by Whitman · Cluster: Stars · Night · Military Camp
Abstract
By a flickering camp-fire the speaker’s thoughts wind in solemn procession over life and death, home and the absent loved; a meditative night-camp lyric.
Connections
Motifs: Fire, Night, Silence, Memory Themes & Concepts: Mortality Settings: Military Camp
Testo integrale / Full text
Cluster: DRUM-TAPS
By the bivouac’s fitful flame, A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow—but first I note, The tents of the sleeping army, the fields’ and woods’ dim outline, The darkness lit by spots of kindled fire, the silence, Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving, The shrubs and trees, (as I lift my eyes they seem to be stealthily watching me,) While wind in procession thoughts, O tender and wondrous thoughts, Of life and death, of home and the past and loved, and of those that are far away; A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground, By the bivouac’s fitful flame.