Illinois calls itself "The Land of Lincoln" and even though Abraham Lincoln was not a native of the state, his life has been very closely connected to it and to those notable Illinoisans who came after him. Ulyesses S. Grant, John Deere, Jane Addams, Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee Masters, Everett Dirksen, Adali Stevenson Sr., Wyatt Earp, Richard J. Daley, Ronald Reagan, even radio's "The Lone Ranger" (Brace Beamer) have lived in parts of Illinois with connections to the Great Emancipator. This poem tries to connect the dots.

This is his land

Born in Kentucky,

raised in Indiana,

came to Illinois

and left to be a legend.


The lanky rail-splitter

came from Springfield.

Other notable people

have come from Illinois

But Mr. Lincoln?

This is his land.

Crossed the Wabash near

the radio Ranger's home

(this is his land).

Fought Blackhawk near

the green Deere's shop

(this is his land),

Spoke for Fremont

from the DeSoto House

near the General's home

(this is his land).

Mustered out near the actor's crib,

led his party from the City of the Big Shoulders

(this is his land).

Rode the circuit past Reagan's school

close to the big yellow tractor's home

(this is his land).

The wooden post, the mount of the fighting foreigner,

He argued the law in all their halls.

Said goodbye near the scholar's roost

in the land of the Illini (this is his land).


Sparred with Douglas

at the mouth of the river,

in the schoolboy hoops haven,

by the reformer's girlhood home

and the poet's cradle.


Spoke of a house divided

where his biographer would grow up.

The signs, the maps, the license plates,

the plaques and slabs don't lie.

This is his land,

This is his land.