Fondly do we hope - Abraham Lincoln

[Larry Robinson]

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, 
that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. 
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth 
piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years 
of unrequited toil shall be sunk, 
and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash 
shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, 
as was said three thousand years ago, 
so still it must be said 
"the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, 
with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, 
let us strive on to finish the work we are in, 
to bind up the nation's wounds, 
to care for him who shall have borne the battle 
and for his widow and his orphan, 
to do all which may achieve and cherish 
a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

	- Abraham Lincoln
	(from his second inaugural address, March 4, 1865)
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