Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, by ALMA ADAMS WILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL, by                    
First Line: Man of the rugged frame and calm, worn face
Last Line: How pure the soul that healed a nation's woe.
Subject(s): Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.c.; Presidents, United States


Man of the rugged frame and calm, worn face,
Sitting colossal in thy marble chair,
Oh for a voice to ring through star-strewn space
And tell thee that, though dead, thou livest there!
Kings have for queens built spire and monument --
Still gleams the jeweled Taj in moonlit pool;
In Buddha's bronze a woman's grief is pent;
Once Rome's grim warriors carved in stone their rule;
But what is Orient dome or royal shrine
Or crumbling arch's half-forgotten fame
Before the glory of a home like thine,
Erected in a grateful people's name?

The Nation which thou savedst this splendor gave,
Proportioned with strict care the flowing lines
Of colonnade and porch and architrave,
The lofty seat, the panels' rich designs.
Thy seerlike brow no fleeting laurels bind;
But circling round the great memorial's height
Thy mighty wreath the States united wind.
Below, the mirror of the pool, sun-bright,
Reflects the stately pile, as if to show
How pure the soul that healed a Nation's woe.





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