Anne Rutledge

Out of me unworthy and unknown
The vibrations of deathless music;
"With malice toward none, with charity for all."
Out of me the forgiveness of millions toward millions,
And the beneficent face of a nation
Shining with justice and truth.
I am Anne Rutledge who sleep beneath these weeds,
Beloved in life of Abraham Lincoln,
Wedded to him, not through union,
But through separation.
Bloom forever, O Republic,
From the dust of my bosom!

by Edgar Lee Masters

from Spoon River Anthology (1915)

copied with gratitude from bartleby.com (http://www.bartleby.com/104/42.html), 17 November 2008.

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Ann Rutledge (1813-35) was rumored to be an early love interest of Abraham Lincoln, though no real evidence of a significant relationship exists. She died at age 22; Lincoln outlived her 30 years. Her loss of youth's hope and potential make the legend poignant and persistent, especially when paired with the sublimity of Lincoln's biography.

Spoon River Anthology (1915) by Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950) is a collection of fictional epitaphs spoken by the dead in a town's cemetery. The graveyard of Petersburg, Illinois, near which Masters grew up (near the Spoon River) is the site of Ann Rutledge's grave.