Lilacs in Full Bloom

Walt Whitman’s famous elegy to Abraham Lincoln, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” mourns the death of the famous president by assassination on April 15th of 1865.

Perhaps our lilacs could be considered blooms to mourn our dear Pope Francis who was loved as well as President Lincoln was.

Whitman makes use of the shape of lilac leaves — a heart. All three of these men had huge and generous hearts — Lincoln, Whitman and Pope Francis. May our lilacs be a tribute to them as we end the month of April.