The Walt Whitman Archive
Leaves of Grass (1881-82)
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View Page 263
HUSH'D BE THE CAMPS TO-DAY.
( May 4, 1865. )
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HUSH'D be the camps to-day,
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And soldiers let us drape our war-worn weapons,
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And each with musing soul retire to celebrate,
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Our dear commander's death.
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No more for him life's stormy conflicts,
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Nor victory, nor defeat—no more time's dark events,
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Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky.
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But sing poet in our name,
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Sing of the love we bore him—because you, dweller in camps,
know it truly.
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As they invault the coffin there,
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Sing—as they close the doors of earth upon him—one verse,
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For the heavy hearts of soldiers.
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