e3539FJq

1Come, said my soul,
2Such verses for my Body let us write, (for we are one,)
3That should I after return,
4Or, long, long hence, in other spheres,
5There to some group of mates the chants resuming,
6(Tallying Earth's soil, trees, winds, tumultuous waves,)
7Ever with pleas'd smile I may keep on,
8Ever and ever yet the verses owning--as, first, I here and now
9Signing for Soul and Body, set to them my name,
10
11One's-self I sing, a simple separate person,
12Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.
13
14Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
15Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say
16    the Form complete is worthier far,
17The Female equally with the Male I sing.
18
19Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
20Cheerful, for freest action form'd under the laws divine,
21The Modern Man I sing.
22
23As I ponder'd in silence,
24Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long,
25A Phantom arose before me with distrustful aspect,
26Terrible in beauty, age, and power,
27The genius of poets of old lands,
28As to me directing like flame its eyes,
29With finger pointing to many immortal songs,
30And menacing voice, What singest thou? it said,
31Know'st thou not there is hut one theme for ever-enduring bards?
32And that is the theme of War, the fortune of battles,
33The making of perfect soldiers.
34
35Be it so, then I answer'd,
36I too haughty Shade also sing war, and a longer and greater one than any,
37Waged in my book with varying fortune, with flight, advance
38    and retreat, victory deferr'd and wavering,
39(Yet methinks certain, or as good as certain, at the last,) the
40    field the world,
41For life and death, for the Body and for the eternal Soul,
42Lo, I too am come, chanting the chant of battles,
43I above all promote brave soldiers.
44
45In cabin'd ships at sea,
46The boundless blue on every side expanding,
47With whistling winds and music of the waves, the large imperious waves,
48Or some lone bark buoy'd on the dense marine,
49Where joyous full of faith, spreading white sails,
50She cleaves the ether mid the sparkle and the foam of day, or under
51    many a star at night,
52By sailors young and old haply will I, a reminiscence of the land, be read,
53In full rapport at last.
54
55Here are our thoughts, voyagers' thoughts,
56Here not the land, firm land, alone appears, may then by them be said,
57The sky o'erarches here, we feel the undulating deck beneath our feet,
58We feel the long pulsation, ebb and flow of endless motion,
59The tones of unseen mystery, the vague and vast suggestions of the
60    briny world, the liquid-flowing syllables,
61The perfume, the faint creaking of the cordage, the melancholy rhythm,
62The boundless vista and the horizon far and dim are all here,
63And this is ocean's poem.
64
65Then falter not O book, fulfil your destiny,
66You not a reminiscence of the land alone,
67You too as a lone bark cleaving the ether, purpos'd I know not
68    whither, yet ever full of faith,
69Consort to every ship that sails, sail you!
70Bear forth to them folded my love, (dear mariners, for you I fold it
71    here in every leaf;)
72Speed on my book! spread your white sails my little bark athwart the
73    imperious waves,
74Chant on, sail on, bear o'er the boundless blue from me to every sea,
75This song for mariners and all their ships.
76
77
78
79
80I heard that you ask'd for something to prove this puzzle the New World,
81And to define America, her athletic Democracy,
82Therefore I send you my poems that you behold in them what you wanted.
83
84
85
86
87You who celebrate bygones,
88Who have explored the outward, the surfaces of the races, the life
89    that has exhibited itself,
90Who have treated of man as the creature of politics, aggregates,
91    rulers and priests,
92I, habitan of the Alleghanies, treating of him as he is in himself
93    in his own rights,
94Pressing the pulse of the life that has seldom exhibited itself,
95    (the great pride of man in himself,)
96Chanter of Personality, outlining what is yet to be,
97I project the history of the future.
98
99
100
101
102To thee old cause!
103Thou peerless, passionate, good cause,
104Thou stern, remorseless, sweet idea,
105Deathless throughout the ages, races, lands,
106After a strange sad war, great war for thee,
107(I think all war through time was really fought, and ever will be
108    really fought, for thee,)
109These chants for thee, the eternal march of thee.
110
111(A war O soldiers not for itself alone,
112Far, far more stood silently waiting behind, now to advance in this book.)
113
114Thou orb of many orbs!
115Thou seething principle! thou well-kept, latent germ! thou centre!
116Around the idea of thee the war revolving,
117With all its angry and vehement play of causes,
118(With vast results to come for thrice a thousand years,)
119These recitatives for thee,--my book and the war are one,
120Merged in its spirit I and mine, as the contest hinged on thee,
121As a wheel on its axis turns, this book unwitting to itself,
122Around the idea of thee.
123
124
125
126
127     I met a seer,
128Passing the hues and objects of the world,
129The fields of art and learning, pleasure, sense,
130     To glean eidolons.
131
132     Put in thy chants said he,
133No more the puzzling hour nor day, nor segments, parts, put in,
134Put first before the rest as light for all and entrance-song of all,
135     That of eidolons.
136
137     Ever the dim beginning,
138Ever the growth, the rounding of the circle,
139Ever the summit and the merge at last, (to surely start again,)
140     Eidolons! eidolons!
141
142     Ever the mutable,
143Ever materials, changing, crumbling, re-cohering,
144Ever the ateliers, the factories divine,
145     Issuing eidolons.
146
147     Lo, I or you,
148Or woman, man, or state, known or unknown,
149We seeming solid wealth, strength, beauty build,
150     But really build eidolons.
151
152     The ostent evanescent,
153The substance of an artist's mood or savan's studies long,
154Or warrior's, martyr's, hero's toils,
155     To fashion his eidolon.
156
157     Of every human life,
158(The units gather'd, posted, not a thought, emotion, deed, left out,)
159The whole or large or small summ'd, added up,
160     In its eidolon.
161
162     The old, old urge,
163Based on the ancient pinnacles, lo, newer, higher pinnacles,
164From science and the modern still impell'd,
165     The old, old urge, eidolons.
166
167     The present now and here,
168America's busy, teeming, intricate whirl,
169Of aggregate and segregate for only thence releasing,
170     To-day's eidolons.
171
172     These with the past,
173Of vanish'd lands, of all the reigns of kings across the sea,
174Old conquerors, old campaigns, old sailors' voyages,
175     Joining eidolons.
176
177     Densities, growth, facades,
178Strata of mountains, soils, rocks, giant trees,
179Far-born, far-dying, living long, to leave,
180     Eidolons everlasting.
181
182     Exalte, rapt, ecstatic,
183The visible but their womb of birth,
184Of orbic tendencies to shape and shape and shape,
185     The mighty earth-eidolon.
186
187     All space, all time,
188(The stars, the terrible perturbations of the suns,
189Swelling, collapsing, ending, serving their longer, shorter use,)
190     Fill'd with eidolons only.
191
192     The noiseless myriads,
193The infinite oceans where the rivers empty,
194The separate countless free identities, like eyesight,
195     The true realities, eidolons.
196
197     Not this the world,
198Nor these the universes, they the universes,
199Purport and end, ever the permanent life of life,
200     Eidolons, eidolons.
201
202     Beyond thy lectures learn'd professor,
203Beyond thy telescope or spectroscope observer keen, beyond all mathematics,
204Beyond the doctor's surgery, anatomy, beyond the chemist with his chemistry,
205     The entities of entities, eidolons.
206
207     Unfix'd yet fix'd,
208Ever shall be, ever have been and are,
209Sweeping the present to the infinite future,
210     Eidolons, eidolons, eidolons.
211
212     The prophet and the bard,
213Shall yet maintain themselves, in higher stages yet,
214Shall mediate to the Modern, to Democracy, interpret yet to them,
215     God and eidolons.
216
217     And thee my soul,
218Joys, ceaseless exercises, exaltations,
219Thy yearning amply fed at last, prepared to meet,
220     Thy mates, eidolons.
221
222     Thy body permanent,
223The body lurking there within thy body,
224The only purport of the form thou art, the real I myself,
225     An image, an eidolon.
226
227     Thy very songs not in thy songs,
228No special strains to sing, none for itself,
229But from the whole resulting, rising at last and floating,
230     A round full-orb'd eidolon.
231
232
233
234
235For him I sing,
236I raise the present on the past,
237(As some perennial tree out of its roots, the present on the past,)
238With time and space I him dilate and fuse the immortal laws,
239To make himself by them the law unto himself.
240
241
242
243
244When I read the book, the biography famous,
245And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man's life?
