Dirge for two veterans | The last sunbeam

by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

The last sunbeam

Language: English

Our translations: FRE

The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finish'd Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
   Down a new-made double grave. 

   Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
   Immense and silent moon. 

   I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they are flooding,
   As with voices and with tears. 

   I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
   Strikes me through and through. 

   For the son is brought with the father,
(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans son and father dropt together,
   And the double grave awaits them.) 

   And nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,
   And the strong dead-march enwraps me. 

   In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin'd,
('Tis some mother's large transparent face,
   In heaven brighter growing.) 

   O strong dead-march you please me! 
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me! 
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial! 
   What I have I also give you. 

   The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
   My heart gives you love.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "The last sunbeam" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by (Robert) Ernest Bryson (1867 - 1942), "Lo, the moon ascending", published 1919 [ mixed chorus, ad lib side-drum, organ, brass and strings ], from Drum Taps [sung text not yet checked]
by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "A dirge for two veterans", published 1914 [ TTBB chorus, piano or 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, percussion ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Normand Lockwood (b. 1906), "Dirge for two veterans", published 1936 [ SATB chorus a cappella or TTBB chorus, tenor, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Harl McDonald (1899 - 1955), "Dirge for two veterans", published 1940 [ SSAA chorus, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Thomas Pasatieri (b. 1945), "Dirge for two veterans", published 1977 [ baritone or mezzo-soprano, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Frédéric Louis Ritter (1826 - 1891), "Dirge for two veterans", op. 13, published 1880 [ reciter with piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Bernard Rogers (1893 - 1968), "Dirge for two veterans", published 1969 [ SATB chorus, piano or string orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Simon Sargon (b. 1938), "Dirge for two veterans", 1995 [ baritone, horn, piano ], from A Clear Midnight: Six Songs set to Poems of Walt Whitman for Baritone, Horn, and Piano, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Pearson Thomas (b. 1957), "Dirge for two veterans", from Drum Taps, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "Dirge for two veterans", published 1936 [ soprano and baritone soli, chorus, and orchestra ], from Dona nobis pacem, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
by Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950), "Dirge for two veterans", published 1942, orchestrated 1977 [ voice and piano ], from Three Walt Whitman Songs, no. 3, NY : Chappell [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Wood (1866 - 1926), "Dirge for two veterans", published 1901 [ chorus, baritone, orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 36
Word count: 240