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Cover art for To a Certain Civilian by Walt Whitman

To a Certain Civilian

Walt Whitman
Track 178 on Leaves of Grass 
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To a Certain Civilian Lyrics

Did you ask dulcet rhymes from me?
Did you seek the civilian's peaceful and languishing rhymes?
Did you find what I sang erewhile so hard to follow?
Why I was not singing erewhile for you to follow, to understand—nor
        am I now;
(I have been born of the same as the war was born,
The drum-corps' rattle is ever to me sweet music, I love well the
         martial dirge,
With slow wail and convulsive throb leading the officer's funeral;)
What to such as you anyhow such a poet as I? therefore leave my works,
And go lull yourself with what you can understand, and with piano-tunes,
For I lull nobody, and you will never understand me.

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Leaves of Grass (1855)
Walt Whitman
  1. 1.
    One’s-Self I Sing
  2. 2.
    As I Ponder’d in Silence
  3. 3.
    In Cabin’d Ships at Sea
  4. 4.
    To Foreign Lands
  5. 5.
    To a Historian
  6. 6.
    To Thee Old Cause
  7. 7.
    Eidolons
  8. 8.
    For Him I Sing
  9. 9.
    When I Read the Book
  10. 10.
    Beginning My Studies
  11. 11.
    Beginners
  12. 12.
    To the States
  13. 13.
    On Journeys Through the States
  14. 14.
    To a Certain Cantatrice
  15. 15.
    Me Imperturbe
  16. 16.
    Savantism
  17. 17.
    The Ship Starting
  18. 19.
    What Place Is Besieged?
  19. 20.
    Still Though the One I Sing
  20. 21.
    Shut Not Your Doors
  21. 22.
    Poets to Come
  22. 23.
    Leaves of Grass (To You)
  23. 24.
    Thou Reader
  24. 25.
    Starting from Paumanok
  25. 26.
    Song of Myself
  26. 27.
    To the Garden the World
  27. 28.
    From Pent-Up Aching Rivers
  28. 32.
    One Hour to Madness and Joy
  29. 33.
    Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd
  30. 34.
    Ages and Ages Returning at Intervals
  31. 35.
    We Two, How Long We Were Fool’d
  32. 36.
    O Hymen! O Hymenee!
  33. 37.
    I Am He That Aches with Love
  34. 38.
    Native Moments
  35. 39.
    Once I Pass’d Through a Populour City
  36. 40.
    I Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the Organ
  37. 41.
    Facing West from California’s Shores
  38. 42.
    As Adam Early in the Morning
  39. 43.
    In Paths Untrodden
  40. 44.
    Scented Herbage of My Breast
  41. 47.
    These I Singing in Spring
  42. 48.
    Not Heaving from My Ribb’d Breast Only
  43. 49.
    Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances
  44. 50.
    The Base of All Metaphysics
  45. 51.
    Recorders Ages Hence
  46. 52.
    When I Heard at the Close of the Day
  47. 53.
    Are You the New person Drawn Toward Me?
  48. 54.
    Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone
  49. 55.
    Not Heat Flames Up and Consumes
  50. 56.
    Trickle Drops
  51. 57.
    City of Orgies
  52. 58.
    Behold This Swarthy Face
  53. 59.
    I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing
  54. 60.
    To a Stranger
  55. 61.
    This Moment Yearning and Thoughtful
  56. 62.
    I Hear It Was Charged Against Me
  57. 63.
    The Prairie-Grass Dividing
  58. 64.
    When I Peruse the Conquer’d Fame
  59. 65.
    We Two Boys Together Clinging
  60. 66.
    A Promise to California
  61. 67.
    Here the Frailest Leaves of Me
  62. 68.
    No Labor-Saving Machine
  63. 71.
    Earth, My Likeness
  64. 72.
    I Dream’d in a Dream
  65. 73.
    What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand?
  66. 74.
    To the East and to the West
  67. 76.
    To a Western Boy
  68. 77.
    Fast Anchor’d Eternal O Love!
  69. 79.
    O You Whom I Often and Silently Come
  70. 80.
    That Shadow My Likeness
  71. 81.
    Full of Life Now
  72. 82.
    Salut au Monde!
  73. 83.
    Song of the Open Road
  74. 84.
    Leaves Of Grass (Crossing Brooklyn Ferry)
  75. 85.
    Song of the Answerer
  76. 86.
    Our Old Feuillage
  77. 87.
    A Song of Joys
  78. 88.
    Song of the Broad-Axe
  79. 89.
    Song of the Exposition
  80. 90.
    Song of the Redwood-Tree
  81. 91.
    A Song for Occupations
  82. 92.
