The Bivouac's Flame

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Title:     The Bivouac's Flame
Author: Walt Whitman [More Titles by Whitman]

By the bivouac's fitful flame,
A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow;--but first I note
The tents of the sleeping army, the fields' and woods' dim outline,
The darkness, lit by spots of kindled fire--the silence;
Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving;
The shrubs and trees, (as I lift my eyes they seem to be stealthily watching me;)
While wind in procession thoughts, O tender and wondrous thoughts,
Of life and death--of home and the past and loved, and of those that are far away;
A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground,
By the bivouac's fitful flame.

[The end]
Walt Whitman's poem: The Bivouac's Flame

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