Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) |
You are young, and I am older;
You are hopeful, I am not
Enjoy life, ere it grow colder
Pluck the roses ere they rot.
Teach your beau to heed the lay
That sunshine soon is lost in shade
That now's as good as any day
To take thee, Rosa, ere she fade.
The above poem was an inscription in the autograph album of
Rosa Haggard in Winchester, Illinois in September 28, 1858. Rosa was the daughter of the proprieter of the hotel where Lincoln was staying. It can be found
Lincoln, Abraham. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume I.
Roy P. Basler, Ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Ruters University Press, 1953.
Phillips, Louis, ed. The Random House Treasury of Light Verse New York: Random House, 1995.
Lincoln was 16th President of the United States of America.