246And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life?
247(As if any man really knew aught of my life,
248Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life,
249Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections
250I seek for my own use to trace out here.)
251
252
253
254
255Beginning my studies the first step pleas'd me so much,
256The mere fact consciousness, these forms, the power of motion,
257The least insect or animal, the senses, eyesight, love,
258The first step I say awed me and pleas'd me so much,
259I have hardly gone and hardly wish'd to go any farther,
260But stop and loiter all the time to sing it in ecstatic songs.
261
262
263
264
265How they are provided for upon the earth, (appearing at intervals,)
266How dear and dreadful they are to the earth,
267How they inure to themselves as much as to any--what a paradox
268    appears their age,
269How people respond to them, yet know them not,
270How there is something relentless in their fate all times,
271How all times mischoose the objects of their adulation and reward,
272And how the same inexorable price must still be paid for the same
273    great purchase.
274
275
276
277
278To the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist
279    much, obey little,
280Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved,
281Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever
282    afterward resumes its liberty.
283
284
285
286
287On journeys through the States we start,
288(Ay through the world, urged by these songs,
289Sailing henceforth to every land, to every sea,)
290We willing learners of all, teachers of all, and lovers of all.
291
292We have watch'd the seasons dispensing themselves and passing on,
293And have said, Why should not a man or woman do as much as the
294    seasons, and effuse as much?
295
296We dwell a while in every city and town,
297We pass through Kanada, the North-east, the vast valley of the
298    Mississippi, and the Southern States,
299We confer on equal terms with each of the States,
300We make trial of ourselves and invite men and women to hear,
301We say to ourselves, Remember, fear not, be candid, promulge the
302    body and the soul,
303Dwell a while and pass on, be copious, temperate, chaste, magnetic,
304And what you effuse may then return as the seasons return,
305And may be just as much as the seasons.
306
307
308
309
310Here, take this gift,
311I was reserving it for some hero, speaker, or general,
312One who should serve the good old cause, the great idea, the
313    progress and freedom of the race,
314Some brave confronter of despots, some daring rebel;
315But I see that what I was reserving belongs to you just as much as to any.
316
317
318
319
320Me imperturbe, standing at ease in Nature,
321Master of all or mistress of all, aplomb in the midst of irrational things,
322Imbued as they, passive, receptive, silent as they,
323Finding my occupation, poverty, notoriety, foibles, crimes, less
324    important than I thought,
325Me toward the Mexican sea, or in the Mannahatta or the Tennessee,
326    or far north or inland,
327A river man, or a man of the woods or of any farm-life of these
328    States or of the coast, or the lakes or Kanada,
329Me wherever my life is lived, O to be self-balanced for contingencies,
330To confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as
331    the trees and animals do.
332
333
334
335
336Thither as I look I see each result and glory retracing itself and
337    nestling close, always obligated,
338Thither hours, months, years--thither trades, compacts,
339    establishments, even the most minute,
340Thither every-day life, speech, utensils, politics, persons, estates;
341Thither we also, I with my leaves and songs, trustful, admirant,
342As a father to his father going takes his children along with him.
343
344
345
346
347Lo, the unbounded sea,
348On its breast a ship starting, spreading all sails, carrying even
349    her moonsails.
350The pennant is flying aloft as she speeds she speeds so stately--
351    below emulous waves press forward,
352They surround the ship with shining curving motions and foam.
353
354
355
356
357I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
358Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
359The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
360The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
361The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
362    singing on the steamboat deck,
363The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as
364    he stands,
365The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning,
366    or at noon intermission or at sundown,
367The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,
368    or of the girl sewing or washing,
369Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
370The day what belongs to the day--at night the party of young
371    fellows, robust, friendly,
372Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
373
374
375
376
377What place is besieged, and vainly tries to raise the siege?
378Lo, I send to that place a commander, swift, brave, immortal,
379And with him horse and foot, and parks of artillery,
380And artillery-men, the deadliest that ever fired gun.
381
382
383
384
385Still though the one I sing,
386(One, yet of contradictions made,) I dedicate to Nationality,
387I leave in him revolt, (O latent right of insurrection! O
388    quenchless, indispensable fire!)
389
390
391
392
393Shut not your doors to me proud libraries,
394For that which was lacking on all your well-fill'd shelves, yet
395    needed most, I bring,
396Forth from the war emerging, a book I have made,
397The words of my book nothing, the drift of it every thing,
398A book separate, not link'd with the rest nor felt by the intellect,
399But you ye untold latencies will thrill to every page.
400
401
402
403
404Poets to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!
405Not to-day is to justify me and answer what I am for,
406But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than
407    before known,
408Arouse! for you must justify me.
409
410I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,
411I but advance a moment only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness.
412
413I am a man who, sauntering along without fully stopping, turns a
414    casual look upon you and then averts his face,
415Leaving it to you to prove and define it,
416Expecting the main things from you.
417
418
419
420
421Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why
422    should you not speak to me?
423And why should I not speak to you?
424
425
426
427
428Thou reader throbbest life and pride and love the same as I,
429Therefore for thee the following chants.
430
431
432
433
434
435
436Starting from fish-shape Paumanok where I was born,
437Well-begotten, and rais'd by a perfect mother,
438After roaming many lands, lover of populous pavements,
439Dweller in Mannahatta my city, or on southern savannas,
440Or a soldier camp'd or carrying my knapsack and gun, or a miner
441    in California,
442Or rude in my home in Dakota's woods, my diet meat, my drink from
443    the spring,
444Or withdrawn to muse and meditate in some deep recess,
445Far from the clank of crowds intervals passing rapt and happy,
446Aware of the fresh free giver the flowing Missouri, aware of
447    mighty Niagara,
448Aware of the buffalo herds grazing the plains, the hirsute and
449    strong-breasted bull,
450Of earth, rocks, Fifth-month flowers experienced, stars, rain, snow,
451    my amaze,
452Having studied the mocking-bird's tones and the flight of the
453    mountain-hawk,
454And heard at dawn the unrivall'd one, the hermit thrush from the
455    swamp-cedars,
456Solitary, singing in the West, I strike up for a New World.
457
458
459Victory, union, faith, identity, time,
460The indissoluble compacts, riches, mystery,
461Eternal progress, the kosmos, and the modern reports.
462This then is life,
463Here is what has come to the surface after so many throes and convulsions.
464
465How curious! how real!
466Underfoot the divine soil, overhead the sun.
467
468See revolving the globe,
469The ancestor-continents away group'd together,
470The present and future continents north and south, with the isthmus
471    between.
472
473See, vast trackless spaces,
474As in a dream they change, they swiftly fill,
475Countless masses debouch upon them,
476They are now cover'd with the foremost people, arts, institutions, known.
477
478See, projected through time,
479For me an audience interminable.
480
481With firm and regular step they wend, they never stop,
482Successions of men, Americanos, a hundred millions,
483One generation playing its part and passing on,
484Another generation playing its part and passing on in its turn,
485With faces turn'd sideways or backward towards me to listen,
486With eyes retrospective towards me.
487
488
489Americanos! conquerors! marches humanitarian!
490Foremost! century marches! Libertad! masses!
491For you a programme of chants.
492
493Chants of the prairies,
494Chants of the long-running Mississippi, and down to the Mexican sea,
495Chants of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota,
496Chants going forth from the centre from Kansas, and thence equidistant,
497Shooting in pulses of fire ceaseless to vivify all.
498
499
500Take my leaves America, take them South and take them North,
501Make welcome for them everywhere, for they are your own off-spring,
502Surround them East and West, for they would surround you,
503And you precedents, connect lovingly with them, for they connect
504    lovingly with you.
505
506I conn'd old times,
507I sat studying at the feet of the great masters,
508Now if eligible O that the great masters might return and study me.
509
510In the name of these States shall I scorn the antique?
511Why these are the children of the antique to justify it.
512
513
514Dead poets, philosophs, priests,
515Martyrs, artists, inventors, governments long since,
516Language-shapers on other shores,
517Nations once powerful, now reduced, withdrawn, or desolate,
518I dare not proceed till I respectfully credit what you have left
519    wafted hither,
520I have perused it, own it is admirable, (moving awhile among it,)
521Think nothing can ever be greater, nothing can ever deserve more
522    than it deserves,
523Regarding it all intently a long while, then dismissing it,
524I stand in my place with my own day here.
