The Omitted Walt Whitman in His Bicentennial

With Walt Whitman's bicentennial rapidly approaching--the poet was born on May 31, 1819--I was pleased to see that Michael Ruane had devoted a "Retropolis" column to that topic in the May 20 Washington Post.  Or at least I was until I actually read the piece, which never even alludes to the poet's homosexuality.  The closest he comes is a bland statement that Whitman was "earthy" and wrote about sex and death.

Nor does Ruane reference the moving words, taken from "The Wound Dresser" (an 1865 poem describing the many hours Whitman spent comforting young soldiers wounded in the Civil War), carved into the walls of the Q St. entrance to the Dupont Circle Metro station:

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 the dark night--some are so young;
Some suffer so much--I recall the experience sweet and sad.

That inscription was placed there in 2007 as a memorial to the thousands of Americans who died during the AIDS crisis.  Elsewhere in the District, you'll find Whitman's words at the Archives-Navy Memorial Metro station, at Freedom Plaza and in Mount Pleasant.

I've written Mr. Ruane deploring these sins of omission, acknowledging that some readers undoubtedly feel that Whitman's work is all that matters, not his personal life.  But I feel sure that the poet would emphatically disagree with that dismissive view.

I'm not holding my breath for a reply, but I'll let you know if I get one.