My Father Like Lincoln
MY FATHER LIKE LINCOLN
My father like Lincoln
Lean and tall and dark and depressed
A man capable of simple and great kindnesses-
My father scribbled
On the back of his envelopes
Junk prices-
No Gettysburg Address,
No Second Inaugural
Dollars for deals.
My father weary from work recited himself to sleep,
From the copper- slim volume of Lincoln’s words,
Or the wisdom of Pirke Avot,
No full rest and relief
From never becoming
Like railsplitter Abe
The Greatness he should have been.
And I the son
Now an old man
Far far away
In gratitude for the awkward grace
Of their Integrity,
Write these words of Praise and Love
In their Memory.
.
poem by Shalom Freedman
Added by Poetry Lover
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