Walt Whitman , "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," (1865)
Transcribed from the Project Gutenberg text of Walt Whitman's Poems, published in 1867 and edited by W.M. Rossetti.
1.
- When lilacs last in the door-yard bloomed,
- And the great star early drooped in the western sky in the night,
- I mourned,...and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
- O ever-returning spring! trinity sure to me you bring;
- Lilac blooming perennial, and drooping star in the west,
- And thought of him I love.
2.
- O powerful, western, fallen star!
- O shades of night! O moody, tearful night!
- O great star disappeared! O the black murk that hides the star!
- O cruel hands that hold me powerless! O helpless soul of me!
- O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul!
3.
- In the door-yard fronting an old farm-house, near the whitewashed palings,
- Stands the lilac bush, tall-growing, with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
- With many a pointed blossom, rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love,
- With every leaf a miracle: and from this bush in the dooryard,
- With delicate-coloured blossoms, and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
- A sprig, with its flower, I break.
4.
- In the swamp, in secluded recesses,
- A shy and hidden bird is warbling a song.
- Solitary, the thrush,
- The hermit, withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements,
- Sings by himself a song:
- Song of the bleeding throat!
- Death's outlet song of life—for well, dear brother, I know,
- If thou wast not gifted to sing, thou wouldst surely die.
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 grass in the fields each side of the lanes—passing the endless grass;
- Passing the yellow-speared wheat, every grain from its shroud in the dark-brown fields uprising;
- Passing 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.
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