Sleeping under the sunlight, sleeping under the moonlight,
     content and silent there at last,
Behold the mighty bivouac-field and waiting-camp of all,
Of the corps and generals all, and the President over the
     corps and generals all,
And of each of us O soldiers, and of each and all in the
     ranks we fought,
(There without hatred we all, all meet.)

For presently O soldiers, we too camp in our place in
     the bivouac-camps of green,
But we need not provide for outposts, nor word for
     the counter-sign,
Nor drummer to beat the morning drum.

1865 1881

THE SOBBING OF THE BELLS

THE sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news everywhere,
The slumberers rouse, the rapport of the People,
(Full well they know that message in the darkness,
Full well return, respond within their breasts, their brains,
     the sad reverberations,)
The passionate toll and clang — city to city, joining,
     sounding, passing,
Those heart-beats of a Nation in the night.

1881 1881

AS THEY DRAW TO A CLOSE

AS they draw to a close,
Of what underlies the precedent songs — of
     my aims in them,
Of the seed I have sought to plant in them,
Of joy, sweet joy, through many a year, in them,
(For them, for them have I lived, in them my work is
     done,)
Of many an aspiration fond, of many a dream and plan;
Through Space and Time fused in a chant, and the
     flowing eternal identity,
To Nature encompassing these, encompassing God
     — to the joyous, electric all,
To the sense of Death, and accepting exulting in Death
     in its turn the same as life,
The entrance of man to sing;
To compact you, ye parted, diverse lives,
To put rapport the mountains and rocks and streams,
And the winds of the north, and the forests of oak and
     pine,
With you O soul.

1871 1881

JOY, SHIPMATE, JOY!

JOY, shipmate, joy!
(Pleas'd to my soul at death I cry,)
Our life is closed, our life begins,
The long, long anchorage we leave,
The ship is clear at last, she leaps!
She swiftly courses from the shore,
Joy, shipmate, joy!

1871 1871

THE UNTOLD WANT

THE untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find.

1871 1871

PORTALS

WHAT are those of the known but to ascend and enter the
     Unknown?
And what are those of life but for Death?

1871 1871

THESE CAROLS

THESE carols sung to cheer my passage through the world I
     see,
For completion I dedicate to the Invisible World.

1871 1871

NOW FINALÈ TO THE SHORE

Now finalè to the shore,
Now land and life finalè and farewell,
Now Voyager depart, (much, much for thee is yet in store,)

Often enough hast thou adventur'd o'er the seas,
Cautiously cruising, studying the charts,
Duly again to port and hawser's tie returning;
But now obey thy cherish'd secret wish,
Embrace thy friends, leave all in order,
To port and hawser's tie no more returning,
Depart upon thy endless cruise old Sailor.

1871 1871