Poem by Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass. 21. Drum-Taps. 38. To a Certain Civilian

Did you ask dulcet rhymes from me?
Did you seek the civilian's peaceful and languishing rhymes?
Did you find what I sang erewhile so hard to follow?
Why I was not singing erewhile for you to follow, to understand—nor
      am I now;
(I have been born of the same as the war was born,
The drum-corps' rattle is ever to me sweet music, I love well the
      martial dirge,
With slow wail and convulsive throb leading the officer's funeral;)
What to such as you anyhow such a poet as I? therefore leave my works,
And go lull yourself with what you can understand, and with piano-tunes,
For I lull nobody, and you will never understand me.

1. Leaves of Grass. 21. Drum-Taps. 30. Race of Veterans
2. Leaves of Grass. 32. From Noon to Starry Night. 12. Mediums
3. Leaves of Grass. 32. From Noon to Starry Night. 16. From Far Dakota's Canyons [June 25, 1876]
4. Leaves of Grass. 35. Good-Bye My Fancy. 11. Shakspere-Bacon’s Cipher
5. Leaves of Grass. 20. By the Roadside. 8. Perfections

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