    A Song of the Rolling Earth
  83. 93.
    Youth, Day, Old Age and Night
  84. 94.
    Song of the Universal
  85. 95.
    Leaves of Grass (Pioneers! O Pioneers! )
  86. 96.
    To You II
  87. 97.
    France [the 18th Year of these States]
  88. 98.
    Myself and Mine
  89. 99.
    Year of Meteors [1859-60]
  90. 100.
    With Antecedents
  91. 101.
    A Broadway Pageant
  92. 103.
    As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life
  93. 104.
    Tears
  94. 105.
    To the Man-of-War-Bird
  95. 106.
    Aboard at a Ship’s Helm
  96. 107.
    On the Beach at Night
  97. 110.
    Song for All Seas, All Ships
  98. 111.
    Patroling Barnegat
  99. 112.
    After the Sea-Ship
  100. 114.
    Europe [The 72d and 73d Years of These States]
  101. 116.
    Gods
  102. 117.
    Germs
  103. 118.
    Thoughts
  104. 119.
    Perfections
  105. 121.
    To a President
  106. 122.
    I Sit and Look Out
  107. 123.
    To Rich Givers
  108. 124.
    The Dalliance of the Eagles
  109. 125.
    Roaming in Thought [After reading Hegel]
  110. 128.
    The Runner
  111. 129.
    Beautiful Women
  112. 130.
    Mother and Babe
  113. 131.
    Thought
  114. 132.
    Visor’d
  115. 133.
    Thought-II
  116. 134.
    Gliding O’er all
  117. 135.
    Hast Never Come to Thee an Hour
  118. 136.
    Thought-III
  119. 137.
    To Old Age
  120. 138.
    Locations and Times
  121. 139.
    Offerings
  122. 140.
    To The States [To Identify the 16th, 17th, or 18th Presidentiad]
  123. 141.
    First O Songs for a Prelude
  124. 142.
    Eighteen Sixty-One
  125. 143.
    Beat! Beat! Drums!
  126. 144.
    From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a Bird
  127. 145.
    Song of the Banner at Daybreak
  128. 146.
    Rise O Days from Your Fathomless Deeps
  129. 147.
    Virginia—The West
  130. 148.
    City of Ships
  131. 149.
    The Centenarian’s Story
  132. 150.
    Cavalry Crossing a Ford
  133. 151.
    Leaves of Grass (Bivouac on a Mountain Side )
  134. 152.
    An Army Corps on the March
  135. 153.
    By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame
  136. 154.
    Leaves of Grass (Come Up from the Fields Father )
  137. 155.
    Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
  138. 156.
    A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown
  139. 157.
    A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim
  140. 158.
    As Toilsome I Wander’d Virginia’s Woods
  141. 159.
    Not the Pilot
  142. 160.
    Year That Trembled and Reel’d Beneath Me
  143. 161.
    The Wound-Dresser
  144. 162.
    Long, Too Long America
  145. 163.
    Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun
  146. 164.
    Dirge for Two Veterans
  147. 165.
    Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic a Voice
  148. 166.
    I Saw Old General at Bay
  149. 167.
    The Artilleryman’s Vision
  150. 168.
    Ethiopia Saluting the Colors
  151. 169.
    Not Youth Pertains to Me
  152. 170.
    Race of Veterans
  153. 171.
    World Take Good Notice
  154. 172.
    O Tan-Faced Prairie-Boy
  155. 173.
    Leaves of Grass (Look Down Fair Moon )
  156. 174.
    Reconciliation
  157. 175.
    How Solemn As One by One [Washington City, 1865]
  158. 176.
    As I Lay with My Head in Your Lap Camerado
  159. 177.
    Leaves of Grass (Delicate Cluster )
  160. 178.
    To a Certain Civilian
  161. 179.
    Lo, Victress on the Peaks
  162. 180.
    Spirit Whose Work Is Done [Washington City, 1865]
  163. 181.
    Adieu to a Soldier
  164. 182.
    Turn O Libertad
  165. 183.
    To the Leaven’d Soil They Trod
  166. 184.
    When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom’d
  167. 185.
    O Captain! My Captain!
  168. 186.
    Hush’d Be the Camps To-Day [May 4, 1865]
  169. 187.
    This Dust Was Once the Man
  170. 188.
    By Blue Ontario’s Shore
  171. 189.
    Reversals
  172. 190.
    As Consequent, Etc.
  173. 191.
    The Return of the Heroes
  174. 192.
    There Was a Child Went Forth
  175. 193.
    Old Ireland
  176. 194.
    The City Dead-House
  177. 195.
    This Compost
  178. 196.
    To a Foil’d European Revolutionaire
  179. 197.
