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There are 175 comments in this document
  1. MANNAHATTA (2)
  2. PAUMANOK (1)
  3. FROM MONTAUK POINT (1)
  4. TO THOSE WHO’VE FAIL’D (1)
  5. A CAROL CLOSING SIXTY-NINE (1)
  6. THE BRAVEST SOLDIERS (1)
  7. A FONT OF TYPE (1)
  8. AS I SIT WRITING HERE (2)
  9. MY CANARY BIRD (2)
  10. QUERIES TO MY SEVENTIETH YEAR (4)
  11. THE WALLABOUT MARTYRS (3)
  12. THE FIRST DANDELION (1)
  13. AMERICA (2)
  14. MEMORIES (1)
  15. TO-DAY AND THEE (2)
  16. AFTER THE DAZZLE OF DAY (2)
  17. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BORN FEB. 12, 1809 (1)
  18. OUT OF MAY’S SHOWS SELECTED (1)
  19. HALCYON DAYS (1)
  20. FANCIES AT NAVESINK (20)
  21. ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER, 1884 (2)
  22. WITH HUSKY-HAUGHTY LIPS, O SEA! (17)
  23. DEATH OF GENERAL GRANT (4)
  24. RED JACKET (FROM ALOFT.) (1)
  25. WASHINGTON’S MONUMENT, FEBRUARY, 1885 (4)
  26. OF THAT BLITHE THROAT OF THINE (11)
  27. BROADWAY (1)
  28. TO GET THE FINAL LILT OF SONGS (6)
  29. OLD SALT KOSSABONE (1)
  30. THE DEAD TENOR (10)
  31. CONTINUITIES. [From a talk I had lately with a German spiritualist.] (1)
  32. YONNONDIO (7)
  33. LIFE (2)
  34. “GOING SOMEWHERE.” (2)
  35. SMALL THE THEME OF MY CHANT (0)
  36. TRUE CONQUERORS (2)
  37. THE UNITED STATES TO OLD WORLD CRITICS (2)
  38. THE CALMING THOUGHT OF ALL (3)
  39. THANKS IN OLD AGE (1)
  40. LIFE AND DEATH (1)
  41. THE VOICE OF THE RAIN (4)
  42. SOON SHALL THE WINTER’S FOIL BE HERE (6)
  43. WHILE NOT THE PAST FORGETTING (1)
  44. THE DYING VETERAN. [A Long Island incident — early part of the present century.] (1)
  45. STRONGER LESSONS (0)
  46. A PRAIRIE SUNSET (4)
  47. TWENTY YEARS (2)
  48. ORANGE BUDS BY MAIL FROM FLORIDA (2)
  49. TWILIGHT (5)
  50. YOU LINGERING SPARSE LEAVES OF ME (1)
  51. NOT MEAGRE, LATENT BOUGHS ALONE (1)
  52. THE DEAD EMPEROR (2)
  53. AS THE GREEK’S SIGNAL FLAME. [For Whittier’s eightieth birthday, December 17, 1887.] (0)
  54. THE DISMANTLED SHIP (0)
  55. NOW PRECEDENT SONGS, FAREWELL (0)
  56. AN EVENING LULL (0)
  57. OLD AGE’S LAMBENT PEAKS (0)
  58. AFTER THE SUPPER AND TALK (0)
  59. By That Long Scan of Waves (16)
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This particularly dark poem reflects Whitman's panic over not being able to write decent poetry while in his dotage years. The "lingering sparse leaves" are the remnants of his poetic genius hanging ominously in the background. He calls himself a "well-shorn tree" because he feels as though all of his talents have been stripped from him, and that all he can produce now is inferior work.
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