"A moving, humorous and gripping dialogue that offers a faithful and fascinating view of Walt Whitman in his last days." Recreating three evenings late in Whitman's life, Goodbye My Fancy offers a truthful, intimate and touching look at our greatest American poet and his friendship with his secretary Horace Traubel. Since its publication in 2003, Goodbye My Fancy has had several acclaimed theatrical productions. This new revised edition is a companion book to the just released audiobook, available on Audible, with Academy Award-nominated actor Paul Raci as the voice of Whitman. Every day, for the last four years of Whitman’s life, Traubel rode the ferry over from Philadelphia and visited his friend and mentor in his small home on 328 Mickle Street in Camden, New Jersey. There, in his seventies, the great poet sat in his rocking chair, partially paralyzed, surrounded by a sea of papers, looking back over his life and accepting his quickly approaching death. Within hours of each visit (unbeknownst to Whitman), Traubel faithfully jotted down his every word and action as his garrulous friend ranged over a myriad of subjects. The result was a complete and accurate record of the groundbreaking poet in all of his many moods—playful, passionate, questioning, tender, lyrical—which was later published in the 9-volume series With Walt Whitman in Camden, called "the most truthful biography in our language." Goodbye My Fancy was drawn almost entirely from these volumes. It loosely reconstructs the visits on three days in 1890, 1891, and 1892 (March 26, the day of Whitman's death). Through the witty and affectionate repartee of the two unlikely friends, we are in the room with them experiencing these moments just as they happened. It is not like being there; it is being there.It has their heartbeat; their sense of immediacy. Over the course of the play, Whitman reminisces to Horace about the horrors of the Civil War (in which he served as a nurse), the death of Lincoln, the reception of his book Leaves of Grass —which was banned for being obscene. He alludes to his “great secret”—“the cat has a long tail, a very long tail.” He celebrates his 72nd birthday, puts the finishing touches on his final edition, sends loving messages and donuts to his friends, recalls long-lost moments of his childhood on Paumanok (Long Island), expresses his loathing for sermons and priests, all the while meeting his own suffering and impending death with astonishing equanimity.