by Edwin Markham (1852 - 1940)

From "Lincoln, the Great Commoner"
Language: English 
And so he came from the prairie cabin to the Capitol,
One fair ideal led our chieftain on,
He built the rail pile as he built the State,
The conscience testing every stroke,
to make his deed the measure of the man...
So came our Captain with the mighty heart;
And when the step of earthquake shook the house,
Wrenching rafters from their ancient hold,
He held the ridge-pole up
and spiked again the rafters of the Home....
He held his place ...
he held the long purpose like a growing tree
Held on thro' blame and faltered not at praise,
And when he fell in whirlwind,
he went down as when a Kingly cedar green with boughs
goes down with a great shout, upon the hills!

Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Charles Edward Ives (1874 - 1954), "From "Lincoln, the Great Commoner"", 1921, note: at the top of the score is an epigraph by the composer reading ""The storm and stress of life! / The curse of war and strife! / The harsh vindictiveness of men! / The cuts of sword and pen! / What needed to be borne - he bore! / What needed to be fought - he fought! / But in his soul, he stood them up as - naught!" [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 126