First president’s wife with college degree,
she had nursed deranged men, bathed bloody stubs
for her doctor brother through war’s melee.
So Congress or press didn’t faze her much.
Devout Methodist, she backed Rutherford’s
White House ban on booze, covered carpet holes
with heavy chairs, reversed drapes so ragged
sides wouldn’t show, sent servants out to dole
money to the poor. She could politic
with Lincoln’s wit and savvy, pushed hard for
aid to veterans and orphans, would stick
in a fork when folks snubbed her china. Stored
grief deep inside for their two sons who died;
read books with the six children who survived.
Roger Armbrust
May 13, 2013
