Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by ELEAZAR PARMLY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lincoln is dead! And all the land
Last Line: The other, slavery's cursed chains.
Subject(s): American Civil War; Lincoln, Abraham (1809-1865); Presidents, United States; U.s. - History


Lincoln is dead! and all the land
In mourning symbols is attired;
Struck by the vile assassin's hand,
Our noble President expired.

April fourteenth -- 'twas near eleven,
When through his brain the ball had passed,
And minutes twenty-two past seven,
Next morn our chieftain breathed his last.

The people's hope, the wide world's praise,
Lies cold and silent in the earth,
Just at the time the world would raise
Its songs of triumph to his worth.

For nations now beyond the tide,
Own and revere his matchless fame,
And waft o'er seas and oceans wide,
Distinguished honors to his name.

God's chosen one -- and in his care.
Truth, love, and mercy were combined,
"For malice unto none we bear,
But charity to all mankind."

Among the great and mighty deeds
That cluster round his scroll of fame,
The one that others all exceeds,
And will through time exalt his name,

Is that which swept away the stain
Of Slavery from our land, and broke
Its bonds and fetters, stocks and chain,
And crushed for aye its iron yoke.

When asked descendants of the slave,
One only answer there will be,
Who to your people freedom gave?
"'Twas Abraham Lincoln made us free."

And that loved name will ever live,
In all the glories it has won;
Honors to him the world will give,
The same as to our Washington.

And even more than Washington's
Have been our noble Lincoln's gains,
One crushed the pride of Britain's sons,
The other, Slavery's cursed chains.





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