“When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,
And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,
I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love.”
– When Lilacs Bloom, Walt Whitman
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When President Lincoln, a president who farmers much revered, was killed at the very end of the Civil War, farmers all over America – including the ones who built Bedlam Farm, planted lilac bushes in his honor, and for many years after his death, planted other lilac bushes and remembered their martyred President.
The poet Walt Whitman wrote his famous poet When Lilac’s Bloom in Lincoln’s honor.
This tradition has died away, as so many do. But you can still see lilac bushes in honor of Abraham Lincoln on older farms all over the country. I revere this President also, and when the lilac bushes bloom, I always take a few minutes to honor him.
He reminds me of what it can mean to be a President of this amazing country, and I have faith that we will one day have another one to ever and respect.
I didn’t know about the planting of lilac trees in memory of President Lincoln, such a great man, and President. Thank you for sharing this. The scent of lilacs is my favorite remembrance of spring.
A lovely story of rural America.
Beautiful