The Poets' Lincoln: Tributes in Verse to the Martyred President
History
The Poets' Lincoln: Tributes in Verse to the Martyred President
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Poetry
This bronze our Lincoln's noble head doth bear,
Behold the strength and splendor of that face,
So homely-beautiful, with just a trace
Of humor lightening its look of care,
With bronze indeed his memory doth share,
This martyr who found freedom for a Race;
Both shall endure beyond the time and place
That knew them first, and brighter grow with wear.
Happy must be the genius here that wrought
These features of the great American
Whose fame lends so much glory to our past--
Happy to know the inspiration caught
From this most human and heroic man
Lives here to honor him while Art shall last.
[Illustration: MARBLE HEAD OF LINCOLN
In Statuary Hall, Capitol in Washington, Gutzon Borglum, sculptor]
Ella Wheeler [Wilcox] was born in Johnstown Centre, Wisconsin, in
1845. Was educated at the public schools at Windsor and at the
University of Wisconsin. In 1884 she married Robert M. Wilcox.
Contributed articles for newspapers at an early age and also wrote and
published a number of books of poems.
THE GLORY THAT SLUMBERED IN THE GRANITE ROCK
A granite rock on the mountain side
Gazed on the world and was satisfied;
It watched the centuries come and go--
It welcomed the sunlight, and loved the snow,
It grieved when the forest was forced to fall,
But smiled when the steeples rose, white and tall,
In the valley below it, and thrilled to hear
The voice of the great town roaring near.
When the mountain stream from its idle play
Was caught by the mill-wheel, and borne away
And trained to labor, the gray rock mused:
"Tree and verdure and stream are used
By man, the master, but I remain
Friend of the Mountain, and Star, and Plain;
Unchanged forever, by God's decree,
While passing centuries bow to me!"
Then, all unwarned, with a heavy shock
Down from the mountain was wrenched the rock.
Bruised and battered and broken in heart,
He was carried away to a common mart.
Wrecked and ruined in peace and pride,
"Oh, God is cruel!" the granite cried;
"Comrade of Mountain, of Star the friend--
By all deserted--how sad my end!"
A dreaming sculptor, in passing by,
Gazed on the granite with thoughtful eye;
Then, stirred with a purpose supreme and grand,
He bade his dream in the rock expand--
And lo! from the broken and shapeless mass,
That grieved and doubted, it came to pass
That a glorious statue, of infinite worth--
A statue of LINCOLN--adorned the earth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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