Abraham Lincoln
(5-7-5 Suite)
.
Lincoln, President
divisive when elected
Civil War erupts
.
proclaimed , Honest Abe
for backwoods integrity
loved telling tall tales
.
wore a stovepipe hat
a thin beard under his chin
memorable look
.
with diversity
assembled mixed cabinet
“A Team of Rivals”
.
shouldered war’s burdens
with melancholy resolve
freed slaves from bondage
.
blood on his conscience
but determined to succeed
held to the hard course
.
expressed emotions
on the famous battlefields
Gettysburg Address
.
preserved the Union
at great personal expense
assassinated
.
| Author Notes Lincoln was a man of great personal courage and integrity.
|
I like your poem about Lincoln. The phrases “blood on his conscience” and “preserved the Union at great personal cost” add strength to the poem. It’s difficult to write freshly about a figure that (some) people believe they already know about. I believe there’s some deep connection Americans feel to Lincoln; I wonder if part of that isn’t the tragedy of his death, and the sudden yet extended recognition of what the nation lost. (Do we ever appreciate people properly, as they are living?). Walt Whitman, a contemporary of Lincoln, wrote a lovely poem “When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed.” You might enjoy reading that. Carl Sandburg, known for his poetry and also for his Lincoln biography (l940s or 50s I recall, for which he won the Pulitizer Prize), also greatly admired Abraham Lincoln. You’re in good company.