For Which It Stands

A distant relative wills me a picture.

I bet you know, or you have heard
Abe Lincoln posed at Gettysburg.
A picture, framed, just willed to me;
such value part of history.

M.B. initials on the pic;
worth much, not merely historic.
Mathew Brady—photographer;
the 1860’s now a blur.

I never met my Uncle Stan;
Americana in my hand.
Black hat on Abe with shades of gray;
I wonder what Abe’d do today.

What priceless leave from Uncle’s will!
Gaze back through time, attain a chill
of Civil War between the States…
equality and free awaits.

One artifact from distant kin;
museum piece, would be a sin
to barter it in dollar’s hands;
public display, for which it stands.


20 Lines
Writer’s Cramp
8-7-20