“...A house divided
against itself cannot stand”A.Lincoln
Between the darkness
and the dawn
whirling dervish
devils dance--
hear them cackle as
they weave
anxiety and fear to knots. There’s no reprieve
from battles fought, even as the night moves
on...
The raging storm was finally quelled
and in your words, a soothing balm
to calm a nation torn apart;
to reunite. The words instilled
a sense of hope with so much lost
at such high cost.
Not all agreed; small
seed of discontent became dissent
and in a rage a shot rang out…
The gift of eloquence is rare;
commanding presence rarer still.
yet in the shadow that you cast
two great armies had amassed…
So many people hated you for
changing lives accustomed to; yet when
surrender finally came you baffled them…
when punishment could be your claim
you sent them back to families
where they might heal and find some peace
…and from that shot that split the night
we hear your voice, we hear the call
to bear the standard that you bore.
through words that live forevermore:
“…With malice toward none, with charity
for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we
are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne
the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and
cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.” A.Lincoln
© Ginny Brannan 2013
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I just finished reading the book "Killing Lincoln"by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard, an amazing story that speaks of such an intelligent man who bore the weight of Civil War on his shoulders, Lincoln was a visionary seeing well past the war, past what was to what could be. He is said to have suffered from melancholia, and was haunted by frequent nightmares, one of which vividly depicted his death a full two weeks before he was shot.
This is kind of an experimental piece playing with Free Verse and internal rhyme. It starts with Lincoln quote, first stanza is a dreamscape to recognize the nightmares that haunted Lincoln, leading into two stanzas of based on true facts, the fourth stanza a call to follow, the fifth a partial quote from Lincoln's Second Inaugural a short time before he was shot.
*Original image by author taken at Gettysburg Battle Reenactments 2007
Sharing at d'Verse Poets Pub Open Link Night Week #83.