525
526Here lands female and male,
527Here the heir-ship and heiress-ship of the world, here the flame of
528    materials,
529Here spirituality the translatress, the openly-avow'd,
530The ever-tending, the finale of visible forms,
531The satisfier, after due long-waiting now advancing,
532Yes here comes my mistress the soul.
533
534
535The soul,
536Forever and forever--longer than soil is brown and solid--longer
537    than water ebbs and flows.
538I will make the poems of materials, for I think they are to be the
539    most spiritual poems,
540And I will make the poems of my body and of mortality,
541For I think I shall then supply myself with the poems of my soul and
542    of immortality.
543
544I will make a song for these States that no one State may under any
545    circumstances be subjected to another State,
546And I will make a song that there shall be comity by day and by
547    night between all the States, and between any two of them,
548And I will make a song for the ears of the President, full of
549    weapons with menacing points,
550And behind the weapons countless dissatisfied faces;
551And a song make I of the One form'd out of all,
552The fang'd and glittering One whose head is over all,
553Resolute warlike One including and over all,
554(However high the head of any else that head is over all.)
555
556I will acknowledge contemporary lands,
557I will trail the whole geography of the globe and salute courteously
558    every city large and small,
559And employments! I will put in my poems that with you is heroism
560    upon land and sea,
561And I will report all heroism from an American point of view.
562
563I will sing the song of companionship,
564I will show what alone must finally compact these,
565I believe these are to found their own ideal of manly love,
566    indicating it in me,
567I will therefore let flame from me the burning fires that were
568    threatening to consume me,
569I will lift what has too long kept down those smouldering fires,
570I will give them complete abandonment,
571I will write the evangel-poem of comrades and of love,
572For who but I should understand love with all its sorrow and joy?
573And who but I should be the poet of comrades?
574
575
576I am the credulous man of qualities, ages, races,
577I advance from the people in their own spirit,
578Here is what sings unrestricted faith.
579
580Omnes! omnes! let others ignore what they may,
581I make the poem of evil also, I commemorate that part also,
582I am myself just as much evil as good, and my nation is--and I say
583    there is in fact no evil,
584(Or if there is I say it is just as important to you, to the land or
585    to me, as any thing else.)
586
587I too, following many and follow'd by many, inaugurate a religion, I
588    descend into the arena,
589(It may be I am destin'd to utter the loudest cries there, the
590    winner's pealing shouts,
591Who knows? they may rise from me yet, and soar above every thing.)
592
593Each is not for its own sake,
594I say the whole earth and all the stars in the sky are for religion's sake.
595
596I say no man has ever yet been half devout enough,
597None has ever yet adored or worship'd half enough,
598None has begun to think how divine he himself is, and how certain
599    the future is.
600
601I say that the real and permanent grandeur of these States must be
602    their religion,
603Otherwise there is just no real and permanent grandeur;
604(Nor character nor life worthy the name without religion,
605Nor land nor man or woman without religion.)
606
607
608What are you doing young man?
609Are you so earnest, so given up to literature, science, art, amours?
610These ostensible realities, politics, points?
611Your ambition or business whatever it may be?
612
613It is well--against such I say not a word, I am their poet also,
614But behold! such swiftly subside, burnt up for religion's sake,
615For not all matter is fuel to heat, impalpable flame, the essential
616    life of the earth,
617Any more than such are to religion.
618
619
620What do you seek so pensive and silent?
621What do you need camerado?
622Dear son do you think it is love?
623
624Listen dear son--listen America, daughter or son,
625It is a painful thing to love a man or woman to excess, and yet it
626    satisfies, it is great,
627But there is something else very great, it makes the whole coincide,
628It, magnificent, beyond materials, with continuous hands sweeps and
629    provides for all.
630
631
632Know you, solely to drop in the earth the germs of a greater religion,
633The following chants each for its kind I sing.
634
635My comrade!
636For you to share with me two greatnesses, and a third one rising
637    inclusive and more resplendent,
638The greatness of Love and Democracy, and the greatness of Religion.
639
640Melange mine own, the unseen and the seen,
641Mysterious ocean where the streams empty,
642Prophetic spirit of materials shifting and flickering around me,
643Living beings, identities now doubtless near us in the air that we
644    know not of,
645Contact daily and hourly that will not release me,
646These selecting, these in hints demanded of me.
647
648Not he with a daily kiss onward from childhood kissing me,
649Has winded and twisted around me that which holds me to him,
650Any more than I am held to the heavens and all the spiritual world,
651After what they have done to me, suggesting themes.
652
653O such themes--equalities! O divine average!
654Warblings under the sun, usher'd as now, or at noon, or setting,
655Strains musical flowing through ages, now reaching hither,
656I take to your reckless and composite chords, add to them, and
657    cheerfully pass them forward.
658
659
660As I have walk'd in Alabama my morning walk,
661I have seen where the she-bird the mocking-bird sat on her nest in
662    the briers hatching her brood.
663
664I have seen the he-bird also,
665I have paus'd to hear him near at hand inflating his throat and
666    joyfully singing.
667
668And while I paus'd it came to me that what he really sang for was
669    not there only,
670Nor for his mate nor himself only, nor all sent back by the echoes,
671But subtle, clandestine, away beyond,
672A charge transmitted and gift occult for those being born.
673
674
675Democracy! near at hand to you a throat is now inflating itself and
676    joyfully singing.
677
678Ma femme! for the brood beyond us and of us,
679For those who belong here and those to come,
680I exultant to be ready for them will now shake out carols stronger
681    and haughtier than have ever yet been heard upon earth.
682
683I will make the songs of passion to give them their way,
684And your songs outlaw'd offenders, for I scan you with kindred eyes,
685    and carry you with me the same as any.
686
687I will make the true poem of riches,
688To earn for the body and the mind whatever adheres and goes forward
689    and is not dropt by death;
690I will effuse egotism and show it underlying all, and I will be the
691    bard of personality,
692And I will show of male and female that either is but the equal of
693    the other,
694And sexual organs and acts! do you concentrate in me, for I am determin'd
695    to tell you with courageous clear voice to prove you illustrious,
696And I will show that there is no imperfection in the present, and
697    can be none in the future,
698And I will show that whatever happens to anybody it may be turn'd to
699    beautiful results,
700And I will show that nothing can happen more beautiful than death,
701And I will thread a thread through my poems that time and events are
702    compact,
703And that all the things of the universe are perfect miracles, each
704    as profound as any.
705
706I will not make poems with reference to parts,
707But I will make poems, songs, thoughts, with reference to ensemble,
708And I will not sing with reference to a day, but with reference to
709    all days,
710And I will not make a poem nor the least part of a poem but has
711    reference to the soul,
712Because having look'd at the objects of the universe, I find there
713    is no one nor any particle of one but has reference to the soul.
714
715
716Was somebody asking to see the soul?
717See, your own shape and countenance, persons, substances, beasts,
718    the trees, the running rivers, the rocks and sands.
719
720All hold spiritual joys and afterwards loosen them;
721How can the real body ever die and be buried?
722
723Of your real body and any man's or woman's real body,
724Item for item it will elude the hands of the corpse-cleaners and
725    pass to fitting spheres,
726Carrying what has accrued to it from the moment of birth to the
727    moment of death.
728
729Not the types set up by the printer return their impression, the
730    meaning, the main concern,
731Any more than a man's substance and life or a woman's substance and
732    life return in the body and the soul,
733Indifferently before death and after death.
734
735Behold, the body includes and is the meaning, the main concern and
736    includes and is the soul;
737Whoever you are, how superb and how divine is your body, or any part
738    of it!
739
740
741Whoever you are, to you endless announcements!
742
743Daughter of the lands did you wait for your poet?
744Did you wait for one with a flowing mouth and indicative hand?
745Toward the male of the States, and toward the female of the States,
746Exulting words, words to Democracy's lands.
747
748Interlink'd, food-yielding lands!
749Land of coal and iron! land of gold! land of cotton, sugar, rice!
750Land of wheat, beef, pork! land of wool and hemp! land of the apple
751    and the grape!
752Land of the pastoral plains, the grass-fields of the world! land of
753    those sweet-air'd interminable plateaus!
754Land of the herd, the garden, the healthy house of adobie!
755Lands where the north-west Columbia winds, and where the south-west
756    Colorado winds!
757Land of the eastern Chesapeake! land of the Delaware!
