FEINBERG/WHITMAN LITERARY FILE POETRY FILE "After the Supper and Talk"(1887). A.MS.S.drafts. (DCN91). Box 26 Folder 7 Includes verso poems "After All, Not to Create Only," and "Poem of Joys." [*271*] 1880s After the Supper and Talk: poem. A.MS.s. (2p. 28 x 25½ and 27½ x 21½ cm.) Written in ink, two drafts of a poem, both signed in full, which appeared in Leaves of Grass: With Sands at Seventy and A Backward Glance o'er Travel'd Roads, 1889. Early draft is written on the back of a discarded letter, half of which is torn off; it has several corrections and is entitled 'After the Supper and Talk So Loth to depart', with the last four words of the title cancelled. The other draft is on a sheet which has a proof of 'After All, Not to Create Only' pasted to the back; the proof has one correction in the line 'O Muse! new ways and days receive, surround you, here' ('here' has been added in pencil). About 320 words in all. (See facsimile in Camden edn. of Complete Writings, Vol. II. of early draft.) See #789 (another draft) [*789*] 1888 After the Supper and Talk; a poem. A.MS.s. (1p. 26 x 20 cm.) Signed draft, nearly the same as the printed form. The title After the Supper and Talk was crossed out, and replaced by So Loth to Depart. Facsimile of this draft in The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman, N.Y., Putnam, 1902, v. 2, between pages 322 and 323. Published in November Boughs, 1888 p. 38. On verso detached from Leaves of Grass, part of Poem of Joys, first published in the third edition of Leaves of Grass, 1860-61. The title Poem of Joys in Whitman's autograph. {91} After the Supper and Talk ([Preceding] To precede some added Poems at end of a Volume.) After the supper and talk—after the day is done, As a friend from friends his final withdrawal prolonging, Good-bye and Good-bye with emotional lips repeating, (So hard for his hand to release those hands—no more will they meet, No more for communion of sorrow and joy, of old and young, A far-stretching journey awaits him, to return no more.) Shunning, postponing [the] severance—seeking to ward off the last word ever so little, E'en at the exit door turning—charges superfluous calling back—e'en as he descends the steps, Something to eke out a minute additional— shadows of nightfall deepening, Farewells, messages lessening—dimmer the forth-goer's visage and form, Soon to be lost for aye, in the darkness—loth, O so loth to depart! Garrulous to the very last. Walt Whitman [*271*] [*2*] Responsive to our summons, Or rather to her long-nurs'd inclination, Join'd with an irresistible, natural gravitation, She comes! this famous Female—as was indeed to be expected; (For who, so ever-youthful, 'cute and handsome, would wish to stay in mansions such as those, When offer'd quarters with all the modern improvements, With all the fun that's going—and all the best society?) O Muse! new ways and days receive, surround you, here (I candidly confess a queer, queer race, of novel fashion,) And yet the same old human race—the same within, without, Faces and hearts the same—feelings the same—yearnings the same, The same old love—beauty and use the same. 5. We do not blame thee, Elder World—nor separate ourselves from thee: (Would the Son separate himself from the Father?) Looking back on thee—seeing thee to thy duties, grandeurs, through past ages bending, building, We build to ours to-day. Mightier than Egypt's tombs, Fairer than Grecia's, Roma's temples, Prouder than Milan's statued, spired Cathedral, More picturesque than Rhenish castle-keeps, We plan, even now, to raise, beyond them all, Thy great Cathedral, sacred Industry—no tomb, A Keep for life for practical Invention. As in a waking vision, E'en while I chant, I see it rise—I scan and prophesy outside and in, Its manifold ensemble. [*6074*] [*?*] [*see notes September 11 1891*] So Loth to Depart! [*Last Dec 26*] [After the Supper and Talk] [To lead [Introducing] songs? added] Some added poems at end of [after ending] a Volume.] [Preseding [First] After the supper and talk - after the day is done, As a friend from friends [his] [It has his first the] decisive withdrawal [prolonging, avoiding, postponing] prolonging Good-bye and Good-bye [the] [with] with [flush'd face] [? ?] emotional [voices?] [echoes?] lips repeating, So hard [to him to release] for his hand to release those hands - (no more will they meet, No more for communion of sorrow [or] and joy of [young and ol] old and young, A [long] far-stretching journey [is before] awaits him, to [haply] return no more [for aye and all],) Shunning, [the thought of that fated final severance] postponing [the] [final] severance - seeking to [put it] ward off the final word yet awhile, E'en at the exit-door turning - [something] charges superfluous calling back - e'en as he descends the steps, [Charges] Something to eke out a minute additional - [his] accents [steadily] [gradually] lessening, [Indistinct] [??????ring] shadows of twilight steadily deepening - dimmer the forth-goers visage and form, Soon to be [utterly] lost in the darkness - loth, O [so] so loth to depart! [for good!] Garrulous to the very last. Walt Whitman 24 O the whaleman's joys ! O I cruise my old cruise again I [???l] the ship's motion under me—I feel the Atlantic breezes fanning me, I hear the cry again sent down from the mast-head—There—she blows! —Again I spring up the rigging, to look with the rest—We see—we descend, wild with excitement, I leap in the lower'd boat—We row toward our prey, where he lies, We approach, stealthy and silent—I see the mountainous mass, lethargic, basking, I see the harpooneer standing up—I see the weapon dart from his vigorous arm: O swift, again, now, far out in the ocean, the wounded whale, settling, running to windward, tows me; —Again I see him rise to breathe—we row close again, I see a lance driven through his side, press'd deep, turn'd in the wound, Again we back off—I see him settle again—the life is leaving him fast, As he rises he spouts blood—I see him swim in circles narrower and narrower, swiftly cutting the water—I see him die; He gives one convulsive leap in the centre of the circle, and then falls flat and still in the bloody foam. 33 O to realize space! The plenteousness of all—that there are no bounds; To emerge and be of the sky—of the sun and moon, and the flying clouds, as one with them. 34 O the joy of a manly self-hood! Personality—To be servile to none—to defer to none—not to any tyrant known or unknown, To walk with erect carriage, a step springy and elastic, To look with calm gaze or with a flashing eye, To speak with a full and sonorous voice out of a broad Poem of Joys. O to have been brought up on bays, [lag????] Joys of the solitary walk—the spirit bowed yet [p???]—the suffering and the struggle? The agonistic throes, the extasies—joys of the solemn musings, day or night? Joys of the thought of Death—the great spheres Time and Space? Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.