Seeing A Far Light On The Horizon

Tony Rice: John Wilkes Booth

The end of the war
was like the beginning,
with the army marching
down the open road
under the spring sky,
seeing a far light
on the horizon.
Many lights had died
in the windy dark
but far down the road
there was always a gleam,
and it was as if
a legend had been created
to express some obscure truth
that could not
otherwise be stated.
Everything had changed,
the war and the men
and the land they fought for,
but the road ahead had not changed.
It went on through the trees and past the little towns and over the hills, and there was no getting to the end of it. The goal was a going-towards rather than an arriving, and from the top of the next rise there was always a new vista. The march toward it led through wonder and terror and deep shadows, and the sunlight touched the flags at the head of the column.
--Bruce Catton
A Stillness at Appomattox