758Land of Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan!
759Land of the Old Thirteen! Massachusetts land! land of Vermont and
760    Connecticut!
761Land of the ocean shores! land of sierras and peaks!
762Land of boatmen and sailors! fishermen's land!
763Inextricable lands! the clutch'd together! the passionate ones!
764The side by side! the elder and younger brothers! the bony-limb'd!
765The great women's land! the feminine! the experienced sisters and
766    the inexperienced sisters!
767Far breath'd land! Arctic braced! Mexican breez'd! the diverse! the
768    compact!
769The Pennsylvanian! the Virginian! the double Carolinian!
770O all and each well-loved by me! my intrepid nations! O I at any
771    rate include you all with perfect love!
772I cannot be discharged from you! not from one any sooner than another!
773O death! O for all that, I am yet of you unseen this hour with
774    irrepressible love,
775Walking New England, a friend, a traveler,
776Splashing my bare feet in the edge of the summer ripples on
777    Paumanok's sands,
778Crossing the prairies, dwelling again in Chicago, dwelling in every town,
779Observing shows, births, improvements, structures, arts,
780Listening to orators and oratresses in public halls,
781Of and through the States as during life, each man and woman my neighbor,
782The Louisianian, the Georgian, as near to me, and I as near to him and her,
783The Mississippian and Arkansian yet with me, and I yet with any of them,
784Yet upon the plains west of the spinal river, yet in my house of adobie,
785Yet returning eastward, yet in the Seaside State or in Maryland,
786Yet Kanadian cheerily braving the winter, the snow and ice welcome to me,
787Yet a true son either of Maine or of the Granite State, or the
788    Narragansett Bay State, or the Empire State,
789Yet sailing to other shores to annex the same, yet welcoming every
790    new brother,
791Hereby applying these leaves to the new ones from the hour they
792    unite with the old ones,
793Coming among the new ones myself to be their companion and equal,
794    coming personally to you now,
795Enjoining you to acts, characters, spectacles, with me.
796
797
798With me with firm holding, yet haste, haste on.
799For your life adhere to me,
800(I may have to be persuaded many times before I consent to give
801    myself really to you, but what of that?
802Must not Nature be persuaded many times?)
803
804No dainty dolce affettuoso I,
805Bearded, sun-burnt, gray-neck'd, forbidding, I have arrived,
806To be wrestled with as I pass for the solid prizes of the universe,
807For such I afford whoever can persevere to win them.
808
809
810On my way a moment I pause,
811Here for you! and here for America!
812Still the present I raise aloft, still the future of the States I
813    harbinge glad and sublime,
814And for the past I pronounce what the air holds of the red aborigines.
815
816The red aborigines,
817Leaving natural breaths, sounds of rain and winds, calls as of birds
818    and animals in the woods, syllabled to us for names,
819Okonee, Koosa, Ottawa, Monongahela, Sauk, Natchez, Chattahoochee,
820    Kaqueta, Oronoco,
821Wabash, Miami, Saginaw, Chippewa, Oshkosh, Walla-Walla,
822Leaving such to the States they melt, they depart, charging the
823    water and the land with names.
824
825
826Expanding and swift, henceforth,
827Elements, breeds, adjustments, turbulent, quick and audacious,
828A world primal again, vistas of glory incessant and branching,
829A new race dominating previous ones and grander far, with new contests,
830New politics, new literatures and religions, new inventions and arts.
831
832These, my voice announcing--I will sleep no more but arise,
833You oceans that have been calm within me! how I feel you,
834    fathomless, stirring, preparing unprecedented waves and storms.
835
836
837See, steamers steaming through my poems,
838See, in my poems immigrants continually coming and landing,
839See, in arriere, the wigwam, the trail, the hunter's hut, the flat-boat,
840    the maize-leaf, the claim, the rude fence, and the backwoods village,
841See, on the one side the Western Sea and on the other the Eastern Sea,
842    how they advance and retreat upon my poems as upon their own shores,
843See, pastures and forests in my poems--see, animals wild and tame--see,
844    beyond the Kaw, countless herds of buffalo feeding on short curly grass,
845See, in my poems, cities, solid, vast, inland, with paved streets,
846    with iron and stone edifices, ceaseless vehicles, and commerce,
847See, the many-cylinder'd steam printing-press--see, the electric
848    telegraph stretching across the continent,
849See, through Atlantica's depths pulses American Europe reaching,
850    pulses of Europe duly return'd,
851See, the strong and quick locomotive as it departs, panting, blowing
852    the steam-whistle,
853See, ploughmen ploughing farms--see, miners digging mines--see,
854    the numberless factories,
855See, mechanics busy at their benches with tools--see from among them
856    superior judges, philosophs, Presidents, emerge, drest in
857    working dresses,
858See, lounging through the shops and fields of the States, me
859    well-belov'd, close-held by day and night,
860Hear the loud echoes of my songs there--read the hints come at last.
861
862
863O camerado close! O you and me at last, and us two only.
864O a word to clear one's path ahead endlessly!
865O something ecstatic and undemonstrable! O music wild!
866O now I triumph--and you shall also;
867O hand in hand--O wholesome pleasure--O one more desirer and lover!
868O to haste firm holding--to haste, haste on with me.
869
870
871
872
873
874
875I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
876And what I assume you shall assume,
877For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
878
879I loafe and invite my soul,
880I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
881
882My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,
883Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
884    parents the same,
885I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
886Hoping to cease not till death.
887
888Creeds and schools in abeyance,
889Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
890I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
891Nature without check with original energy.
892
893
894Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with
895    perfumes,
896I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it,
897The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.
898
899The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the
900    distillation, it is odorless,
901It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
902I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
903I am mad for it to be in contact with me.
904
905The smoke of my own breath,
906Echoes, ripples, buzz'd whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine,
907My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing
908    of blood and air through my lungs,
909The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and
910    dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,
911
912The sound of the belch'd words of my voice loos'd to the eddies of
913    the wind,
914A few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms,
915The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,
916The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields
917    and hill-sides,
918The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising
919    from bed and meeting the sun.
920
921Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the earth much?
922Have you practis'd so long to learn to read?
923Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?
924
925Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of
926    all poems,
927You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions
928    of suns left,)
929You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through
930    the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
931You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
932You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.
933
934
935I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the
936    beginning and the end,
937But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.
938
939There was never any more inception than there is now,
940Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
941And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
942Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.
943
944Urge and urge and urge,
945Always the procreant urge of the world.
946
947Out of the dimness opposite equals advance, always substance and
948    increase, always sex,
949Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed of life.
950To elaborate is no avail, learn'd and unlearn'd feel that it is so.
951
952Sure as the most certain sure, plumb in the uprights, well
953    entretied, braced in the beams,
954Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,
955I and this mystery here we stand.
956
957Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.
958
959Lack one lacks both, and the unseen is proved by the seen,
960Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn.
961
962Showing the best and dividing it from the worst age vexes age,
963Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they
964    discuss I am silent, and go bathe and admire myself.
965
966Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean,
967Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be
968    less familiar than the rest.
969
970I am satisfied--I see, dance, laugh, sing;
971As the hugging and loving bed-fellow sleeps at my side through the night,
972    and withdraws at the peep of the day with stealthy tread,
973Leaving me baskets cover'd with white towels swelling the house with
974    their plenty,
975Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream at my eyes,
976That they turn from gazing after and down the road,
977And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent,
978Exactly the value of one and exactly the value of two, and which is ahead?
979
980
981Trippers and askers surround me,
982People I meet, the effect upon me of my early life or the ward and
983    city I live in, or the nation,
984The latest dates, discoveries, inventions, societies, authors old and new,
985My dinner, dress, associates, looks, compliments, dues,
986The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love,
987The sickness of one of my folks or of myself, or ill-doing or loss
988    or lack of money, or depressions or exaltations,
989Battles, the horrors of fratricidal war, the fever of doubtful news,
990    the fitful events;
991These come to me days and nights and go from me again,
992But they are not the Me myself.
993
994Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,
995Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary,
996Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest,
997Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next,
998Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it.
999
1000Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with
1001    linguists and contenders,
1002I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait.
1003
1004
1005I believe in you my soul, the other I am must not abase itself to you,
1006And you must not be abased to the other.
1007
1008Loafe with me on the grass, loose the stop from your throat,
1009Not words, not music or rhyme I want, not custom or lecture, not
1010    even the best,
1011Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.
