"Lincoln"

by Nancy Byrd Turner"

There was a boy of other days,

A quiet, awkward, earnest lad,

Who trudged long weary miles to get

A book on which his heart was set - 

He was too poor to buy a lamp

But very wise in woodmen's ways.

He gathered seasoned bough and stem,

And crisping leaf, and kindled them

Then as he lay full length and read,

The firelight flickered on his face,

And etched his shadow on the gloom.

And made a picture in the room, 

The hard years came, the hard years went,

But, gentle, brave and strong of will,

He met them all, And when today

We see his pictured face we say,