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[Over and through the burial chant]
Over and through the burial chant,
Organ and solemn service, sermon, bending priests,
To me come interpolation sounds not in the show—
plainly to me, crowding up the aisle and from
the window,
Of sudden battle's hurry and harsh noises—war's,
war's grim game to sight and ear in earnest;
The scout call'd up and forward—the General
mounted and his aides around him—the new
brought word—the instantaneous order issued;
The rifle crack—the cannon thud—the rushing forth
of men from their tents;
The clank of cavalry—the strange celerity of form-
ing ranks—the slender bugle note;
The sound of horses' hoofs departing—saddles,
arms, accoutrements.
WALT WHITMAN.
Publication Information
"[Over and through the burial chant]."
New York Herald
12 August 1888:
7.
Reprinted as "Interpolation Sounds" in Good-Bye My Fancy (1891).
Notes
This poem, later titled "Interpolation Sounds," appeared in the Herald four days after Whitman's short prose tribute to General Philip K. Sheridan, a Union general during the Civil War, and the fourth four-star general of the United States. When reprinted in "Good-Bye My Fancy," the poem included the note, "General Sheridan was buried at the Cathedral, Washington, D.C. August, 1888, with all the pomp, music and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic service."
Whitman Archive ID
per.00086