A reply to someone who has been looking for sweetness and elegance in Whitman’s verses. He says that is not the kind of poetry he writes, and he explains why not: it’s military music he now loves, whether it is the rattling of drums or the “slow wail and convulsive throb” of a military band at an officer’s funeral. At the end he is dismissive of the civilian who can only enjoy piano tunes, and for this closing section of the song I have taken the accompaniment from one of my favourite piano tunes, a nocturne by John Field.