973.7L63 Cormican , P. J. 
 H2C813t (Patrick J.) 
 
 A tribute to Abraham 
 Lincoln. 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
I. 
 
 MnmU 
 
 A ufribut* tn Abraham IGutrnln 
 
 i. 
 
 Son of the forest primeval, 
 
 Unspoiled by the arts of the time; 
 Destined by God for a leader, 
 
 And fashioned for duty sublime; 
 Straight from the workshop of nature, 
 
 And fresh from the virginal wild; 
 Child with the heart of a hero, 
 
 And hero with heart of a child: 
 Accept this tribute of praise 
 From a lover of woodland ways. 
 
 II. 
 
 Admiring the grandeurs of nature, 
 
 And growing to be what he saw; 
 Impartial as sunshine to all men, 
 
 And true as a physical law; 
 As gentle as dewdrops on roses, 
 
 Yet strong as a mountainous wave; 
 But not too strong to be human, 
 
 Nor yet too weak to be brave. 
 In stature and character grand, 
 He was prince of a desolate land. 
 
III. 
 
 When there's question of fashioning 
 heroes, 
 
 And work for a hero to do; 
 When it's time for removing abuses, 
 
 And building a nation anew; 
 When there's need of rebinding the 
 Union 
 
 By unbinding the bonds of the slave, 
 Give me a product of nature, 
 
 Intelligent, honest and brave. 
 Give me a man with a heart, 
 Untutored by diplomat art. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Better the song of the robin 
 
 Than the booming of guns from the 
 fort; 
 Better the breath of the meadows 
 
 Than the perfume of ladies at court; 
 Better the sigh of the pine tree 
 
 Than the laugh of the vain and 
 the gay; 
 Better are pioneer fences 
 
 Than lackeys in gaudy array, 
 When the Ship of State is aground, 
 And a pilot has to be found. 
 
Thou wert mocked by imperial writers, 
 
 O martyr! to furnish a sneer; 
 Described as unkempt and ungainly, 
 
 As shambling, uncultured and queer; 
 Deceived by the underhand methods 
 
 Of foes who paraded as friends; 
 Who longed to dissever the Union 
 
 For selfish, contemptible ends: 
 Such was thy help from abroad — 
 Diplomacy, statecraft and fraud. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Who but the bravest of heroes 
 
 Could face such an army of foes? 
 Who, but a son of the martyrs, 
 
 Could endure such unspeakable 
 woes? 
 Who, but a large-hearted leader, 
 
 Could forgive so much and forget? 
 Who, but a lover of freedom, 
 
 Could incur such a burdensome 
 debt? 
 O hero of heroes, indeed! 
 Be with us still in our need. 
 
VII. 
 
 Throughout that deplorable conflict, 
 When the brightest of prospects 
 were bad; 
 
 When even the hopeful were hopeless, 
 And even the bravest were sad; 
 
 When the canopied smoke of the battle 
 Converted the day into night, 
 
 Excluded the vision of Heaven, 
 And shifted the aspect of right; 
 
 When gloom and despair were abroad, 
 
 Lincoln relied upon God. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 He died for the doing of duty, 
 
 But his death was a glorious birth; 
 The birthday of manhood and freedom 
 
 For the slave-holding nations of 
 earth. 
 He is dead, but he liveth forever 
 
 In the lives and the vision of men; 
 We have not encountered his equal, 
 
 Nor shall we encounter again. 
 He was human yet almost divine, 
 And his tomb is a national shrine. 
 
 P. J. CORMICAX, S. J., 
 
 Georgetown University, D. C. 
 Feb. 12, 1923. 
 
 sty 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/tributetoabrahamOOcorm 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILL1NOIS-URBANA 
 
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