Nancy Hanks
Prairie child,
Brief as dew,
What winds of wonder
Nourished you?
Rolling plains
Of billowy green,
Far horizons,
Blue, serene;
Lofty skies
The slow clouds climb,
Where burning stars
Beat out the time:
These, and the dreams
Of fathers bold,
Baffled longings,
Hopes untold,
Gave to you
A heart of fire,
Love like deep waters,
Brave desire.
Ah, when youth’s rapture
Went out in pain,
And all seemed over,
Was all in vain?
O soul obscure,
Whose wings life bound,
And soft death folded
Under the ground;
Wilding lady,
Still and true,
Who gave us Lincoln
And never knew:
To you at last
Our praise, our tears,
Love and a song
Through The nation’s years!
Mother of Lincoln,
Our tears, our praise;
A battle-flag
And the victor’s bays!
