Sandburg's Lincoln

 

… General O. O. Howard’s right arm was shattered, and when he met General Phil Kearney, who had lost his left arm in Mexico, the two men shook hands on Howard’s saying, “Hereafter we buy our gloves together.”

 

…

 

In a little wilderness clearing at Chancellorsville, a living soldier had come upon a dead one sitting with his back to a tree, looking at first sight almost alive enough to hold a conversation. He had sat there for months, since the battle the year before that gave him his long rest. He seemed to have a story and a philosophy to tell if the correct approach were made and he could be led to quiet discussion. The living soldier, however, stood frozen in his foot tracks a few moments, gazing at the ashen face and the sockets where the eyes had withered – then he picked up his feet, let out a cry and ran. He had interrupted a silence where the slants of silver moons and the music of varying rains kept company with the one against the tree who sat so speechless, though having much to say.

 

…

 

Just two of many excerpts that appealed to me reading Carl Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (found on pages 171-172 and 282-283 of my 1974 Dell paperback). O to write like that! I suppose a deep-depth sounding of poetry should coincide with the writing of the Great American Novel …