Poetry Archives

(On the Anniversary of Lincoln’s Birth)


Father, Father Abraham,
  To-day look on us from above;
On us, the offspring of thy faith,
  The children of thy Christ-like love.

For that which we have humbly wrought,
  Give us to-day thy kindly smile;
Wherein we’ve failed or fallen short,
  Bear with us, Father, yet awhile.

Father, Father Abraham,
  To-day we lift our hearts to thee,
Filled with the thought of what great price
  Was paid, that we might ransomed be.

To-day we consecrate ourselves
  Anew in hand and heart and brain,
To send this judgment down the years:
  The ransom was not paid in vain.