“Arlington Bridge” Poem

[The following poem was written by South Carolina’s first poet laureate, Archibald Hamilton Rutledge (1883-1973). Of his over 50 books and poems, he usually focused on life in South Carolina. His ancestors included John Rutledge, a Founding Father and critical South Carolinian statesman. Archibald’s father, Henry Middleton Rutledge, served as a colonel in the Confederacy.]

There is, across Potomac’s stream,
A mystic bridge (yet all may see)
From Northern dream to Southern dream
Leading from Lincoln up to Lee.

It spans the gulf that sundered wide
A Nation in her mad distress,
Symbol that now alone abide
Forgiving and forgetfulness.

From Lincoln leading up to Lee,
From Lee to Lincoln leading down;
Each lived and died for liberty;
Immortal is their world-renown.

Not victory but valor gives
The hero in our hearts a shrine;
Say not in yours that Lincoln lives
Alone, and Lee alone in mine.

Ask not whose was the nobler love,
Or who was right, and who was wrong;
Remember only how they strove
Like men, and suffered, and were strong.

Calm in the Temple of the States
The soul of Lincoln lingers on;
And Lee’s great spirit consecrates
His homeland heights of Arlington.

Foes of the past, now brothers all,
Your chieftains by the peaceful river
Upon you, as their comrades, call
To clasp in love your hands forever.