« June 10, 2004 |
Main
| June 12, 2004 »
O Memory! thou midway world'Twixt earth and paradise,
Where things decayed and loved ones lostIn dreamy shadows rise,
And, freed from all that's earthly vile,Seem hallowed, pure, and bright,
Like scenes in some enchanted isleAll bathed in liquid light.
As dusky mountains please the eyeWhen twilight chases day;
As bugle-notes that, passing by,In distance die away;
As leaving some grand waterfall, We, lingering, list its roar—
So memory will hallow allWe've known, but know no more.
Abraham Lincoln, Letter to Andrew Johnston, April 18, 1846.