Short Gettysburg Poems

Steady lads
You're the farmer
You're the scythe
Sharp like a knife
They're the wheat
Stalks in the wind
Steady boys
They come again
Time to reap. 

4/17/14

Author's note: The battle of the Wheat-field, Gettysburg, July 2, 1863....

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It was the 3rd day of the battle,
and thousands lay dying or dead

Lining the edge of the smoke and chaos,
the roses and daisies were spread

The screams in the night were ungodly,
 sounds of cannon fire ruling the day

With blue and grey bleeding side by side
—the flowers in joyous array

(Gettysburg Pennsylvania: March, 2020)...

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Virga
Your impression beckons me
as you slumber coyly
through the day.

I, too, can play
chords up in the jetstream
during your unfathomed dream
I can find a secret and
lock it in my pulse
until the storm.

And when the gale, vespertine,
roars and carries mountains
forth
Humbly, I deliver you
my caring vision
from the shore....

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Lincoln and Gettysburg Haiku

Lincoln Memorial
Now in Washington D C
For us all to see

Gettysburg Address
That was told at Gettysburg
By our President

Four score and seven
Years ago our President
Brought to new nation

You complete the rest
As you thing that it should be
Many years ago

James Thomas Horn
Retired Veteran and Poet...

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Abraham Lincoln was America's Unexpected Jesus
Booth spilled this stream of blood along the Mason-Dixon line
Calls for forgiveness and reunion since the Gettysburg Address
Did bring out the better angels of our natures in 1865
Eventually celebrated in Memorial Day since 1866
Few nations in civil wars or uncivil, have a Lincoln or Jesus...

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When your silence becomes heavy as old souls
I march on Gettysburg
	(There are many casualties)
As if shooting at snowflakes
	When the war is over
Will make the Winter go away.

When my own voice roars like cannon long & loud
I run to my garden
	(My enemies all were shadows)
As if digging up crocus
	To check for new growth
Will make the Spring return faster....

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Bipolar people do not fear;
Those without our disease 
Don't understand our brilliance;
Only see our pain and depression;

Shame, shame on them, I say,
For they should remember our contributions to society;
Before they judge our lapses
Where would we be without the Gettysburg Address for example!

I dare say without us along for the ride the world would
be a dull place to be!...

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Across the sprawling grounds 
 White crosses all in a row 
Covering the country side one by one 
 Each one a father, brother, husband , son 
 Each cross stands proud and tall 
 A symbol of the freedom they gave us all 
From Bull Run to Gettysburg, to World War 1 
The crosses kept coming on and on 
From Normandy to Vietnam 
The crosses kept coming on and on 
For all who have gone 
 Pray we have stopped seeing the crosses go on and on...

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Eyes wider than 
Sequoia trunks growing outside.
Like the tumultuous ocean
I lay.
Restless.
Without hope of the Churner
Ever stopping.

My thoughts are no more
Ordered and calm
Than I.
War torn lesions
In my mind
Where good thoughts 
Once stood.

And so battered are my eyes...
So worn the highways
Of my mind.
Like the ruins of Babylon
And the devastations of Gettysburg,
Chaotic silence swept over me.
Then that too -
Ceased to exist....

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Lincoln, Lincoln

Lincoln, Lincoln he no stinkum
he was good man, yes siree.

He the one that set um free
makeum homes for you and me.

Him the one who wears black clothes
had tall hat and crooked nose.

He the tall and stately bird
people all around him heard,
as him giveum big address
at Gettysburg, him didum best.

Him was shot by John Wilkes Booth
oh, this man was quite uncouth.

Then they laid um Abe to rest
me thinks him the very best.

By:  Marilyn Jennings...

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