13. Lilacs of Grief and Renewal

“When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d…” “And the great star early droop’d in

the western sky in the night…” “I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn—with ever-returning spring.”

Whitman writes in the quiet after Lincoln’s death — grief mingled with renewal.

The lilac becomes his symbol of love and remembrance — life blooming beside loss.

Whitman’s vision isn’t despair. It’s healing — nature teaching us how to mourn and live

again.