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THE DEAD EMPEROR.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE NEW YORK HERALD.]To-day, with bending head and eyes, thou, too,
Columbia,
Less for the mighty crown laid low in sorrow—
less for the Emperor,
Thy true condolence breathest, sendest out o'er
many a salt sea mile,
Mourning a good old man—a faithful shepherd,
patriot.
WALT WHITMAN. CAMDEN, N. J., March 9, 1888
Copy-text
Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm copy of an original issue.
Publication Information
"The Dead Emperor."
New York Herald
10 March 1888:
6.
Reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888).
Notes
The New York Herald had been following the tenuous health of Emperor William I of Germany and that of his son, Crown Prince Frederick William (who was thought to have cancer), throughout the first months of 1888. The paper had even run several pages in German, as the Emperor's death became more imminent. William I died late in the day on 9 March 1888, and the Herald of 10 March contained details of his final hours as well as Whitman's poem.
Whitman Archive ID
per.00113