On Freedom's Summit

On freedom's summit, Oh, how grand

Stood Lincoln ruler of our land,

As he issued the sublime command

Let the enslaved be free.

Ere long he saw the Bondmen rise;

Ere long as Freedmen seize the prize,

The precious boon of liberty.

A backward glance he cast

Into the valley of the past,

Amid the shade and gloom

Discerning slavery's tomb.

Out from the depths his upturned eyes

Beheld the fleeing clouds the brighter skies.

Upon him shone a glory like the sun,

Reflecting "peace toward all, malice toward none."

As thus he filled his high exalted place,

The brave emancipator of a race,

He thought of the fierce struggle and the victory

And humbly deemed himself to be

Only the instrument of a Divine decree.

Rejoicing in the faith of brighter coming days

His "fervent prayers" were merged in those of praise.

Like unto psalmists of the olden time

His uttered thoughts inspired the nation's song,

Throughout the land the chorus rose sublime,

The exultant triumph of the right o'er wrong.

"Behold, what God the Lord hath wrought,"

More than we asked, or hoped, or thought.

Through the "Red sea" of blood and carnage

He brought our nation free of bondage.

With Moses sing, yea shout O North;

With Miriam answer back O South:

That "He hath triumphed gloriously."

.....

Oh why the sudden blotting out of light?

The cloud of sorrow, dark as Plutonian night,

That cast its lengthening shadow o'er the land;

Changing to funeral dirge the choral grand.

Swift as the typhoon's breath—

The harbinger of death—

The cruel deed of hate

Swept the grand chief away.

Unto this day, and ever aye,

The nation mourns her martyr's fate.