    Unnamed Land
  180. 198.
    Song of Prudence
  181. 199.
    The Singer in the Prison
  182. 200.
    Warble for Lilac-Time
  183. 201.
    Outlines for a Tomb [G. P., Buried 1870]
  184. 202.
    Out from Behind This Mask [To Confront a Portrait]
  185. 203.
    Vocalism
  186. 204.
    To Him That Was Crucified
  187. 205.
    You Felons on Trial in Courts
  188. 206.
    Laws for Creations
  189. 207.
    To a Common Prostitute
  190. 208.
    I Was Looking a Long While
  191. 209.
    Thought2
  192. 210.
    Leaves of Grass (Miracles)
  193. 211.
    Sparkles from the Wheel
  194. 212.
    To a Pupil
  195. 214.
    What Am I After All
  196. 215.
    Kosmos
  197. 216.
    Others May Praise What They Like
  198. 217.
    Who Learns My Lesson Complete?
  199. 218.
    Tests
  200. 219.
    The Torch
  201. 220.
    O Star of France [1870-71]
  202. 221.
    The Ox-Tamer
  203. 222.
    Wandering at Morn
  204. 223.
    With All Thy Gifts
  205. 224.
    My Picture-Gallery
  206. 225.
    The Prairie States
  207. 226.
    Proud Music of the Storm
  208. 228.
    Prayer of Columbus
  209. 230.
    Transpositions
  210. 232.
    Darest Thou Now O Soul
  211. 233.
    Whispers of Heavenly Death
  212. 234.
    Chanting the Square Deific
  213. 235.
    Of Him I Love Day and Night
  214. 236.
    Yet, Yet, Ye Downcast Hours
  215. 237.
    As If a Phantom Caress’d Me
  216. 238.
    Assurances
  217. 239.
    Quicksand Years
  218. 240.
    That Music Always Round Me
  219. 241.
    What Ship Puzzled at Sea
  220. 243.
    O Living Always, Always Dying
  221. 244.
    To One Shortly to Die
  222. 245.
    Night on the Prairies
  223. 246.
    Thought-IV
  224. 247.
    The Last Invocation
  225. 248.
    As I Watch the Ploughman Ploughing
  226. 249.
    Pensive and Faltering
  227. 250.
    Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood
  228. 251.
    A Paumanok Picture
  229. 252.
    Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling
  230. 253.
    Faces
  231. 254.
    The Mystic Trumpeter
  232. 255.
    Leaves of Grass (To a Locomotive in Winter)
  233. 256.
    O Magnet-South
  234. 257.
    Leaves of Grass (Mannahatta)
  235. 258.
    All Is Truth
  236. 259.
    A Riddle Song
  237. 260.
    Excelsior
  238. 261.
    Ah Poverties, Wincing, and Sulky Retreats
  239. 262.
    Thoughts-V
  240. 263.
    Mediums
  241. 264.
    Weave in, My Hardy Life
  242. 265.
    Spain, 1873-74
  243. 266.
    By Broad Potomac’s Shore
  244. 267.
    From Far Dakota’s Canyons [June 25, 1876]
  245. 268.
    Old War-Dreams
  246. 269.
    Thick-Sprinkled Bunting
  247. 270.
    Leaves of Grass (As I Walk These Broad majestic Days)
  248. 271.
    Leaves of Grass (A Clear Midnight)
  249. 272.
    As the Time Draws Nigh
  250. 273.
    Years of the Modern
  251. 274.
    Ashes of Soldiers
  252. 275.
    Thoughts VI
  253. 276.
    Song at Sunset
  254. 277.
    As at Thy Portals Also Death
  255. 278.
    My Legacy
  256. 279.
    Pensive on Her Dead Gazing
  257. 280.
    Camps of Green
  258. 281.
    The Sobbing of the Bells [Midnight, Sept. 19-20, 1881]
  259. 282.
    As They Draw to a Close
  260. 283.
    Joy, Shipmate, Joy!
  261. 284.
    Leaves of Grass (The Untold Want )
  262. 285.
    Portals
  263. 286.
    These Carols
  264. 287.
    Now Finale to the Shore
  265. 288.
    Leaves of Grass (So Long! )
  266. 289.
    Mannahatta II
  267. 290.
    Paumanok
  268. 291.
    From Montauk Point
  269. 292.
    To Those Who’ve Fail’d
  270. 293.
    A Carol Closing Sixty-Nine
  271. 294.
    The Bravest Soldiers
  272. 295.
    A Font of Type
  273. 296.
    As I Sit Writting Here
  274. 297.
    My Canary Bird
  275. 298.
    Queries to My Seventieth Year
  276. 299.
