Drum-Taps: The Complete 1865 Edition

by Walt Whitman

  Make even the trestles to shake the dead, where they lie awaiting the hearses,

  So strong you thump, O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.*

  Come up from the fields father

  Come up from the fields, father, here’s a letter from our Pete;*

  And come to the front door, mother—here’s a letter from thy dear son.*

  Lo, ’tis autumn;

  Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,

  Cool and sweeten Ohio’s villages, with leaves fluttering in the moderate wind;

  Where apples ripe in the orchards hang, and grapes on the trellis’d vines;*

  (Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?

  Smell you the buckwheat, where the bees were lately buzzing?)*

  Above all, lo, the sky, so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with wondrous clouds;

  Below, too, all calm, all vital and beautiful—and the farm prospers well.

  Down in the fields all prospers well;

  But now from the fields come, father—come at the daughter’s call;

  And come to the entry, mother—to the front door come, right away.

  Fast as she can she hurries—something ominous—her steps trembling;

  She does not tarry to smooth her white hair, nor adjust her cap.

  Open the envelope quickly;

  O this is not our son’s writing, yet his name is sign’d;

  O a strange hand writes for our dear son—O stricken mother’s soul!*

  All swims before her eyes—flashes with black—she catches the main words only;

  Sentences broken—gun-shot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,

  At present low, but will soon be better.

  Ah, now the single figure to me,

  Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio, with all its cities and farms,

  Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,

  By the jamb of a door leans.*

  Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through her sobs;

  The little sisters huddle around, speechless and dismay’d;)

  See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.

  Alas, poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul;)

  While they stand at home at the door, he is dead already;

  The only son is dead.*

  But the mother needs to be better;

  She, with thin form, presently drest in black;

  By day her meals untouch’d—then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,

  In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,

  O that she might withdraw unnoticed—silent from life, escape and withdraw,

  To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.

  City of ships

  City of ships!*

  (O the black ships! O the fierce ships!*

  O the beautiful, sharp bow’d steam-ships and sail-ships!)*

  City of the world! (for all races are here;*

  All the lands of the earth make contributions here;)

  City of the sea! city of hurried and glittering tides!

  City whose gleeful tides continually rush or recede, whirling in and out, with eddies and foam!

  City of wharves and stores! city of tall façades of marble and iron!

  Proud and passionate city! mettlesome, mad, extravagant city!

  Spring up, O city! not for peace alone, but be indeed yourself, warlike!

  Fear not! submit to no models but your own, O city!*

  Behold me! incarnate me, as I have incarnated you!

  I have rejected nothing you offer’d me—whom you adopted, I have adopted;

  Good or bad, I never question you—I love all—I do not condemn anything;

  I chant and celebrate all that is yours—yet peace no more;

  In peace I chanted peace, but now the drum of war is mine;

  War, red war, is my song through your streets, O city!

  Mother and babe

  I see the sleeping babe, nestling the breast of its mother;

  The sleeping mother and babe—hush’d, I study them long and long.*

  Vigil strange I kept on the field one night

  Vigil strange I kept on the field one night,*

  When you, my son and my comrade, dropt at my side that day,

  One look I but gave, which your dear eyes return’d, with a look I shall never forget;

  One touch of your hand to mine, O boy, reach’d up as you lay on the ground;

  Then onward I sped in the battle, the even-contested battle;

  Till late in the night reliev’d, to the place at last again I made my way;

  Found you in death so cold, dear comrade—found your body, son of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding;)

  Bared your face in the starlight—curious the scene—cool blew the moderate night-wind;

  Long there and then in vigil I stood, dimly around me the battle-field spreading;

  Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet, there in the fragrant silent night;*

  But not a tear fell, not even a long-drawn sigh—Long, long I gazed;

  Then on the earth partially reclining, sat by your side, leaning my chin in my hands;

  Passing sweet hours, immortal and mystic hours with you, dearest comrade—Not a tear, not a word;

  Vigil of silence, love and death—vigil for you, my son and my soldier,*

  As onward silently stars aloft, eastward new ones upward stole;

  Vigil final for you, brave boy, (I could not save you, swift was your death,

  I faithfully loved you and cared for you living—I think we shall surely meet again;)

  Till at latest lingering of the night, indeed just as the dawn appear’d,

  My comrade I wrapt in his blanket, envelop’d well his form,

  Folded the blanket well, tucking it carefully over head, and carefully under feet;*

  And there and then, and bathed by the rising sun, my son in his grave, in his rude-dug grave I deposited;

  Ending my vigil strange with that—vigil of night and battle-field dim;

  Vigil for boy of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding;)

  Vigil for comrade swiftly slain—vigil I never forget, how as day brighten’d,

  I rose from the chill ground, and folded my soldier well in his blanket,

  And buried him where he fell.

