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At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Unknown "Bend Softly Down"

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC08413.24 Author/Creator: Unknown Place Written: Richford, WI Type: Envelope Date: 1861-1877 Pagination: 1 envelope ; 13 x 8.3 cm. Order a Copy

features poem

[Draft Created by Crowdsourcing]
BEND SOFTLY DOWN.
Bend softly down, ye gentle skies,
Bend softy down to me.
That I may see those spirit eyes,
If spirit-eyes they be-
Bend gently down, for I have dreamed
That there were forms above
In every pearly star that beamed,
Made up of light and love.

Bend softly down, ye gentle stars,
And lift the azure vail,
That I may see your pearly brows
That ne'er with sorrow pale.
There must be hearts in that blue realm
That throb with fearful bliss,
They cannot be so dull and cold,
So pulseless as in this.

Oh! I have set my weary heart
On love this earth hath not,
And mine through life must ever be
a sad and lonely lot.
Bend softly down, ye gentle skies,
Bend softly down to me;
That I may see those spirit-eyes,
If spirit eyes they be!

Richford Wis
Aug 26 1864
Mr. Miron Fletcher;
North Creek;
Warren Co. N.Y.

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