FEINBERG/WHITMAN LITERARY FILE POETRY FILE "After the Supper and Talk" (1888). Proof Sheets. Box 26 Folder 9 Includes A.MS.corrections & notations AFTER THE SUPPER AND TALK (To prelude 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 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. 1706 1888 After the Supper and Talk: Proof with Notation and Corrections. A.MS. (1p. 12 x 15 cm.) Written in purple pencil, with corrections in ink, on a proof of 'After the Supper and Talk', a 12-line poem, corrections (all punctuation) in lines 1, 6, 10, and 11, 2 words: 30 Copies [*30 Copies*] AFTER THE SUPPER AND TALK. (To prelude 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 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. CROSS-REFERENCE Literary File Poetry "After the Supper and Talk." Proof sheet See also POETRY FILE "You Lingering Sparse Leaves of Me" (1888). Proof sheet. Box 30 Cross Reference Literary File Poetry "After the Supper and Talk." Proof sheet See also Rare books Whitman, Walt, Complete Poems & Prose (Philadelphia, 1888)(DCN317)#2317E Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.