1012
1013I mind how once we lay such a transparent summer morning,
1014How you settled your head athwart my hips and gently turn'd over upon me,
1015And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunged your tongue
1016    to my bare-stript heart,
1017And reach'd till you felt my beard, and reach'd till you held my feet.
1018
1019Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass
1020    all the argument of the earth,
1021And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own,
1022And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own,
1023And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women
1024    my sisters and lovers,
1025And that a kelson of the creation is love,
1026And limitless are leaves stiff or drooping in the fields,
1027And brown ants in the little wells beneath them,
1028And mossy scabs of the worm fence, heap'd stones, elder, mullein and
1029    poke-weed.
1030
1031
1032A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
1033How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
1034
1035I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green
1036    stuff woven.
1037
1038Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
1039A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropt,
1040Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see
1041    and remark, and say Whose?
1042
1043Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.
1044
1045Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
1046And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
1047Growing among black folks as among white,
1048Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I
1049    receive them the same.
1050
1051And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
1052
1053Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
1054It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
1055It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
1056It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out
1057    of their mothers' laps,
1058And here you are the mothers' laps.
1059
1060This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
1061Darker than the colorless beards of old men,
1062Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.
1063
1064O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues,
1065And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.
1066
1067I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,
1068And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken
1069    soon out of their laps.
1070
1071What do you think has become of the young and old men?
1072And what do you think has become of the women and children?
1073
1074They are alive and well somewhere,
1075The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
1076And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the
1077    end to arrest it,
1078And ceas'd the moment life appear'd.
1079
1080All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
1081And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
1082
1083
1084Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
1085I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
1086
1087I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash'd babe, and
1088    am not contain'd between my hat and boots,
1089And peruse manifold objects, no two alike and every one good,
1090The earth good and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good.
1091
1092I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth,
1093I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and
1094    fathomless as myself,
1095(They do not know how immortal, but I know.)
1096
1097Every kind for itself and its own, for me mine male and female,
1098For me those that have been boys and that love women,
1099For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,
1100For me the sweet-heart and the old maid, for me mothers and the
1101    mothers of mothers,
1102For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears,
1103For me children and the begetters of children.
1104
1105Undrape! you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded,
1106I see through the broadcloth and gingham whether or no,
1107And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless, and cannot be shaken away.
1108
1109
1110The little one sleeps in its cradle,
1111I lift the gauze and look a long time, and silently brush away flies
1112    with my hand.
1113
1114The youngster and the red-faced girl turn aside up the bushy hill,
1115I peeringly view them from the top.
1116
1117The suicide sprawls on the bloody floor of the bedroom,
1118I witness the corpse with its dabbled hair, I note where the pistol
1119    has fallen.
1120
1121The blab of the pave, tires of carts, sluff of boot-soles, talk of
1122    the promenaders,
1123The heavy omnibus, the driver with his interrogating thumb, the
1124    clank of the shod horses on the granite floor,
1125The snow-sleighs, clinking, shouted jokes, pelts of snow-balls,
1126The hurrahs for popular favorites, the fury of rous'd mobs,
1127The flap of the curtain'd litter, a sick man inside borne to the hospital,
1128The meeting of enemies, the sudden oath, the blows and fall,
1129The excited crowd, the policeman with his star quickly working his
1130    passage to the centre of the crowd,
1131The impassive stones that receive and return so many echoes,
1132What groans of over-fed or half-starv'd who fall sunstruck or in fits,
1133What exclamations of women taken suddenly who hurry home and
1134    give birth to babes,
1135What living and buried speech is always vibrating here, what howls
1136    restrain'd by decorum,
1137Arrests of criminals, slights, adulterous offers made, acceptances,
1138    rejections with convex lips,
1139I mind them or the show or resonance of them--I come and I depart.
1140
1141
1142The big doors of the country barn stand open and ready,
1143The dried grass of the harvest-time loads the slow-drawn wagon,
1144The clear light plays on the brown gray and green intertinged,
1145The armfuls are pack'd to the sagging mow.
1146
1147I am there, I help, I came stretch'd atop of the load,
1148I felt its soft jolts, one leg reclined on the other,
1149I jump from the cross-beams and seize the clover and timothy,
1150And roll head over heels and tangle my hair full of wisps.
1151
1152
1153Alone far in the wilds and mountains I hunt,
1154Wandering amazed at my own lightness and glee,
1155In the late afternoon choosing a safe spot to pass the night,
1156Kindling a fire and broiling the fresh-kill'd game,
1157Falling asleep on the gather'd leaves with my dog and gun by my side.
1158
1159The Yankee clipper is under her sky-sails, she cuts the sparkle and scud,
1160My eyes settle the land, I bend at her prow or shout joyously from the deck.
1161
1162The boatmen and clam-diggers arose early and stopt for me,
1163I tuck'd my trowser-ends in my boots and went and had a good time;
1164You should have been with us that day round the chowder-kettle.
1165
1166I saw the marriage of the trapper in the open air in the far west,
1167    the bride was a red girl,
1168Her father and his friends sat near cross-legged and dumbly smoking,
1169    they had moccasins to their feet and large thick blankets
1170    hanging from their shoulders,
1171On a bank lounged the trapper, he was drest mostly in skins, his luxuriant
1172    beard and curls protected his neck, he held his bride by the hand,
1173She had long eyelashes, her head was bare, her coarse straight locks
1174    descended upon her voluptuous limbs and reach'd to her feet.
1175
1176The runaway slave came to my house and stopt outside,
1177I heard his motions crackling the twigs of the woodpile,
1178Through the swung half-door of the kitchen I saw him limpsy and weak,
1179And went where he sat on a log and led him in and assured him,
1180And brought water and fill'd a tub for his sweated body and bruis'd feet,
1181And gave him a room that enter'd from my own, and gave him some
1182    coarse clean clothes,
1183And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness,
1184And remember putting piasters on the galls of his neck and ankles;
1185He staid with me a week before he was recuperated and pass'd north,
1186I had him sit next me at table, my fire-lock lean'd in the corner.
1187
1188
1189Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore,
1190Twenty-eight young men and all so friendly;
1191Twenty-eight years of womanly life and all so lonesome.
1192
1193She owns the fine house by the rise of the bank,
1194She hides handsome and richly drest aft the blinds of the window.
1195
1196Which of the young men does she like the best?
1197Ah the homeliest of them is beautiful to her.
1198
1199Where are you off to, lady? for I see you,
1200You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.
1201
1202Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather,
1203The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them.
1204
1205The beards of the young men glisten'd with wet, it ran from their long hair,
1206Little streams pass'd all over their bodies.
1207
1208An unseen hand also pass'd over their bodies,
1209It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs.
1210
1211The young men float on their backs, their white bellies bulge to the
1212    sun, they do not ask who seizes fast to them,
1213They do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch,
1214They do not think whom they souse with spray.
1215
1216
1217The butcher-boy puts off his killing-clothes, or sharpens his knife
1218    at the stall in the market,
1219I loiter enjoying his repartee and his shuffle and break-down.
1220
1221Blacksmiths with grimed and hairy chests environ the anvil,
1222Each has his main-sledge, they are all out, there is a great heat in
1223    the fire.
1224
1225From the cinder-strew'd threshold I follow their movements,
1226The lithe sheer of their waists plays even with their massive arms,
1227Overhand the hammers swing, overhand so slow, overhand so sure,
1228They do not hasten, each man hits in his place.
1229
1230
1231The negro holds firmly the reins of his four horses, the block swags
1232    underneath on its tied-over chain,
1233The negro that drives the long dray of the stone-yard, steady and
1234    tall he stands pois'd on one leg on the string-piece,
1235His blue shirt exposes his ample neck and breast and loosens over
1236    his hip-band,
1237His glance is calm and commanding, he tosses the slouch of his hat
1238    away from his forehead,
1239The sun falls on his crispy hair and mustache, falls on the black of
1240    his polish'd and perfect limbs.
1241
1242I behold the picturesque giant and love him, and I do not stop there,
1243I go with the team also.
1244
1245In me the caresser of life wherever moving, backward as well as
1246    forward sluing,
1247To niches aside and junior bending, not a person or object missing,
1248Absorbing all to myself and for this song.
1249
1250Oxen that rattle the yoke and chain or halt in the leafy shade, what
1251    is that you express in your eyes?
