The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1865-06-14
POETRY.
- - - - ~
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

FouLLr AssAssINATED APRrL II, 1865.
! You lay wreath on murdered I.ncoln's bier,
You, who with mocking pencil wont to trace
Broad tor the self-conplaccnt British sneer,
Ills length OF shambling limb, his furrowed face
His gaunt, gnarland hands, his unkempt bristlint
hair
His grab uncouth, his bearing i'll at ease.
His lack of all we prize as debonair
VI power or i'll to shine Of art to please.
You, whose smart pen backed up the pencil laugh
Judging each step, as though the way were plain
heckiess, so it cond point its paragraph,
vi chiefs perpleXity or peoples pain
Besides this corpse. that bears for windinr-sheet
The Stars and Stripe. he lived to rear anew,
Between the mourners Mt his heat and feet,
Say, scurril-jester, is there room for you?
Yes he had lived to shame me from my sneer,
10 lame my pencil, aud coniute my PEN
10 make me own this hind OF princes peer,
Ihis rail-Spittcr a true-born king o! men.
My shallow judgment had learned to rue,
. Noting how to OCCASIONS hight he rose
HOW his quaint wit made home-truth seem more
How, iron like, his temper grew by blows.
How humble vet how hopeful he could be
How in good fortune and in i'll the same
AN'i NiNttt III elttPSS, nor bUaSttul lie,
Thirsty for gold, nor ieverish for fame
He went about his work-such wok as few
Ever had on head and heart and hand
As one who knows, where there task to do,
Mans honest will must Heavens good grace
command;
no trusts the strength will with the burden grow,
nat tod makcS instruments to work his will,
1t but that will we can arrive to know
Nor tampcr with the weights Of good and i'll.
So he went forth to battle on the side
That he felt clear was libcrtvs and RIGHTS
As in his peasant bovhood bo had piled
His warfare with rude Nature thwarting nights
The unclearcd forest, the unbrokcn soil
m The ron-bark, that turns the lumhcrcr's ax,
The rapid. that o'erhears the haatman'- toll
The prairie, hiding the maze1 wanderer's tracks
The amhu,hcd Indian, and the prowline bear
Hhch were the needs that helped hi, youth to
Rough cultur but such tree. large f-ui ma, bear
II Hut their stocks be Of right girth aud grain.
So he grew up, destined work to do.
-, hd hNed t"do il; four long suffering wears.
iI-iate, lll-tccling, ill-Geport lived through,
Aud theh he heard the hisses change 70 cheers
The taunts to tribute. the abuse to p,aisc.
And took both with the same uuwavcrins mood
III, as he came on light, from darklins DAYS.
And seemad TO touch the goal from where he
stood,
y Islo' hand between the goal and him,
Reached from bchiHd his back n trigger rrcst
And those peiplcxed and patient ewes were dim.
those gaunt, lons-aboring limbs were laid to
rest!
Inc words OF mercy were upon his lips
orglven SIS in his heart and on his pen.
W hen this vile murderer brought swift cclipsc
10 Thought OF peace on earth, goodwill 10 men,
The Old World and the New, from sea to sea.
Utter one voice Of sympathy and shame
sore hearts, 50 stopped when it at last beat hisl
sad lite, cut short just its triumph came.
\ deed accurst Strokes have been struck before
l'y ihc asSas.in's hand, whereof men doubt
II more ct horror or disgrace they bore;
but thy foul crime, like Cain : stands dsrkly out
ne hand that brlndest murder on q strife
Whate or it, grounds, stuutly and nuhlv -triycni
AND with the martyrs crown cruwncs, a lie
N'th much to praise little to he forgiven!
LotdpH Puach.