Poem by Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass. 21. Drum-Taps. 29. Not Youth Pertains to Me

Not youth pertains to me,
Nor delicatesse, I cannot beguile the time with talk,
Awkward in the parlor, neither a dancer nor elegant,
In the learn'd coterie sitting constrain'd and still, for learning
      inures not to me,
Beauty, knowledge, inure not to me—yet there are two or three things
      inure to me,
I have nourish'd the wounded and sooth'd many a dying soldier,
And at intervals waiting or in the midst of camp,
Composed these songs.

1. Leaves of Grass. 34. Sands at Seventy. 11. The Wallabout Martyrs
2. Leaves of Grass. 5. Calamus. 38. That Shadow My Likeness
3. Leaves of Grass. 20. By the Roadside. 28. Offerings
4. Leaves of Grass. 21. Drum-Taps. 35. How Solemn As One by One [Washington City, 1865]
5. Leaves of Grass. 30. Whispers of Heavenly Death. 5. Yet, Yet, Ye Downcast Hours

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