English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14. |
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| 752. The Death of Lincoln |
| | | William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) |
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| OH, slow to smite and swift to spare, | |
| Gentle and merciful and just! | |
| Who, in the fear of God, didst bear | |
| The sword of power, a nation’s trust! | |
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| In sorrow by thy bier we stand, | 5 |
| Amid the awe that hushes all, | |
| And speak the anguish of a land | |
| That shook with horror at thy fall. | |
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| Thy task is done; the bond are free: | |
| We bear thee to an honored grave, | 10 |
| Whose proudest monument shall be | |
| The broken fetters of the slave. | |
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| Pure was thy life; its bloody close | |
| Hath placed thee with the sons of light, | |
| Among the noble host of those | 15 |
Who perished in the cause of Right.
April, 1865. | |
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