Bathed In War's Perfume

Walt Whitman

   BATHED in war's perfume--delicate flag!
   (Should the days needing armies, needing fleets, come again,)
   O to hear you call the sailors and the soldiers! flag like a
         beautiful woman!
   O to hear the tramp, tramp, of a million answering men! O the ships
         they arm with joy!
   O to see you leap and beckon from the tall masts of ships!
   O to see you peering down on the sailors on the decks!
   Flag like the eyes of women.

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