Part 26 (1/2)

5.

Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities, Amid lanes, and through old woods, where lately the violets peeped from the ground, spotting the greydebris; Amid the gra.s.s in the fields each side of the lanes--pa.s.sing the endless gra.s.s; Pa.s.sing the yellow-speared wheat, every grain from its shroud in the dark-brown fields uprising; Pa.s.sing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards; Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave, Night and day journeys a coffin.

6.

Coffin that pa.s.ses through lanes and streets, Through day and night, with the great cloud darkening the land, With the pomp of the inlooped flags, with the cities draped in black, With the show of the States themselves as of c.r.a.pe-veiled women standing, With processions long and winding, and the flambeaus of the night, With the countless torches lit--with the silent sea of faces, and the unbared heads, With the waiting depot, the arriving coffin, and the sombre faces, With dirges through the night, with the thousand voices rising strong and solemn; With all the mournful voices of the dirges, poured around the coffin, The dim-lit churches and the shuddering organs--Where amid these you journey, With the tolling, tolling bells' perpetual clang; Here! coffin that slowly pa.s.ses, I give you my sprig of lilac.

7.

Nor for you, for one, alone; Blossoms and branches green to coffins all I bring: For fresh as the morning--thus would I chant a song for you, O sane and sacred Death.

All over bouquets of roses, O Death! I cover you over with roses and early lilies; But mostly and now the lilac that blooms the first, Copious, I break, I break the sprigs from the bushes!

With loaded arms I come, pouring for you, For you and the coffins all of you, O Death.

8.

O western orb, sailing the heaven!

Now I know what you must have meant, as a month since we walked, As we walked up and down in the dark blue so mystic, As we walked in silence the transparent shadowy night, As I saw you had something to tell, as you bent to me night after night, As you drooped from the sky low down, as if to my side, while the other stars all looked on; As we wandered together the solemn night, for something, I know not what, kept me from sleep; As the night advanced, and I saw on the rim of the west, ere you went, how full you were of woe; As I stood on the rising ground in the breeze, in the cool transparent night, As I watched where you pa.s.sed and was lost in the netherward black of the night, As my soul, in its trouble, dissatisfied, sank, as where you, sad orb, Concluded, dropped in the night, and was gone.

9.

Sing on, there in the swamp!

O singer bashful and tender! I hear your notes--I hear your call; I hear--I come presently--I understand you; But a moment I linger--for the l.u.s.trous star has detained me; The star, my comrade departing, holds and detains me.

10.

O how shall I warble myself for the dead one there I loved?

And how shall I deck my song for the large sweet soul that has gone?

And what shall my perfume be for the grave of him I love?

Sea-winds, blown from east and west, Blown from the Eastern Sea, and blown from the Western Sea, till there on the prairies meeting: These, and with these, and the breath of my chant, I perfume the grave of him I love.

11.

O what shall I hang on the chamber walls?

And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls, To adorn the burial-house of him I love?

Pictures of growing spring, and farms, and homes, With the Fourth-month eve at sundown, and the grey smoke lucid and bright, With floods of the yellow gold of the gorgeous, indolent sinking sun, burning, expanding the air; With the fresh sweet herbage under foot, and the pale green leaves of the trees prolific; In the distance the flowing glaze, the breast of the river, with a wind-dapple here and there; With ranging hills on the banks, with many a line against the sky, and shadows; And the city at hand, with dwellings so dense, and stacks of chimneys, And all the scenes of life, and the workshops, and the workmen homeward returning.

12.

Lo! body and soul! this land!

Mighty Manhattan, with spires, and the sparkling and hurrying tides, and the s.h.i.+ps; The varied and ample land--the South and the North in the light--Ohio's sh.o.r.es, and flas.h.i.+ng Missouri, And ever the far-spreading prairies, covered with gra.s.s and corn.