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AS ONE BY ONE WITHDRAW THE LOFTY ACTORS.
I.
From that great play on history's stage eterne,
That lurid, partial act of war and peace—of old
and new contending,
Fought out through wrath, fears, dark dismays,
and many a long suspense,
All past—and since, in countless graves reced-
ing, mellowing,
Victor's and vanquish'd—Lincoln's and Lee's—
now thou with them,
Man of the mighty days—and equal to the days!
Thou from the prairies!—tangled and many-
vein'd and hard has been thy part,
To admiration has it been enacted!
II.
heart!
Strengthen to firmest day, O rosy dawn of hope!
Thou dirge I started first, to joyful shout reverse!
and thou, O grave,
Wait long and long!
WALT WHITMAN.
Publication Information
"As One by One Withdraw the Lofty Actors."
Harper's Weekly
4 (16 May 1885):
310.
Reprinted as "Grant" in Critic 7 (15 August 1885): 80; and revised as "Death of General Grant" in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).
Whitman Archive ID
per.00025