Dupont Metro Gets Poetry
Thus in silence in dreams' projections,
Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals;
The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all dark night - some are so young;
Some suffer so much - I recall the experience sweet and sad...
Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass, 1876
The selection actually cuts off the last two lines of the poem, which read, in a parenthetical: "(Many a soldier's loving arms about this neck have cross'd and rested, Many a soldier's kiss dwells on these bearded lips.)" We want to believe the omission was related to space and not because city leaders thought it was too gay.
Another poem, "We Embrace" by Howard University Professor E. Ethelbert Miller, is also being installed at the station on a large round bench near the entrance of the station. It will read:
We fought against the invisible
We looked to one another for comfort
We held the hands of friends and lovers
We did not turn our backs
We embraced
We embraced
© E. Ethelbert Miller, 2005
UPDATE: In response to questions in the comments, the WMATA board approved the addition of the carved poems back in February, and it's being funded by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Metro is paying for the large circular bench, which it seems still hasn't been installed. The two poems were picked by a "committee of community and local art and design professionals," which included Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), and they were chosen around the theme of people who care for others suffering from devastating illnesses.