    The Wallabout Martyrs
  277. 300.
    The First Dandelion
  278. 301.
    Leaves of Grass (America)
  279. 302.
    Memories
  280. 303.
    To-Day and Thee
  281. 304.
    After the Dazzle of Day
  282. 305.
    Abraham Lincoln, Born Feb. 12, 1809
  283. 306.
    Out of May’s Shows Selected
  284. 307.
    Halcyon Days
  285. 308.
    Election Day, November, 1884
  286. 309.
    With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!
  287. 310.
    Death of General Grant
  288. 311.
    Red Jacket (From Aloft)
  289. 312.
    Leaves of Grass (Washington’s Monument February, 1885)
  290. 313.
    Of That Blithe Throat of Thine
  291. 314.
    Broadway
  292. 315.
    To Get the Final Lilt of Songs
  293. 316.
    Old Salt Kossabone
  294. 317.
    The Dead Tenor
  295. 318.
    Leaves of Grass (Continuities)
  296. 319.
    Yonnondio
  297. 320.
    Life
  298. 321.
    “Going Somewhere”
  299. 322.
    Small the Theme of My Chant
  300. 323.
    True Conquerors
  301. 324.
    The United States to Old World Critics
  302. 325.
    The Calming Thought of All
  303. 326.
    Thanks in Old Age
  304. 327.
    Life and Death
  305. 328.
    The Voice of the Rain
  306. 329.
    Soon Shall the Winter’s Foil Be Here
  307. 330.
    While Not the Past Forgetting
  308. 331.
    The Dying Veteran
  309. 332.
    Stronger Lessons
  310. 333.
    A Prairie Sunset
  311. 334.
    Twenty Years
  312. 335.
    Orange Buds by Mail from Florida
  313. 336.
    Twilight
  314. 337.
    You Lingering Sparse Leaves of Me
  315. 338.
    Not Meagre, Latent Boughs Alone
  316. 339.
    The Dead Emperor
  317. 340.
    As the Greek’s Signal Flame
  318. 341.
    The Dismantled Ship
  319. 342.
    Now Precent Songs, Farewell
  320. 343.
    An Evening Lull
  321. 344.
    Old Age’s Lambent Peaks
  322. 345.
    Leaves of Grass (After the Supper and Talk)
  323. 346.
    Sail out for Good, Eidolon Yacht!
  324. 347.
    Lingering Last Drops
  325. 348.
    Leaves of Grass (Good-Bye My Fancy)
  326. 349.
    On, on the Same, Ye Jocund Twain!
  327. 350.
    MY 71st Year
  328. 351.
    Apparitions
  329. 352.
    The Pallid Wreath
  330. 353.
    An Ended Day
  331. 354.
    Old Age’s Ship & Crafty Death’s
  332. 355.
    To the Pending Year
  333. 356.
    Shakspere-Bacon’s Cipher
  334. 357.
    Long, Long Hence
  335. 358.
    Bravo, Paris Exposition!
  336. 359.
    Interpolation Sounds
  337. 360.
    To the Sun-Set Breeze
  338. 361.
    Old Chants
  339. 362.
    A Christmas Greeting
  340. 363.
    Sounds of the Winter
  341. 364.
    A Twilight Song
  342. 365.
    When the Full-Grown Poet Came
  343. 366.
    Osceola
  344. 367.
    A Voice from Death
  345. 368.
    A Persian Lesson
  346. 369.
    The Commonplace
  347. 370.
    “The Rounded Catalogue Divine Complete”
  348. 371.
    Mirages
  349. 372.
    L. of G.’s Purport
  350. 373.
    The Unexpress’d
  351. 374.
    Grand Is the Seen
  352. 375.
    Unseen Buds
  353. 376.
    Good-Bye My Fancy! II
  354. A Hand-Mirror
  355. Unfolded Out of the Folds
  356. Passage to India
  357. Sometimes with One I Love
  358. A Woman Waits for Me
  359. World Below the Brine
  360. The Sleepers
  361. To Think of Time
  362. Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand
  363. Spontaneous Me
  364. A Glimpse
  365. Among the Multitude
  366. A Boston Ballad, 1854
  367. A Farm-Picture
  368. A Child’s Amaze
  369. A Noiseless Patient Spider
  370. I Hear America Singing
  371. I Sing the Body Electric
  372. O Me! O Life!
  373. Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking
  374. 301. Hours Continuing Long
  375. Preface (Leaves of Grass)
  376. A Leaf For Hand in Hand
  377. Pioneers! O Pioneers!
  378. As I Ponder’d in Silence (Inscriptions)
  379. For You, O Democracy
  380. One’s-Self I Sing [Redundant]
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