On the Life-Mask of Lincoln. Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909). Descriptive Poems: I. Personal: Rulers; Statesmen; Warriors. Bliss Carman, et al., eds. 1904. The World's Best Poetry. VII. Descriptive: Narrative

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VII. Descriptive: Narrative. 1904.

Descriptive Poems: I. Personal: Rulers; Statesmen; Warriors

On the Life-Mask of Lincoln

Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909)


THIS bronze doth keep the very form and mould
Of our great martyr’s face. Yes, this is he:
That brow all wisdom, all benignity;
That human, humorous mouth; those cheeks that hold
Like some harsh landscape all the summer’s gold;	5
That spirit fit for sorrow, as the sea
For storms to beat on; the lone agony
Those silent, patient lips too well foretold.
Yes, this is he who ruled a world of men
As might some prophet of the elder day,—	10
Brooding above the tempest and the fray
With deep-eyed thought and more than mortal ken.
A power was his beyond the touch of art
Of armèd strength: his pure and mighty heart.