Ulysses S. Grant
has long been
one of my heroes.
General Lee was more glamorous,
perhaps more brilliant.
But Grant knew how to
play the hand he was dealt.
The north held the advantage
in troops and resources.
Grant understood this,
as did Lincoln.
And Lincoln understood what Grant
brought to the table.
“He will fight.”
I was drawn to Grant’s modesty,
His lack of pretense.
The visit to his cottage
Reinforced my love for him.
Located on a hillside
In Wilton, New York..
The cottage is
as modest as the man himself.
Grant lived and worked
In a room on the first floor.
Unable to lie prone
Because of throat cancer,
He slept between two
Large chairs facing each other.
Down the hill from the cottage
is an overlook
with mountains and countryside beyond.
Grant walked down to it when he could.
His friend Mark Twain
Visited him at the cottage
And urged him to finish
Writing his memoirs.
Grant wrote until he died
while Twain sold subscriptions
to the book, making sure
Grant’s family was provided for.
I’ve read the memoirs.
They are riveting;
Revealing a humanism
and a literary skill
surprising in a fighting general
August 29, 2022
poems for friends 