1252It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.
1253
1254My tread scares the wood-drake and wood-duck on my distant and
1255    day-long ramble,
1256They rise together, they slowly circle around.
1257
1258I believe in those wing'd purposes,
1259And acknowledge red, yellow, white, playing within me,
1260And consider green and violet and the tufted crown intentional,
1261And do not call the tortoise unworthy because she is not something else,
1262And the in the woods never studied the gamut, yet trills pretty well to me,
1263And the look of the bay mare shames silliness out of me.
1264
1265
1266The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,
1267Ya-honk he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation,
1268The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listening close,
1269Find its purpose and place up there toward the wintry sky.
1270
1271The sharp-hoof'd moose of the north, the cat on the house-sill, the
1272    chickadee, the prairie-dog,
1273The litter of the grunting sow as they tug at her teats,
1274The brood of the turkey-hen and she with her half-spread wings,
1275I see in them and myself the same old law.
1276
1277The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections,
1278They scorn the best I can do to relate them.
1279
1280I am enamour'd of growing out-doors,
1281Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or woods,
1282Of the builders and steerers of ships and the wielders of axes and
1283    mauls, and the drivers of horses,
1284I can eat and sleep with them week in and week out.
1285
1286What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest, is Me,
1287Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,
1288Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,
1289Not asking the sky to come down to my good will,
1290Scattering it freely forever.
1291
1292
1293The pure contralto sings in the organ loft,
1294The carpenter dresses his plank, the tongue of his foreplane
1295    whistles its wild ascending lisp,
1296The married and unmarried children ride home to their Thanksgiving dinner,
1297The pilot seizes the king-pin, he heaves down with a strong arm,
1298The mate stands braced in the whale-boat, lance and harpoon are ready,
1299The duck-shooter walks by silent and cautious stretches,
1300The deacons are ordain'd with cross'd hands at the altar,
1301The spinning-girl retreats and advances to the hum of the big wheel,
1302The farmer stops by the bars as he walks on a First-day loafe and
1303    looks at the oats and rye,
1304The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum a confirm'd case,
1305(He will never sleep any more as he did in the cot in his mother's
1306    bed-room;)
1307The jour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case,
1308He turns his quid of tobacco while his eyes blurr with the manuscript;
1309The malform'd limbs are tied to the surgeon's table,
1310What is removed drops horribly in a pail;
1311The quadroon girl is sold at the auction-stand, the drunkard nods by
1312    the bar-room stove,
1313The machinist rolls up his sleeves, the policeman travels his beat,
1314    the gate-keeper marks who pass,
1315The young fellow drives the express-wagon, (I love him, though I do
1316    not know him;)
1317The half-breed straps on his light boots to compete in the race,
1318The western turkey-shooting draws old and young, some lean on their
1319    rifles, some sit on logs,
1320Out from the crowd steps the marksman, takes his position, levels his piece;
1321The groups of newly-come immigrants cover the wharf or levee,
1322As the woolly-pates hoe in the sugar-field, the overseer views them
1323    from his saddle,
1324The bugle calls in the ball-room, the gentlemen run for their
1325    partners, the dancers bow to each other,
1326The youth lies awake in the cedar-roof'd garret and harks to the
1327    musical rain,
1328The Wolverine sets traps on the creek that helps fill the Huron,
1329The squaw wrapt in her yellow-hemm'd cloth is offering moccasins and
1330    bead-bags for sale,
1331The connoisseur peers along the exhibition-gallery with half-shut
1332    eyes bent sideways,
1333As the deck-hands make fast the steamboat the plank is thrown for
1334    the shore-going passengers,
1335The young sister holds out the skein while the elder sister winds it
1336    off in a ball, and stops now and then for the knots,
1337The one-year wife is recovering and happy having a week ago borne
1338    her first child,
1339The clean-hair'd Yankee girl works with her sewing-machine or in the
1340    factory or mill,
1341The paving-man leans on his two-handed rammer, the reporter's lead
1342    flies swiftly over the note-book, the sign-painter is lettering
1343    with blue and gold,
1344The canal boy trots on the tow-path, the book-keeper counts at his
1345    desk, the shoemaker waxes his thread,
1346The conductor beats time for the band and all the performers follow him,
1347The child is baptized, the convert is making his first professions,
1348The regatta is spread on the bay, the race is begun, (how the white
1349    sails sparkle!)
1350The drover watching his drove sings out to them that would stray,
1351The pedler sweats with his pack on his back, (the purchaser higgling
1352    about the odd cent;)
1353The bride unrumples her white dress, the minute-hand of the clock
1354    moves slowly,
1355The opium-eater reclines with rigid head and just-open'd lips,
1356The prostitute draggles her shawl, her bonnet bobs on her tipsy and
1357    pimpled neck,
1358The crowd laugh at her blackguard oaths, the men jeer and wink to
1359    each other,
1360(Miserable! I do not laugh at your oaths nor jeer you;)
1361The President holding a cabinet council is surrounded by the great
1362    Secretaries,
1363On the piazza walk three matrons stately and friendly with twined arms,
1364The crew of the fish-smack pack repeated layers of halibut in the hold,
1365The Missourian crosses the plains toting his wares and his cattle,
1366As the fare-collector goes through the train he gives notice by the
1367    jingling of loose change,
1368The floor-men are laying the floor, the tinners are tinning the
1369    roof, the masons are calling for mortar,
1370In single file each shouldering his hod pass onward the laborers;
1371Seasons pursuing each other the indescribable crowd is gather'd, it
1372    is the fourth of Seventh-month, (what salutes of cannon and small arms!)
1373Seasons pursuing each other the plougher ploughs, the mower mows,
1374    and the winter-grain falls in the ground;
1375Off on the lakes the pike-fisher watches and waits by the hole in
1376    the frozen surface,
1377The stumps stand thick round the clearing, the squatter strikes deep
1378    with his axe,
1379Flatboatmen make fast towards dusk near the cotton-wood or pecan-trees,
1380Coon-seekers go through the regions of the Red river or through
1381    those drain'd by the Tennessee, or through those of the Arkansas,
1382Torches shine in the dark that hangs on the Chattahooche or Altamahaw,
1383Patriarchs sit at supper with sons and grandsons and great-grandsons
1384    around them,
1385In walls of adobie, in canvas tents, rest hunters and trappers after
1386    their day's sport,
1387The city sleeps and the country sleeps,
1388The living sleep for their time, the dead sleep for their time,
1389The old husband sleeps by his wife and the young husband sleeps by his wife;
1390And these tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them,
1391And such as it is to be of these more or less I am,
1392And of these one and all I weave the song of myself.
1393
1394
1395I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,
1396Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,
1397Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,
1398Stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with the stuff
1399    that is fine,
1400One of the Nation of many nations, the smallest the same and the
1401    largest the same,
1402A Southerner soon as a Northerner, a planter nonchalant and
1403    hospitable down by the Oconee I live,
1404A Yankee bound my own way ready for trade, my joints the limberest
1405    joints on earth and the sternest joints on earth,
1406A Kentuckian walking the vale of the Elkhorn in my deer-skin
1407    leggings, a Louisianian or Georgian,
1408A boatman over lakes or bays or along coasts, a Hoosier, Badger, Buckeye;
1409At home on Kanadian snow-shoes or up in the bush, or with fishermen
1410    off Newfoundland,
1411At home in the fleet of ice-boats, sailing with the rest and tacking,
1412At home on the hills of Vermont or in the woods of Maine, or the
1413    Texan ranch,
1414Comrade of Californians, comrade of free North-Westerners, (loving
1415    their big proportions,)
1416Comrade of raftsmen and coalmen, comrade of all who shake hands
1417    and welcome to drink and meat,
1418A learner with the simplest, a teacher of the thoughtfullest,
1419A novice beginning yet experient of myriads of seasons,
1420Of every hue and caste am I, of every rank and religion,
1421A farmer, mechanic, artist, gentleman, sailor, quaker,
1422Prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician, priest.
1423
1424I resist any thing better than my own diversity,
1425Breathe the air but leave plenty after me,
1426And am not stuck up, and am in my place.
1427
1428(The moth and the fish-eggs are in their place,
1429The bright suns I see and the dark suns I cannot see are in their place,
1430The palpable is in its place and the impalpable is in its place.)
