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About this Item
Title: Little Bells Last Night
Creator: Walt Whitman
Date: October 12, 1861
Whitman Archive ID: per.00077
Source: New York Leader 12 October 1861: [2]. Our transcription is based on a digital image of an original issue. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the periodical poems, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, April Lambert, Susan Belasco, and Brett Barney
 image 1 |  cropped image 1 |
LITTLE BELLS LAST NIGHT.1
———
BY WALT WHITMAN.
———
War-suggesting trumpets, I heard you;
And you I heard beating, you chorus of small and
large drums;
large drums;
You round-lipp'd cannons!—you I heard, thunder-
cracking, saluting the frigate from France;
cracking, saluting the frigate from France;
I heard you, solemn-sweet pipes of the organ, as last
Sunday morn I pass'd the church;
Sunday morn I pass'd the church;
Winds of Autumn!—as I walk'd the woods at dusk, I
heard your long-stretch'd sighs, up above, so
mournful;
heard your long-stretch'd sighs, up above, so
mournful;
I heard the perfect Italian tenor, singing at the opera;
I heard the soprano, in the midst of the quartet
singing;
I heard the soprano, in the midst of the quartet
singing;
Lady! you, too, I heard, as with white arms in your
parlor, you play'd for me delicious music on the
harp;
parlor, you play'd for me delicious music on the
harp;
Heart of my love!—you, too, I heard, murmuring
low, through one of the wrists around my head—
low, through one of the wrists around my head—
Heard the pulse of you, when all was still, ringing
little bells last night under my ear.
little bells last night under my ear.
Notes:
1. Revised as "I Heard You Solemn Sweet Pipes of the Organ" in Sequel to Drum-Taps (1865–66). [back]