Meeting Again by Walt Whitman

When I heard at the close of the day how my name had been received with / plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me that followed; / And else, when I caroused, or when my plans were accomplished, still I was / not happy. / But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health, refreshed, / singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn, / When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the mornin / light, / When I wandered alone over the beach, and undressing bathed, laughing with / the cool waters, and saw the sunrise, / And when I thought how my dear friend, my lover, was on his way coming, O / then I was happy; / O then each breath tasted sweeter -- and all that day my food nourished me / more -- and the beautiful day passed well, / And the next came with equal joy -- and with the next, at evening, came my friend; / And that night, while all was still, I heard the waters roll slowly / continually up the shores, / I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands, as directed to me, / whispering, to congratulate me; / For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in the cool / night, / In the stillness, in the autumn moonbeams, his face was inclined toward me, / And his arm lay lightly around my breast -- and that night I was happy.