I went to Toronto Thursday last (9th inst.) intending to
stay a week and do a lot of things—but, rather curiously, my foot, which had
been a little sore for a couple of weeks became much inflamed the same night I went
down so that I had to make the best of my way home the next day—I have
suffered a good deal of loc_zs.00338.jpg
pain and loss of sleep with it and am still confined to my room but am mending. I
have your card of the 7th2 and
your good letter of 8th and 9th3 and am glad to see that you are no worse. I
have asked for leave of absence f'm 26th April to 1st June4 no answer yet—if I get it will spend part of
the time at Atlantic City and part (I guess) at Ingram's?5. I guess the grip (which
loc_zs.00339.jpg I had pretty bad
about end Jan.) left something behind it (as it is apt to do) and I am suffering
largely f'm that, whatever it is, but it has not taken on a serious form and I guess
it won't—Lovely weather here bright and warm—will write again very soon
Correspondent:
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).