To William H. Seward

Statesman, I thank thee! and, if yet dissent     Mingles, reluctant, with my large content,     I cannot censure what was nobly meant.     But, while constrained to hold even Union less     Than Liberty and Truth and Righteousness,     I thank thee in the sweet and holy name     Of peace, for wise calm words that put to shame     Passion and party. Courage may be shown     Not in defiance of the wrong alone;     He may be bravest who, unweaponed, bears     The olive branch, and, strong in justice, spares     The rash wrong-doer, giving widest scope     To Christian charity and generous hope.     If, without damage to the sacred cause     Of Freedom and the safeguard of its laws     If, without yielding that for which alone     We prize the Union, thou canst save it now     From a baptism of blood, upon thy brow     A wreath whose flowers no earthly soil have known,     Woven of the beatitudes, shall rest,     And the peacemaker be forever blest!