In Token of Respect

Translation from Latin verses

From humble parentage and low degree

Lincoln ascended to the highest rank;

None ever had a harder task than he,

It was perfected—him alone we thank.

Did the assassin think to kill a name,

Or hand his own down to posterity?

One will wear the laurel wreath of fame,

The other be condemned to infamy.

Caesar was killed by Brutus,

Yet Rome did not cease to be;

Lincoln by Booth, and yet the slaves

In all America are free!

Rieti, France, May, 1865