Drum-Taps: The Complete 1865 Edition

by Walt Whitman

  Falling among them all, and upon them all, enveloping me with the rest,

  Appear’d the cloud, appear’d the long black trail;*

  And I knew Death, its thought, and the sacred knowledge of death.

  15

  Then with the knowledge of death as walking one side of me,

  And the thought of death close-walking the other side of me,

  And I in the middle, as with companions, and as holding the hands of companions,

  I fled forth to the hiding receiving night, that talks not,

  Down to the shores of the water, the path by the swamp in the dimness,

  To the solemn shadowy cedars, and ghostly pines so still.*

  And the singer so shy to the rest receiv’d me;

  The gray-brown bird I know, receiv’d us comrades three;

  And he sang what seem’d the song of death, and a verse for him I love.

  From deep secluded recesses,

  From the fragrant cedars, and the ghostly pines so still,

  Came the singing of the bird.

  And the charm of the singing rapt me,

  As I held, as if by their hands, my comrades in the night;

  And the voice of my spirit tallied the song of the bird.

  16*

  Come, lovely and soothing Death,

  Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving,

  In the day, in the night, to all, to each,

  Sooner or later, delicate Death.

  Prais’d be the fathomless universe,

  For life and joy, and for objects and knowledge curious;

  And for love, sweet love—But praise! O praise and praise,

  For the sure-enwinding arms of cool-enfolding Death.

  Dark Mother, always gliding near, with soft feet,

  Have none chanted for thee a chant of fullest welcome?

  Then I chant it for thee—I glorify thee above all;

  I bring thee a song that when thou must indeed come, come unfalteringly.

  Approach, encompassing Death—strong Deliveress!

  When it is so—when thou hast taken them, I joyously sing the dead,

  Lost in the loving, floating ocean of thee,

  Laved in the flood of thy bliss, O Death.

  From me to thee glad serenades,

  Dances for thee I propose, saluting thee—adornments and feastings for thee;

  And the sights of the open landscape, and the high-spread sky, are fitting,

  And life and the fields, and the huge and thoughtful night.

  The night, in silence, under many a star;

  The ocean shore, and the husky whispering wave, whose voice I know;*

  And the soul turning to thee, O vast and well-veil’d Death,*

  And the body gratefully nestling close to thee.

  Over the tree-tops I float thee a song!

  Over the rising and sinking waves—over the myriad fields, and the prairies wide;

  Over the dense-pack’d cities all, and the teeming wharves and ways,

  I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee, O Death!

  17

  To the tally of my soul,*

  Loud and strong kept up the gray-brown bird,

  With pure, deliberate notes, spreading, filling the night.

  Loud in the pines and cedars dim,

  Clear in the freshness moist, and the swamp-perfume;

  And I with my comrades there in the night.

  While my sight that was bound in my eyes unclosed,*

  As to long panoramas of visions.

  18

  I saw the vision of armies;

  And I saw, as in noiseless dreams, hundreds of battle-flags;

  Borne through the smoke of the battles, and pierc’d with missiles, I saw them,

  And carried hither and yon through the smoke, and torn and bloody;

  And at last but a few shreds of the flags left on the staffs, (and all in silence,)

  And the staffs all splinter’d and broken.*

  I saw battle-corpses, myriads of them,

  And the white skeletons of young men—I saw them;

  I saw the debris and debris of all dead soldiers;

  But I saw they were not as was thought;

  They themselves were fully at rest—they suffer’d not;

  The living remain’d and suffer’d—the mother suffer’d,

  And the wife and the child, and the musing comrade suffer’d,

  And the armies that remain’d suffer’d.

  19

  Passing the visions, passing the night;

  Passing, unloosing the hold of my comrades’ hands;

  Passing the song of the hermit bird, and the tallying song of my soul,

  Victorious song, death’s outlet song, (yet varying, ever-altering song,

  As low and wailing, yet clear the notes, rising and falling, flooding the night,

  Sadly sinking and fainting, as warning and warning, and yet again bursting with joy,)

  Covering the earth, and filling the spread of the heaven,

  As that powerful psalm in the night I heard from recesses.

  20

  Must I leave thee, lilac with heart-shaped leaves?

  Must I leave thee there in the door-yard, blooming, returning with spring?

  Must I pass from my song for thee;

  From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, communing with thee,

  O comrade lustrous, with silver face in the night?

