I have your cards of 8th and 9th2 Have had the inspector3 here the last two days and a lot of work and worry along with him (as usual)—this has kept me from writing—you speak of being "easier" but I feel very anxious about you and think I shall hurry up and see you soon, probably early in May. I did think of putting off my trip until the end of May but there are reasons why I had better go now—I might not be able to go at the end of May.4
The weather here has turned warm, almost summer today—sun shining, birds singing—buds bursting out. No doubt it will be cold again in a day or two, too early for real spring yet
R M Bucke loc_zs.00547.jpgCorrespondent:
Richard Maurice Bucke (1837–1902) was a
Canadian physician and psychiatrist who grew close to Whitman after reading Leaves of Grass in 1867 (and later memorizing it) and
meeting the poet in Camden a decade later. Even before meeting Whitman, Bucke
claimed in 1872 that a reading of Leaves of Grass led him
to experience "cosmic consciousness" and an overwhelming sense of epiphany.
Bucke became the poet's first biographer with Walt
Whitman (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1883), and he later served as one
of his medical advisors and literary executors. For more on the relationship of
Bucke and Whitman, see Howard Nelson, "Bucke, Richard Maurice," Walt Whitman: An
Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1998).