My 71st Year

Walt Whitman

After surmounting threescore and ten,

With all their chances, changes, losses, sorrows,

My parents’ deaths, the vagaries of my life, the many tearing passions

of me, the war of ‘63 and ‘4,

As some old broken soldier, after a long, hot, wearying march, or as

haply after battle,

At twilight, hobbling, answering yet to company roll-call, Here, with

vital voice,

Reporting yet, saluting yet the Officer over all.

Walt Whitman is widely considered one of America’s most important poets. He worked as a printer, teacher, and journalist in the New York City area. Whitman composed and updated his seminal work, Leaves of Grass, throughout his entire adult life. Today is the 195th anniversary of Whitman’s birth.