Canto 1 My childhood’s home I see again, And sadden with the view; And still, as memory crowds my brain, There’s pleasure in it too. O Memory! thou midway world ‘Twixt earth and paradise, Where things decayed and loved ones lost In dreamy shadows rise, And, freed from all that’s earthly vile, Seem … Continue reading My Childhood Home I See Again by President Abraham Lincoln (Version 1)
Presidential Poetry
The Suicide’s Soliloquy by President Abraham Lincoln
The following lines were said to have been found near the bones of a man supposed to have committed suicide, in a deep forest, on the Flat Branch of the Sangamon, some time ago. Here, where the lonely hooting owl Sends forth his midnight moans, Fierce wolves shall o'er my carcass growl, Or buzzards … Continue reading The Suicide’s Soliloquy by President Abraham Lincoln
A Death-Bed Adieu by President Thomas Jefferson
To M.R.Life's visions are vanished, it's dreams are no more.Dear friends of my bosom, why bathed in tears?I go to my fathers; I welcome the shore,which crowns all my hopes, or which buries my cares.Then farewell my dear, my lov'd daughter, Adieu!The last pang in life is in parting from you.Two Seraphs await me, long … Continue reading A Death-Bed Adieu by President Thomas Jefferson
Retrospection by President John Quincy Adams
When life's fair dream has just passed awayto three sore years and tehn,Before we turn again to claythe lot of ortel men,'Tis wise a backward eye to cast on life's revolving scene,with calmness to review the pastand ask what we have been. The cradle and the mother's breasthave vanish'd from the mind,of joys the sweetest … Continue reading Retrospection by President John Quincy Adams
The Hour-Glass by President John Quincy Adams
Alas! how swift the moments fly!How flash the years along!Scarce here, yet gone already by,The burden of a song.See childhood, youth, and manhood pass,And age, with furrowed brow;Time was—Time shall be—drain the glass—But where in Time is now? Time is the measure but of change;No present hour is found;The past, the future, fill the rangeOf … Continue reading The Hour-Glass by President John Quincy Adams
Sweet Lady, Awake! by President John Tyler
Original text of "Sweet Lady, Awake!" by President John Tyler. Library of Congress. Sweet lady awake, from your slumbers awake,Weird beings we come o'er hill and through brakeTo sing you a song in the stillness of nightOh, read you our riddle fair lady aright?We are sent by the one whose found heart is your own,Who … Continue reading Sweet Lady, Awake! by President John Tyler
From Your Bright Sparkling Eyes, I Was Undone by President George Washington
Original text of the sonnet, "From Your Bright Sparkling Eyes, I Was Undone" by President George Washington. Library of Congress. From your bright sparkling Eyes, I was undone;Rays, you have, more transparent than the sun,Amidst its glory in the rising Day,None can you equal in your bright array;Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind;Equal to … Continue reading From Your Bright Sparkling Eyes, I Was Undone by President George Washington
The Root of Many Returns 