| Publication information |
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Source: A White Song and a Black One Source type: book Document type: poem Document title: “President William M’Kinley” Author(s): Cotter, Joseph S. Publisher: Bradley and Gilbert Co. Place of publication: Louisville, Kentucky Year of publication: 1909 Pagination: 15 |
| Citation |
| Cotter, Joseph S. “President William M’Kinley.” A White Song and a Black One. Louisville: Bradley and Gilbert, 1909: p. 15. |
| Transcription |
| full text |
| Keywords |
| William McKinley (poetry); McKinley assassination (poetry). |
| Named persons |
| none. |
| Document |
President William M’Kinley
Blessed art thou. Fate linked thee with her sons,
Ye form the trinity of martyred ones;
A nation’s praise is jealous of its grief,
Therefore thy glory’s day cannot be brief.So poorly schooled in littleness wast thou
No party stamped its ethics on thy brow.
So future-sighted was thy leadership
Earth’s farthest bounds hailed it with welcome lip.Thy life work was to lift men far above
Mere selfishness to a pure country love.
Thou didst become, dwarfed not by creed or clan,
A modern miracle, a nation’s man.The good of yesterday we have unsought,
To-day lives in to-morrow’s generous thought;
So the fanatic’s tongue, the assassin’s knife
Can find no way to chill a nation’s life.