Hush'd Be the Camps to-Day

by Walt Whitman · 1865
Published 01/07/1865

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.


Sing, to the lower'd coffin there;

Sing, with the shovel'd clods that fill the grave—a verse,

For the heavy hearts of soldiers.

#death #loss #mourning #walt whitman #war

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