  21

  Yet each I keep, and all;

  The song, the wondrous chant of the gray-brown bird, I keep,

  And the tallying chant, the echo arous’d in my soul, I keep,

  With the lustrous and drooping star, with the countenance full of woe;*

  With the lilac tall, and its blossoms of mastering odor;

  Comrades mine, and I in the midst, and their memory ever I keep—for the dead I loved so well;

  For the sweetest, wisest soul of all my days and lands...and this for his dear sake;

  Lilac and star and bird, twined with the chant of my soul,

  With the holders holding my hand, nearing the call of the bird,

  There in the fragrant pines, and the cedars dusk and dim.

  Race of Veterans

  Race of veterans!

  Race of the soil, ready for conflict! race of the conquering march!

  (No more credulity’s race, abiding-temper’d race;)

  Race owning no law but the law of itself;

  Race of passion and the storm.

  O Captain! my Captain!

  1

  O captain! my captain! our fearful trip is done;

  The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;

  The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

  While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:

  But O heart! heart! heart!

  Leave you not the little spot,

  Where on the deck my captain lies.

  Fallen cold and dead.*

  2

  O captain! my captain! rise up and hear the bells;

  Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;

  For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;

  For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

  O captain! dear father!*

  This arm I push beneath you;

  It is some dream that on the deck,

  You’ve fallen cold and dead.

  3

  My captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;

  My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will:

  But the ship, the ship is anchor’d safe, its voyage closed and done;

  From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won:

  Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!

  But I, with silent tread,

  Walk the spot my captain lies,

  Fallen cold an
d dead.

  Spirit whose work is done

  Spirit whose work is done! spirit of dreadful hours!

  Ere, departing, fade from my eyes your forests of bayonets;

  Spirit of gloomiest fears and doubts, (yet onward ever unfaltering pressing;)

  Spirit of many a solemn day, and many a savage scene!

  Electric spirit!

  That with muttering voice, through the years now closed, like a tireless phantom flitted,

  Rousing the land with breath of flame, while you beat and beat the drum;

  —Now, as the sound of the drum, hollow and harsh to the last, reverberates round me;

  As your ranks, your immortal ranks, return, return from the battles;

  While the muskets of the young men yet lean over their shoulders;

  While I look on the bayonets bristling over their shoulders;

  While those slanted bayonets, whole forests of them, appearing in the distance, approach and pass on, returning homeward,*

  Moving with steady motion, swaying to and fro, to the right and left,

  Evenly, lightly rising and falling, as the steps keep time:

  —Spirit of hours I knew, all hectic red one day, but pale as death next day;

  Touch my mouth, ere you depart—press my lips close!

  Leave me your pulses of rage! bequeath them to me! fill me with currents convulsive!

  Let them scorch and blister out of my chants, when you are gone;

  Let them identify you to the future in these songs.

  Chanting the Square Deific

  1

  >Chanting the square deific, out of the One advancing, out of the sides;*

  Out of the old and new—out of the square entirely divine,

  Solid, four-sided, (all the sides needed)...from this side JEHOVAH am I,*

  Old Brahm I, and I Saturnius am;

  Not Time affects me—I am Time, modern as any;

  Unpersuadable, relentless, executing righteous judgments;

  As the Earth, the Father, the brown old Kronos, with laws,

  Aged beyond computation—yet ever new—ever with those mighty laws rolling,

  Relentless, I forgive no man—whoever sins, dies—I will have that man’s life;

  Therefore let none expect mercy—Have the seasons, gravitation, the appointed days, mercy?—No more have I;

  But as the seasons, and gravitation—and as all the appointed days, that forgive not,

  I dispense from this side judgments inexorable, without the least remorse.

  2

  Consolator most mild, the promis’d one advancing,

  With gentle hand extended, the mightier God am I,

  Foretold by prophets and poets, in their most rapt prophecies and poems;

  From this side, lo! the Lord CHRIST gazes—lo! Hermes I— lo! mine is Hercules’ face;*

  All sorrow, labor, suffering, I, tallying it, absorb in myself;

  Many times have I been rejected, taunted, put in prison, and crucified—and many times shall be again;

  All the world have I given up for my dear brothers’ and sisters’ sake—for the soul’s sake;

  Wending my way through the homes of men, rich or poor, with the kiss of affection;

  For I am affection—I am the cheer-bringing God, with hope, and all-enclosing Charity;*

  (Conqueror yet—for before me all the armies and soldiers of the earth shall yet bow—and all the weapons of war become impotent:)*

  With indulgent words, as to children—with fresh and sane words, mine only;

  Young and strong I pass, knowing well I am destin’d myself to an early death:

  But my Charity has no death—my Wisdom dies not, neither early nor late,

  And my sweet Love, bequeath’d here and elsewhere, never dies.

