WHAT winter holiday is this? In Time's great calendar, Marked in the rubric of the saints, And with a soldier's star, Here stands the name of one who lived To serve the common weal, With humor tender as a prayer And honor firm as steel. Born in the fulness of the days Up from the teeming soil, By the world-molten reared and schooled In reverence and toil, He stands the test of all life's best Through play, defeat, or strain; Never a moment was he found Unlovable nor vain. O South, bring all your chivalry; And West, give all your heart; And East, your old untarnished dreams Of progress and of art! Bid waste and war to be no more, Bid wanton riot cease; At your command give Lincoln's land To Paradise, -- to peace. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAST CHANTEY by RUDYARD KIPLING TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN: THE FIRST DAY: THE BIRDS OF KILLINGWORTH by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LET ALL THE EARTH KEEP SILENCE by LUCY A. K. ADEE I HAVE LOVED by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS THE BURIAL-MARCH OF THE DUNDEE by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |