When Lilacs In The Dooryard Bloomed By Walt Whitman - James Earl Jones

[00:06.14]When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d
[00:09.43]And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night
[00:13.33]I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring
[00:19.51]Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring
[00:27.14]Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west
[00:31.10]And thought of him I love
[00:38.19]In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash’d palings
[00:43.15]Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green
[00:49.63]With many a pointed blossom rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love
[00:55.47]With every leaf a miracle—and from this bush in the dooryard
[01:00.67]With delicate-color’d blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green
[01:06.33]A sprig with its flower I break
[01:11.91]Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities
[01:17.79]Amid lanes and through old woods, where lately the violets peep’d from the ground, spotting the gray
[01:27.11]Amid the grass in the fields each side of the lanes, passing the endless grass
[01:31.65]Passing the yellow-spear’d wheat, every grain from its shroud in the dark-brown fields uprisen
[01:41.06]Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards
[01:46.92]Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave
[01:50.99]Night and day journeys a coffin
[01:54.08]Coffin that passes through lanes and streets
[01:57.50]Through day and night with the great cloud darkening the land
[02:02.75]With the pomp of the inloop’d flags with the cities draped in black
[02:07.98]With the show of the States themselves as of crape-veil’d women standing
[02:14.26]With processions long and winding and the flambeaus of the night
[02:19.81]With the countless torches lit, with the silent sea of faces and the unbared heads
[02:25.45]With the waiting depot, the arriving coffin, and the sombre faces
[02:31.55]With dirges through the night, with the thousand voices rising strong and solemn
[02:38.31]With all the mournful voices of the dirges pour’d around the coffin
[02:43.60]The dim-lit churches and the shuddering organs—where amid these you journey
[02:54.79]With the tolling tolling bells’ perpetual clang
[02:55.82]Here, coffin that slowly passes
[03:01.79]I give you my sprig of lilac