The President Was Without Precedent

Music: Ground. By William Byrd. Sequenced by John Sankey.

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The President was without precedent At the time that he took on the post. Equally homespun and elegant, He struck the precisely right note. Refusing the power of kings, He yet understood that the State Required what reverence brings: A loyalty one can create. And so he became The Great Leader, The focus of wide adulation. Yet only a one-time repeater, He served not the man, but the nation. He gave to the State what the states Could only recopy writ small: The sense of a Center the fates Must bless for the good of us all. He played well the hero who held The Union together those years, Until the still-thin mixture jelled, And fact was more forceful than fears; Till the other great president we Now jam into one day for two Kept the Union together and free, The gift of the first to renew. If you liked this poem, vote for it on Yahoo Buzz by clicking on the icon below.