1431
1432
1433These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they
1434    are not original with me,
1435If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing,
1436If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,
1437If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.
1438
1439This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is,
1440This the common air that bathes the globe.
1441
1442
1443With music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums,
1444I play not marches for accepted victors only, I play marches for
1445    conquer'd and slain persons.
1446
1447Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?
1448I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit
1449    in which they are won.
1450
1451I beat and pound for the dead,
1452I blow through my embouchures my loudest and gayest for them.
1453
1454Vivas to those who have fail'd!
1455And to those whose war-vessels sank in the sea!
1456And to those themselves who sank in the sea!
1457And to all generals that lost engagements, and all overcome heroes!
1458And the numberless unknown heroes equal to the greatest heroes known!
1459
1460
1461This is the meal equally set, this the meat for natural hunger,
1462It is for the wicked just same as the righteous, I make appointments
1463    with all,
1464I will not have a single person slighted or left away,
1465The kept-woman, sponger, thief, are hereby invited,
1466The heavy-lipp'd slave is invited, the venerealee is invited;
1467There shall be no difference between them and the rest.
1468
1469This is the press of a bashful hand, this the float and odor of hair,
1470This the touch of my lips to yours, this the murmur of yearning,
1471This the far-off depth and height reflecting my own face,
1472This the thoughtful merge of myself, and the outlet again.
1473
1474Do you guess I have some intricate purpose?
1475Well I have, for the Fourth-month showers have, and the mica on the
1476    side of a rock has.
1477
1478Do you take it I would astonish?
1479Does the daylight astonish? does the early redstart twittering
1480    through the woods?
1481Do I astonish more than they?
1482
1483This hour I tell things in confidence,
1484I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you.
1485
1486
1487Who goes there? hankering, gross, mystical, nude;
1488How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?
1489
1490What is a man anyhow? what am I? what are you?
1491
1492All I mark as my own you shall offset it with your own,
1493Else it were time lost listening to me.
1494
1495I do not snivel that snivel the world over,
1496That months are vacuums and the ground but wallow and filth.
1497
1498Whimpering and truckling fold with powders for invalids, conformity
1499    goes to the fourth-remov'd,
1500I wear my hat as I please indoors or out.
1501
1502Why should I pray? why should I venerate and be ceremonious?
1503
1504Having pried through the strata, analyzed to a hair, counsel'd with
1505    doctors and calculated close,
1506I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones.
1507
1508In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barley-corn less,
1509And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them.
1510
1511I know I am solid and sound,
1512To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,
1513All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.
1514
1515I know I am deathless,
1516I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,
1517I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt
1518    stick at night.
1519
1520I know I am august,
1521I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,
1522I see that the elementary laws never apologize,
1523(I reckon I behave no prouder than the level I plant my house by,
1524    after all.)
1525
1526I exist as I am, that is enough,
1527If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
1528And if each and all be aware I sit content.
1529
1530One world is aware and by far the largest to me, and that is myself,
1531And whether I come to my own to-day or in ten thousand or ten
1532    million years,
1533I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait.
1534
1535My foothold is tenon'd and mortis'd in granite,
1536I laugh at what you call dissolution,
1537And I know the amplitude of time.
1538
1539
1540I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,
1541The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me,
1542The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate
1543    into new tongue.
1544
1545I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,
1546And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
1547And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.
1548
1549I chant the chant of dilation or pride,
1550We have had ducking and deprecating about enough,
1551I show that size is only development.
1552
1553Have you outstript the rest? are you the President?
1554It is a trifle, they will more than arrive there every one, and
1555    still pass on.
1556
1557I am he that walks with the tender and growing night,
1558I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.
1559
1560Press close bare-bosom'd night--press close magnetic nourishing night!
1561Night of south winds--night of the large few stars!
1562Still nodding night--mad naked summer night.
1563
1564Smile O voluptuous cool-breath'd earth!
1565Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
1566Earth of departed sunset--earth of the mountains misty-topt!
1567Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!
1568Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!
1569Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!
1570Far-swooping elbow'd earth--rich apple-blossom'd earth!
1571Smile, for your lover comes.
1572
1573Prodigal, you have given me love--therefore I to you give love!
1574O unspeakable passionate love.
1575
1576
1577You sea! I resign myself to you also--I guess what you mean,
1578I behold from the beach your crooked fingers,
1579I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me,
1580We must have a turn together, I undress, hurry me out of sight of the land,
1581Cushion me soft, rock me in billowy drowse,
1582Dash me with amorous wet, I can repay you.
1583
1584Sea of stretch'd ground-swells,
1585Sea breathing broad and convulsive breaths,
1586Sea of the brine of life and of unshovell'd yet always-ready graves,
1587Howler and scooper of storms, capricious and dainty sea,
1588I am integral with you, I too am of one phase and of all phases.
1589
1590Partaker of influx and efflux I, extoller of hate and conciliation,
1591Extoller of amies and those that sleep in each others' arms.
1592
1593I am he attesting sympathy,
1594(Shall I make my list of things in the house and skip the house that
1595    supports them?)
1596
1597I am not the poet of goodness only, I do not decline to be the poet
1598    of wickedness also.
1599
1600What blurt is this about virtue and about vice?
1601Evil propels me and reform of evil propels me, I stand indifferent,
1602My gait is no fault-finder's or rejecter's gait,
1603I moisten the roots of all that has grown.
1604
1605Did you fear some scrofula out of the unflagging pregnancy?
1606Did you guess the celestial laws are yet to be work'd over and rectified?
1607
1608I find one side a balance and the antipedal side a balance,
1609Soft doctrine as steady help as stable doctrine,
1610Thoughts and deeds of the present our rouse and early start.
1611
1612This minute that comes to me over the past decillions,
1613There is no better than it and now.
1614
1615What behaved well in the past or behaves well to-day is not such wonder,
1616The wonder is always and always how there can be a mean man or an infidel.
1617
1618
1619Endless unfolding of words of ages!
1620And mine a word of the modern, the word En-Masse.
1621
1622A word of the faith that never balks,
1623Here or henceforward it is all the same to me, I accept Time absolutely.
1624
1625It alone is without flaw, it alone rounds and completes all,
1626That mystic baffling wonder alone completes all.
1627
1628I accept Reality and dare not question it,
1629Materialism first and last imbuing.
1630
1631Hurrah for positive science! long live exact demonstration!
1632Fetch stonecrop mixt with cedar and branches of lilac,
1633This is the lexicographer, this the chemist, this made a grammar of
1634    the old cartouches,
1635These mariners put the ship through dangerous unknown seas.
1636This is the geologist, this works with the scalper, and this is a
1637    mathematician.
1638
1639Gentlemen, to you the first honors always!
1640Your facts are useful, and yet they are not my dwelling,
1641I but enter by them to an area of my dwelling.
1642
1643Less the reminders of properties told my words,
1644And more the reminders they of life untold, and of freedom and extrication,
1645And make short account of neuters and geldings, and favor men and
1646    women fully equipt,
1647And beat the gong of revolt, and stop with fugitives and them that
1648    plot and conspire.
1649
1650
1651Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son,
1652Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding,
1653No sentimentalist, no stander above men and women or apart from them,
1654No more modest than immodest.
1655
1656Unscrew the locks from the doors!
1657Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!
1658
1659Whoever degrades another degrades me,
1660And whatever is done or said returns at last to me.
1661
1662Through me the afflatus surging and surging, through me the current
1663    and index.
1664
1665I speak the pass-word primeval, I give the sign of democracy,
1666By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their
1667    counterpart of on the same terms.
1668
1669Through me many long dumb voices,
1670Voices of the interminable generations of prisoners and slaves,
1671Voices of the diseas'd and despairing and of thieves and dwarfs,
1672Voices of cycles of preparation and accretion,
1673And of the threads that connect the stars, and of wombs and of the
1674    father-stuff,
1675And of the rights of them the others are down upon,
1676Of the deform'd, trivial, flat, foolish, despised,
1677Fog in the air, beetles rolling balls of dung.
1678
1679Through me forbidden voices,
1680Voices of sexes and lusts, voices veil'd and I remove the veil,
1681Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigur'd.
1682
1683I do not press my fingers across my mouth,
1684I keep as delicate around the bowels as around the head and heart,
1685Copulation is no more rank to me than death is.
1686
1687I believe in the flesh and the appetites,
1688Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me
1689    is a miracle.