  Bathed in war’s perfume

  Bathed in war’s perfume—delicate flag!*

  O to hear you call the sailors and the soldiers! flag like a beautiful woman!*

  O to hear the tramp, tramp, of a million answering men!*

  O the ships they arm with joy!

  O to see you leap and beckon from the tall masts of ships!

  O to see you peering down on the sailors on the decks!

  Flag like the eyes of women.

  A march in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown

  A march in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown;

  A route through a heavy wood, with muffled steps in the darkness;*

  Our army foil’d with loss severe, and the sullen remnant retreating;*

  Till after midnight glimmer upon us, the lights of a dim-lighted building;

  We come to an open space in the woods, and halt by the dim-lighted building;

  ’Tis a large old church, at the crossing roads—’tis now an impromptu hospital;*

  —Entering but for a minute, I see a sight beyond all the pictures and poems ever made:

  Shadows of deepest, deepest black, just lit by moving candles and lamps,

  And by one great pitchy torch, stationary, with wild red flame, and clouds of smoke;*

  By these, crowds, groups of forms, vaguely I see, on the floor, some in the pews laid down;

  At my feet more distinctly, a soldier, a mere lad, in danger of bleeding to death, (he is shot in the abdomen;)r />
  I staunch the blood temporarily, (the youngster’s face is white as a lily;)*

  Then before I depart I sweep my eyes o’er the scene, fain to absorb it all;

  Faces, varieties, postures beyond description, most in obscurity, some of them dead;

  Surgeons operating, attendants holding lights, the smell of ether, the odor of blood;*

  The crowd, O the crowd of the bloody forms of soldiers—the yard outside also fill’d;

  Some on the bare ground, some on planks or stretchers, some in the death-spasm sweating;

  An occasional scream or cry, the doctor’s shouted orders or calls;

  The glisten of the little steel instruments catching the glint of the torches;*

  These I resume as I chant—I see again the forms, I smell the odor;

  Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my men, Fall in;

  But first I bend to the dying lad—his eyes open—a half-smile gives he me;

  Then the eyes close, calmly close, and I speed forth to the darkness,

  Resuming, marching, as ever in darkness marching, on in the ranks,

  The unknown road still marching.

  Long, too long, O land

  Long, too long, O land,

  Traveling roads all even and peaceful, you learn’d from joys and prosperity only;

  But now, ah now, to learn from crises of anguish—advancing, grappling with direst fate, and recoiling not;

  And now to conceive, and show to the world, what your children en-masse really are;

  (For who except myself has yet conceived what your children en-masse really are?)

  A sight in camp in the day-break grey and dim

  A sight in camp in the day-break grey and dim,

  As from my tent I emerge so early, sleepless,

  As slow I walk in the cool fresh air, the path near by the hospital-tent,

  Three forms I see on stretchers lying, brought out there, untended lying,*

  Over each the blanket spread, ample brownish woolen blanket,

  Grey and heavy blanket, folding, covering all.

  Curious, I halt, and silent stand;

  Then with light fingers I from the face of the nearest, the first, just lift the blanket:

  Who are you, elderly man so gaunt and grim, with well-grey’d hair, and flesh all sunken about the eyes?

  Who are you, my dear comrade?*

  Then to the second I step—And who are you, my child and darling?

  Who are you, sweet boy, with cheeks yet blooming?

  Then to the third—a face nor child, nor old, very calm, as of beautiful yellow-white ivory:

  Young man, I think I know you—I think this face of yours is the face of the Christ himself;

  Dead and divine, and brother of all, and here again he lies.*

  A farm picture

  Through the ample open door of the peaceful country barn,

  A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding.*

  Give me the splendid silent sun

  1

  Give me the splendid silent sun, with all his beams full-dazzling;

  Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe and red from the orchard;

  Give me a field where the unmow’d grass grows;

  Give me an arbor, give me the trellis’d grape;

  Give me fresh corn and wheat—give me serene-moving animals, teaching content;

  Give me nights perfectly quiet, as on high plateaus west of the Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars;

  Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers, where I can walk undisturb’d;

  Give me for marriage a sweet-breath’d woman, of whom I should never tire;*

  Give me a perfect child—give me, away, aside from the noise of the world, a rural domestic life;

  Give me to warble spontaneous songs, reliev’d, recluse by myself, for my own ears only;

  Give me solitude—give me Nature—give me again,

  O Nature, your primal sanities!

  —These, demanding to have them, (tired with ceaseless excitement, and rack’d by the war-strife;)

  These to procure, incessantly asking, rising in cries from my heart,

  While yet incessantly asking, still I adhere to my city;

  Day upon day, and year upon year, O city, walking your streets,

  Where you hold me enchain’d a certain time, refusing to give me up;

  Yet giving to make me glutted, enrich’d of soul—you give me forever faces;

  (O I see what I sought to escape, confronting, reversing my cries;

  I see my own soul trampling down what it ask’d for.)

