Copyright 2006 by LadyLincoln








     There was a deathlike stillness in the room, after the curtains had been drawn that night. The silence was rather perturbing – unforgiving. He was taking in deep breaths, trying to find freedom from his daily burdens and of his hellish existence…if only he could succumb to sleep…to find what little peace there was to be had in that cold, uninviting bedroom. He had felt very much alone and sought to escape it…but where would he go?
What secrets would he discover in his restless sleep?

     The rain had started to fall; it made the air feel rather suffocating. His breathing had become more labored as he closed his eyes to the continuous rapping. The narrow lights of the dimly lit candle were still flickering about the room – as the mysterious shadows always had lingered close by him, they had offered no solace in the bittersweet darkness of the night.

     There was the one dream he’d always had about the sailing ship…it frequently traveled to a distant shore; stormy and uncertain though it was…it always brought him immense peace. He would sense immediately afterward that favorable news was to come. But his sailing ship did not bring him peace even on that hour of darkness. He had finally closed his eyes, but something had immediately taken possession over him and it had frightened him greatly…the rain had stopped.

     He had awakened, only to be perturbed further by the mysterious sounds of distant sobbing. Uncertain and fearful of the worst, he rose from his bed and began to very slowly wander down the long, darkened hallway.
…“There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. It was light in all of the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all of the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break…?”

He had hesitated for a long moment, so unsure – still so deathly afraid. His form began to shake as he continued to slowly inch himself towards another open door…
…“I was growing great puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a most sickening surprise…”
He nearly lost his footing after he had opened the door. His breath had nearly stopped as his face suddenly grew ghastly pale. He was fighting to hold off tears.
It couldn’t be…it just couldn’t!
No, no, no…
Please don’t let it be true…

     He slowly approached an open coffin and felt the tears finally sting his eyes as he’d gazed upon the draped corpse that now forever slept – free from the burdens that he had been desperately trying himself to escape from. Now…he would have given nearly anything to have all of those bittersweet moments again, even if they only brought him sorrow.
But…it was too late.

…“ ‘Who is dead in the White House?’ I had quickly demanded of one of the mourning soldiers. ‘The President,’ was his answer, ‘he was killed by an assassin!’ ”  
The crowd was screaming, crying – unable to find solace…
That phantom ship had sailed once more, but now the waters had become tainted with his blood.

    A week later, on Good Friday, April fourteenth – 1865, Abraham Lincoln was killed by an assassin’s unforgiving bullet, and his haunting vision had become a harsh reality…



One day I'll fly away
Leave all this to yesterday
Why live life from dream to dream?
And dread the day
When dreaming ends

One day I'll fly away
Fly, fly away…


But, he was finally free.


*Finis

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-Notes regards to text-
Lincoln dream sequence quotes from: “With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln” – by Stephen Oates, 1977
Song segment from 1997’s Moulin Rouge soundtrack – “One Day I’ll fly Away”