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The poem
When I Heard at the Close of the Day by Walt Whitman
When I
heard at the close of the day how my name had been
receiv'd
with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a
happy night for
me that follow'd,
And else when I carous'd, or when my plans were
accomplish'd, still
I was not happy,
But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of
perfect health,
refresh'd, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of
autumn,
When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and
disappear in the
morning light,
When I wander'd alone over the beach, and undressing
bathed,
laughing with the cool waters, and saw the sun rise,
And when I thought how my dear friend my lover was
on his way
coming, O then I was happy,
O then each breath tasted sweeter, and all that day
my food
nourish'd me more, and the beautiful day pass'd
well,
And the next came with equal joy, and with the next
at evening came
my friend,
And that night while all was still I heard the
waters roll slowly
continually up the shores,
I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands
as directed to me
whispering to congratulate me,
For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the
same cover in
the cool night,
In the stillness in the autumn moonbeams his face
was inclined
toward me,
And his arm lay lightly around my breast - and that
night I was
happy.
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