go, grandly borne, with such a train?As greatest kings might die to gain:
The Just, the Wise, the Brave?Attend thee to the grave!
And you, the soldiers of our wars,?Bronzed veterans, grim with noble scars,
Salute him once again,?Your late Commander--slain!
Yes, let your tears, indignant, fall,?But leave your muskets on the wall:
Your Country needs you now?Beside the forge, the plough!
(When Justice shall unsheathe her brand,--?If Mercy may not stay her hand,
Nor would we have it so--?_She_ must direct the blow!)
And you, amid the Master-Race,?Who seem so strangely out of place,
Know ye who cometh? He?Who hath declared ye Free!
Bow while the Body passes--Nay,?Fall on your knees, and weep, and pray!
Weep, weep--I would ye might--?Your poor, black faces white!
And, Children, you must come in bands,?With garlands in your little hands,
Of blue, and white, and red,?To strew before the Dead!
So, sweetly, sadly, sternly goes?The Fallen to his last repose:
Beneath no mighty dome,?But in his modest Home;
The churchyard where his children rest,?The quiet spot that suits him best:
There shall his grave be made,?And there his bones be laid!
And there his countrymen shall come,?With memory proud, with pity dumb,
And strangers far and near,?For many and many a year!
For many a year, and many an Age,?While History on her ample page
The virtues shall enroll?Of that Paternal Soul!
End of Project Gutenberg's Abraham Lincoln., by Richard Henry Stoddard
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