  2

  Keep your splendid silent sun;

  Keep your woods, O Nature, and the quiet places by the woods;

  Keep your fields of clover and timothy, and your cornfields and orchards;

  Keep the blossoming buckwheat fields, where the Ninth-month bees hum;

  Give me faces and streets! give me these phantoms incessant and endless along the trottoirs!*

  Give me interminable eyes! give me women! give me comrades and lovers by the thousand!

  Let me see new ones every day! let me hold new ones by the hand every day!

  Give me such shows! give me the streets of Manhattan!

  Give me Broadway, with the soldiers marching—give me the sound of the trumpets and drums!

  (The soldiers in companies or regiments—some, starting away, flush’d and reckless;

  Some, their time up, returning, with thinn’d ranks— young, yet very old, worn, marching, noticing nothing;)

  —Give me the shores and the wharves heavy-fringed with the black ships!

  O such for me! O an intense life! O full to repletion, and varied!

  The life of the theatre, bar-room, huge hotel, for me!

  The saloon of the steamer! the crowded excursion for me! the torch-light procession!

  The dense brigade, bound for the war, with high piled military wagons following;

  People, endless, streaming, with strong voices, passions, pageants;

  Manhattan streets, with their powerful throbs, with the beating drums, as now;

  The endless and noisy chorus, the rustle and clank of muskets, (even the sight of the wounded;)

  Manhattan crowds with their turbulent musical chorus—with varied chorus and light of the sparkling eyes;

  Manhattan faces and eyes forever for me.*

  Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice

  Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice,

  Be not dishearten’d—Affection shall solve the problems of Freedom yet;

  Those who love each other shall become invincible—they shall yet make Columbia victorious.*

  Sons of the Mother of All! you shall yet be victorious!

  You shall yet laugh to scorn the attacks of all the remainder of the earth.

  No danger shall balk Columbia’s lovers;

  If need be, a thousand shall sternly immolate themselves for one.*

  One from Massachusetts shall be a Missourian’s comrade;

  From Maine and from hot Carolina, and another an Oregonese, shall be friends triune,*

  More precious to each other than all the riches of the earth.*

  To Michigan, Florida perfumes shall tenderly come;*

  Not the perfumes of flowers, but sweeter, and wafted beyond death.*

  It shall be customary in the houses and streets to see manly affection;

  The most dauntless and rude shall touch face to face lightly;

  The dependence of Liberty shall be lovers,

  The continuance of Equality shall be comrades.

  These shall tie you and band you stronger than hoops of iron;*

  I, extatic, O partners! O lands! with the love of lovers tie you.*

  Were you looking to be held together by the lawyers?

  Or by an agreement on a paper? or by arms?

  —Nay—nor the world, nor any living thing, will so cohere.

  Did you ask dulce
t rhymes from me?

  Did you ask dulcet rhymes from me?

  Did you find what I sang erewhile so hard to follow, to understand?

  Why I was not singing erewhile for you to follow, to understand—nor am I now;

  —What to such as you, anyhow, such a poet as I?—therefore leave my works,

  And go lull yourself with what you can understand;

  For I lull nobody—and you will never understand me.

  Year of meteors

  (1859–60)

  Year of meteors! brooding year!

  I would bind in words retrospective, some of your deeds and signs;

  I would sing your contest for the 19th Presidentiad;*

  I would sing how an old man, tall, with white hair, mounted the scaffold in Virginia;

  (I was at hand—silent I stood, with teeth shut close—I watch’d;

  I stood very near you, old man, when cool and indifferent, but trembling with age and your unheal’d wounds, you mounted the scaffold;)*

  I would sing in my copious song your census returns of The States,

  The tables of population and products—I would sing of your ships and their cargoes,*

  The proud black ships of Manhattan, arriving, some fill’d with immigrants, some from the isthmus with cargoes of gold;*

  Songs thereof would I sing—to all that hitherward comes would I welcome give;

  And you would I sing, fair stripling! welcome to you from me, sweet boy of England!*

  Remember you surging Manhattan’s crowds, as you passed with your cortege of nobles?

  There in the crowds stood I, and singled you out with attachment;

  I know not why, but I loved you...(and so go forth little song,

  Far over sea speed like an arrow, carrying my love all folded,

  And find in his palace the youth I love, and drop these lines at his feet;)

  —Nor forget I to sing of the wonder, the ship as she swam up my bay,

  Well-shaped and stately the Great Eastern swam up my bay, she was 600 feet long,*

  Her moving swiftly, surrounded by myriads of small craft, I forget not to sing;

  Nor the comet that came unannounced, out of the north, flaring in heaven,*

  Nor the strange huge meteor procession, dazzling and clear, shooting over our heads,

  (A moment, a moment long, it sail’d its balls of unearthly light over our heads,

  Then departed, dropt in the night, and was gone;)*

  —Of such, and fitful as they, I sing—with gleams from them would I gleam and patch these chants;