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THE SOBBING OF THE BELLS.
(MIDNIGHT, SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1881.)
BY WALT WHITMAN.
The sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news everywhere,
The slumberers rouse, the rapport of the People,
(Full well they know that message in the darkness,
Full well return the sad reverberations.)
The passionate toll and clang—city to city, joining, sounding,
passing,
Those heart-beats of a Nation in the night.
—[From a forthcoming volume.
Notes
1. Reprinted as "The Sobbing of the Bells. (Midnight, Sept. 19-20, 1881)" in Leaves of Grass (1881–82). [back]