"True Greatness" by Rev. Joseph C. Booth (1922)

True Greatness.

BY (REV.) JOSEPH C. BOOTH.

        A sonnet tribute to the honored memory of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, whose birthdays make the month of February so sacred to every true American.

True greatness riseth like an Alpine peak

Amidst the mountains, rocks and hills that stand

In seeming rivalry; while near at hand

One fails to see its vast proportions, seek

The distant view and let true greatness speak!

Behold the towering monarch of the land,

Jehovah's masterpiece — supremely grand,

Crowned with eternal radiancy unique!

True greatness fadeth not with fading years,

Nor crumbleth with the wreckages of time;

By age, fame's acid test, its form appears

More rugged and its grandeur more sublime:

So Washington and Lincoln heavenward rise,

Like Alpine peaks that piece our Nation's skies!

        Waterford, N.Y.

Troy Times. February 11, 1922: 3 col 1.