The Walt Whitman Archive
Published Works
Books by Whitman
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BY THE BIVOUAC'S FITFUL FLAME.
BY the bivouac's fitful flame,
A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow—but
first I note,
first I note,
The tents of the sleeping army, the fields' and woods' dim
outline,
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,)
watching me,)
While wind in procession thoughts, O tender and wondrous
thoughts,
thoughts,
Of life and death, of home and the past and loved, and of those
that are far away;
that are far away;
A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground,
By the bivouac's fitful flame.