Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day [May 4, 1865]

  by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)


 

Hush'd be the camps to-day,
And soldiers let us drape our war-worn weapons,
And each with musing soul retire to celebrate,
Our dear commander's death.

 

No more for him life's stormy conflicts,
Nor victory, nor defeat--no more time's dark events,
Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky.
But sing poet in our name,

 

Sing of the love we bore him--because you, dweller in camps, know it truly.

 

As they invault the coffin there,
Sing--as they close the doors of earth upon him--one verse,
For the heavy hearts of soldiers.


   More poems by Walt Whitman