I recently traveled to Washington, D.C., on business and stole away a beautiful Sunday morning to visit one of my favorite spots — the Lincoln Memorial.

I have ascended the 57 steps to this tribute to one of our greatest presidents countless times but very rarely alone.

As I sidestepped thousands of picture-taking tourists on this must-see American pilgrimage site, I had the luxury of solitude because I had no demands to take a family member’s picture or pose with a friend or herd kids.

I could simply absorb the magic of this grand and historic temple.

In her book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” historian Doris Kearns Goodwin called the 16th president our nation’s only poet president.

As if to underscore that claim, the statue of a seated Lincoln is framed on the north and south walls of the Memorial with two of his greatest speeches: The Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural.

Being alone, I had the chance to read, absorb and reflect on the two speeches — and to agree that they were indeed works of pure poetry, all the more amazing because they came from a self-educated man.

More of a prayer

I started by reading the Gettysburg Address, a two-minute speech that, when he gave it, followed a two-hour speech by one of the country’s great orators at that time.

No one remembers the other speech. No one can forget Lincoln’s.

And while I was filled with awe at Lincoln’s ability to set forth our country’s principles in 278 words, it was the other speech — Lincoln’s second inaugural — that had the more profound impact on me.

Lincoln gave that speech less than a month before our country’s terrible four-year Civil War ended and a month before his own life ended.

What he described in that speech was a country so bitterly divided that the opposing sides took up arms against one another in what would become an extraordinarily bloody struggle.

The words he used to describe the America of his times resonated as an equally apt description of the America of our times.

“Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive and the other would accept war rather than let it perish . . . ,” he said.

Factions of our country today, it seems, could be substituted in either of the roles that Lincoln described.

In his second inaugural, one historian noted, Lincoln mentions God 14 times and quotes scripture four times.

Despite the buzz of tourists around me that Sunday morning, the words of this speech chiseled in stone read more like a prayer than politics.

It’s a prayer for our country.

And while Lincoln could not have envisioned what issues would be dominating our country 145 years later, I believe the genius of Lincoln is that he knew that our country’s democratic process — if functioning correctly — will always give rise to tension and discord.

It’s our ability to handle such discord that will mark us as a nation.

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away,” Lincoln said.

They are ideals for a great nation, a nation that Lincoln seemed to know we were destined to become, despite being a protagonist in perhaps the most challenging moment of our nation’s history.

The catchphrase for today is fear. People talk about fear for our country’s future. I fear for our future with one another.

To attack one another’s reasoning in the democratic tradition is no longer enough; we attack one another.

But what we must remember about Lincoln’s second inaugural address was that it was a speech of conciliation at a time when few of his fellow Americans were prepared for such conciliation with one another.

That’s the beauty of the shrine at the end of our National Mall.

It reminds us of much more than the memory of a great man.

It reminds us of the principles that made that man great.

Contact Carlos Sanchez at 757-5703 or csanchez@wacotrib.com.