​Mary Todd Lincoln with the Spirit of Her Dead Husband President Abraham Lincoln and Son Thaddeus, 1872, Photographed by William H. Mumler, by John Bradley

Mary Todd Lincoln with the Spirit of Her Dead Husband President Abraham Lincoln and Son Thaddeus, photography by William H. Mumler (USA) 1872

​Mary Todd Lincoln with the Spirit of Her Dead Husband President Abraham Lincoln 
and Son Thaddeus, 1872, Photographed by William H. Mumler
 
Unveiled, crowned by a black bonnet, ribbon loosened 
at the neck, Mrs. Lincoln peers out at the wretched world 
with a grim smile.  Just as Mary Todd Lincoln suspected,  
 
an incorporeal spirit lurks about her: our dear president,  
seven years after his earthly departure.  There, hovering 
right behind her.  Both hands lovingly draped over the shoulders
 
of his still grieving widow.  And that other foggy shape, 
ever more ghostly, by her husband’s side?  Could it be?  
I have eaten of the lotus flower, mother, she hears her son 
 
Thaddeus croon.  So shall you.  Soon.  Mrs. Lincoln begins 
to sob.  What joy to the troubled heart! exclaims Mr. Mumler, 
rubbing his hands together, as if trying to bring them warmth.  
 
What balm to aching breast!  In court, charged with fraud, 
Mumler testifies: My camera makes visible the unseen.  
My glass negatives only capture what dares to manifest there. 
 
Unable to demonstrate in court just how Mumler fixed 
those apparitions to his photographic plates, the prosecution 
has no case.  Gloats William Mumler after the trial: As I said,
 
the camera’s lens perceives what you choose to disbelieve.
 
John Bradley

John Bradley lives in DeKalb, Illinois, where he often writes poems inspired by photographs.  His most recent book is As Blood Is the Fruit of the Heart (Dos Madres Press), which contains several ekphrastic poems.