Enthroned upon a marble chair,
Abe gazes east with somber stare
toward a dome where laws are made
and freedom is defined.

One nation under God remains
divided, bruised by hate and blame
as white headstones in Arlington
remind us what we know…

That freedom never has been free.
That what means most to you and me
was purchased with the blood of those
who died that we might live.

That Lincoln’s dream of unity
 of human rights and dignity
will in God’s time be realized
when peace on earth will reign.

• Next week marks the centennial of the Lincoln Memorial. Gratefully, Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving child of the sixteenth President, was in attendance.