  3

  Aloof, dissatisfied, plotting revolt,*

  Comrade of criminals, brother of slaves,

  Crafty, despised, a drudge, ignorant,

  With sudra face and worn brow—black, but in the depths of my heart, proud as any;*

  Lifted, now and always, against whoever, scorning, assumes to rule me;*

  Morose, full of guile, full of reminiscences, brooding, with many wiles,

  (Though it was thought I was baffled and dispell’d, and my wiles done—but that will never be;)

  Defiant, I, SATAN, still live—still utter words—in new lands duly appearing, (and old ones also;)

  Permanent here, from my side, warlike, equal with any, real as any,

  Nor time, nor change, shall ever change me or my words.

  4

  Santa SPIRITA, breather, life,*

  Beyond the light, lighter than light,

  Beyond the flames of hell—joyous, leaping easily above hell;

  Beyond Paradise—perfumed solely with mine own perfume;

  Including all life on earth—touching, including God—including Saviour and Satan;

  Ethereal, pervading all, (for without me, what were all? what were God?)

  Essence of forms—life of the real identities, permanent, positive, (namely the unseen,)

  Life of the great round world, the sun and stars, and of man—I, the general Soul,*

  Here the square finishing, the solid, I the most solid,

  Breathe my breath also through these little songs.

  I heard you, solemn-sweet pipes of the Organ

  I heard you, solemn-sweet pipes of the organ, as last Sunday morn I pass’d the church;

  Winds of autumn!—as I walk’d the woods at dusk, I heard your long-stretch’d sighs, up above, so mournful;

  I heard the perfect Italian tenor, singing at the opera—I heard the soprano in the midst of the quartet singing;

  ...Heart of my love!—you too I heard, murmuring low, through one of the wrists around my head;

  Heard the pulse of you, when all was still, ringing little bells last night under my ear.*

  Not my Enemies ever invade me

  Not my enemies ever invade me—no harm to my pride from them I fear;

  But the lovers I recklessly love—lo! how they master me!

  Lo! me, ever open and helpless, bereft of my strength!

  Utterly abject, grovelling on the ground before them.

  O me! O life!

  O me! O life!...of the questions of these recurring;

  Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;

  Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

  Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;

  Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;

  Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;

  The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

  Answer

  That you are here—that life exists, and identity;

  That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

  Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats

  Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats!

  Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me!

  (For what is my life, or any man’s life, but a conflict with foes—the old, the incessant war?)

  You degradations—you tussle with passions and appetites;

  You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds, the sharpest of all;)

  You toil of painful and choked articulations—you meannesses;

  You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of any;)

  You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother’d ennuis;

  Ah, think not you finally triumph—My real self has yet to come forth;

  It shall yet march forth o’ermastering, till all lies beneath me;

  It shall yet stand up the soldier of unquestion’d victory.

  As I lay with my head in your lap, Camerado

  As I lay
with my head in your lap, camerado,

  The confession I made I resume—what I said to you and the open air I resume:

  I know I am restless, and make others so;

  I know my words are weapons, full of danger, full of death;

  (Indeed I am myself the real soldier;

  It is not he, there, with his bayonet, and not the red-striped artilleryman;)

  For I confront peace, security, and all the settled laws, to unsettle them;

  I am more resolute because all have denied me, than I could ever have been had all accepted me;

  I heed not, and have never heeded, either experience, cautions, majorities, nor ridicule;

  And the threat of what is call’d hell is little or nothing to me;

  And the lure of what is call’d heaven is little or nothing to me;

  ...Dear camerado! I confess I have urged you onward with me, and still urge you,without the least idea what is our destination,

  Or whether we shall be victorious, or utterly quell’d and defeated.

  This day, O Soul

  This day, O soul, I give you a wondrous mirror;

  Long in the dark, in tarnish and cloud it lay—But the cloud has pass’d, and the tarnish gone;

  ...Behold, O soul! it is now a clean and bright mirror,*

  Faithfully showing you all the things of the world.

  In clouds descending, in midnight sleep

  1

  In clouds descending, in midnight sleep, of many a face of anguish,

  Of the look at first of the mortally wounded—of that indescribable look;

  Of the dead on their backs, with arms extended wide,

  I dream, I dream, I dream.

  2

  Of scenes of nature, the fields and the mountains;

  Of the skies, so beauteous after the storm—and at night the moon so unearthly bright,

  Shining sweetly, shining down, where we dig the trenches and gather the heaps,

  I dream, I dream, I dream.

  3

  Long have they pass’d, long lapsed—faces and trenches and fields;

  Long through the carnage I moved with a callous composure—or away from the fallen,

  Onward I sped at the time—But now of their forms at night,

  I dream, I dream, I dream.

  An Army on the march

  With its cloud of skirmishers in advance,

  With now the sound of a single shot, snapping like a whip, and now an irregular volley,