Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A FARMER REMEMBERS LINCOLN, by WITTER BYNNER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A FARMER REMEMBERS LINCOLN, by                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Lincoln, / well, I was in the old second main
Last Line: "I guess even you young folks would 'a' liked him."
Alternate Author Name(s): Morgan, Emanuel
Subject(s): Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865); Presidents, United States


LINCOLN, --
Well, I was in the Old Second Maine,
The first regiment in Washington from the Pine Tree State.
Of course I didn't get the butt of the clip;
We was there for guardin' Washington --
We was all green.
"I ain't ben to but one theater in my life --
I didn't know how to behave.
I ain't never ben since.
I can see as plain as my hat the box where he sat in
When he was shot.
I can tell you, sir, there was a panic
When we found our President was in the shape he was in;
Never saw a soldier in the world but what liked him.

'Yes, sir. His looks was kind o' hard to forget.
He was a spare man,
An old farmer.
Everything was all right, you know,
But he wasn't a smooth-appearin' man at all --
Not in no ways;
Thin-faced, long-necked,
And a swellin' kind of a thick lip like.

"And he was a jolly old fellow -- always cheerful;
He wasn't so high, but the boys could talk to him their own ways.
While I was servin' at the Hospital
He'd come in and say, 'You look nice in here,'
Praise us up, you know.
And he'd bend over and talk to the boys --
And he'd talk so good to 'em -- so close --
That's why I call him a farmer.
I don't mean that everything about him wasn't all right, you understand,
It's just -- well, I was a farmer --
And he was my neighbor, anybody's neighbor.

"I guess even you young folks would 'a' liked him."





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