1690
1691Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am
1692    touch'd from,
1693The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer,
1694This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds.
1695
1696If I worship one thing more than another it shall be the spread of
1697    my own body, or any part of it,
1698Translucent mould of me it shall be you!
1699Shaded ledges and rests it shall be you!
1700Firm masculine colter it shall be you!
1701Whatever goes to the tilth of me it shall be you!
1702You my rich blood! your milky stream pale strippings of my life!
1703Breast that presses against other breasts it shall be you!
1704My brain it shall be your occult convolutions!
1705Root of wash'd sweet-flag! timorous pond-snipe! nest of guarded
1706    duplicate eggs! it shall be you!
1707Mix'd tussled hay of head, beard, brawn, it shall be you!
1708Trickling sap of maple, fibre of manly wheat, it shall be you!
1709Sun so generous it shall be you!
1710Vapors lighting and shading my face it shall be you!
1711You sweaty brooks and dews it shall be you!
1712Winds whose soft-tickling genitals rub against me it shall be you!
1713Broad muscular fields, branches of live oak, loving lounger in my
1714    winding paths, it shall be you!
1715Hands I have taken, face I have kiss'd, mortal I have ever touch'd,
1716    it shall be you.
1717
1718I dote on myself, there is that lot of me and all so luscious,
1719Each moment and whatever happens thrills me with joy,
1720I cannot tell how my ankles bend, nor whence the cause of my faintest wish,
1721Nor the cause of the friendship I emit, nor the cause of the
1722    friendship I take again.
1723
1724That I walk up my stoop, I pause to consider if it really be,
1725A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics
1726    of books.
1727
1728To behold the day-break!
1729The little light fades the immense and diaphanous shadows,
1730The air tastes good to my palate.
1731
1732Hefts of the moving world at innocent gambols silently rising
1733    freshly exuding,
1734Scooting obliquely high and low.
1735
1736Something I cannot see puts upward libidinous prongs,
1737Seas of bright juice suffuse heaven.
1738
1739The earth by the sky staid with, the daily close of their junction,
1740The heav'd challenge from the east that moment over my head,
1741The mocking taunt, See then whether you shall be master!
1742
1743
1744Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sun-rise would kill me,
1745If I could not now and always send sun-rise out of me.
1746
1747We also ascend dazzling and tremendous as the sun,
1748We found our own O my soul in the calm and cool of the daybreak.
1749
1750My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,
1751With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds.
1752
1753Speech is the twin of my vision, it is unequal to measure itself,
1754It provokes me forever, it says sarcastically,
1755Walt you contain enough, why don't you let it out then?
1756
1757Come now I will not be tantalized, you conceive too much of
1758    articulation,
1759Do you not know O speech how the buds beneath you are folded?
1760Waiting in gloom, protected by frost,
1761The dirt receding before my prophetical screams,
1762I underlying causes to balance them at last,
1763My knowledge my live parts, it keeping tally with the meaning of all things,
1764Happiness, (which whoever hears me let him or her set out in search
1765    of this day.)
1766
1767My final merit I refuse you, I refuse putting from me what I really am,
1768Encompass worlds, but never try to encompass me,
1769I crowd your sleekest and best by simply looking toward you.
1770
1771Writing and talk do not prove me,
1772I carry the plenum of proof and every thing else in my face,
1773With the hush of my lips I wholly confound the skeptic.
1774
1775
1776Now I will do nothing but listen,
1777To accrue what I hear into this song, to let sounds contribute toward it.
1778
1779I hear bravuras of birds, bustle of growing wheat, gossip of flames,
1780    clack of sticks cooking my meals,
1781I hear the sound I love, the sound of the human voice,
1782I hear all sounds running together, combined, fused or following,
1783Sounds of the city and sounds out of the city, sounds of the day and night,
1784Talkative young ones to those that like them, the loud laugh of
1785    work-people at their meals,
1786The angry base of disjointed friendship, the faint tones of the sick,
1787The judge with hands tight to the desk, his pallid lips pronouncing
1788    a death-sentence,
1789The heave'e'yo of stevedores unlading ships by the wharves, the
1790    refrain of the anchor-lifters,
1791The ring of alarm-bells, the cry of fire, the whirr of swift-streaking
1792    engines and hose-carts with premonitory tinkles and color'd lights,
1793The steam-whistle, the solid roll of the train of approaching cars,
1794The slow march play'd at the head of the association marching two and two,
1795(They go to guard some corpse, the flag-tops are draped with black muslin.)
1796
1797I hear the violoncello, ('tis the young man's heart's complaint,)
1798I hear the key'd cornet, it glides quickly in through my ears,
1799It shakes mad-sweet pangs through my belly and breast.
1800
1801I hear the chorus, it is a grand opera,
1802Ah this indeed is music--this suits me.
1803
1804A tenor large and fresh as the creation fills me,
1805The orbic flex of his mouth is pouring and filling me full.
1806
1807I hear the train'd soprano (what work with hers is this?)
1808The orchestra whirls me wider than Uranus flies,
1809It wrenches such ardors from me I did not know I possess'd them,
1810It sails me, I dab with bare feet, they are lick'd by the indolent waves,
1811I am cut by bitter and angry hail, I lose my breath,
1812Steep'd amid honey'd morphine, my windpipe throttled in fakes of death,
1813At length let up again to feel the puzzle of puzzles,
1814And that we call Being.
1815
1816
1817To be in any form, what is that?
1818(Round and round we go, all of us, and ever come back thither,)
1819If nothing lay more develop'd the quahaug in its callous shell were enough.
1820
1821Mine is no callous shell,
1822I have instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stop,
1823They seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me.
1824
1825I merely stir, press, feel with my fingers, and am happy,
1826To touch my person to some one else's is about as much as I can stand.
1827
1828
1829Is this then a touch? quivering me to a new identity,
1830Flames and ether making a rush for my veins,
1831Treacherous tip of me reaching and crowding to help them,
1832My flesh and blood playing out lightning to strike what is hardly
1833    different from myself,
1834On all sides prurient provokers stiffening my limbs,
1835Straining the udder of my heart for its withheld drip,
1836Behaving licentious toward me, taking no denial,
1837Depriving me of my best as for a purpose,
1838Unbuttoning my clothes, holding me by the bare waist,
1839Deluding my confusion with the calm of the sunlight and pasture-fields,
1840Immodestly sliding the fellow-senses away,
1841They bribed to swap off with touch and go and graze at the edges of me,
1842No consideration, no regard for my draining strength or my anger,
1843Fetching the rest of the herd around to enjoy them a while,
1844Then all uniting to stand on a headland and worry me.
1845
1846The sentries desert every other part of me,
1847They have left me helpless to a red marauder,
1848They all come to the headland to witness and assist against me.
1849
1850I am given up by traitors,
1851I talk wildly, I have lost my wits, I and nobody else am the
1852    greatest traitor,
1853I went myself first to the headland, my own hands carried me there.
1854
1855You villain touch! what are you doing? my breath is tight in its throat,
1856Unclench your floodgates, you are too much for me.
1857
1858
1859Blind loving wrestling touch, sheath'd hooded sharp-tooth'd touch!
1860Did it make you ache so, leaving me?
1861
1862Parting track'd by arriving, perpetual payment of perpetual loan,
1863Rich showering rain, and recompense richer afterward.
1864
1865Sprouts take and accumulate, stand by the curb prolific and vital,
1866Landscapes projected masculine, full-sized and golden.
1867
1868
1869All truths wait in all things,
1870They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,
1871They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon,
1872The insignificant is as big to me as any,
1873(What is less or more than a touch?)
1874
1875Logic and sermons never convince,
1876The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul.
1877
1878(Only what proves itself to every man and woman is so,
1879Only what nobody denies is so.)
1880
1881A minute and a drop of me settle my brain,
1882I believe the soggy clods shall become lovers and lamps,
1883And a compend of compends is the meat of a man or woman,
1884And a summit and flower there is the feeling they have for each other,
1885And they are to branch boundlessly out of that lesson until it
1886    becomes omnific,
1887And until one and all shall delight us, and we them.
1888
1889
1890I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars,
1891And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg
1892    of the wren,
1893And the tree-toad is a chef-d'oeuvre for the highest,
1894And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,
1895And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
1896And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue,
1897And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.
1898
1899I find I incorporate gneiss, coal, long-threaded moss, fruits,
1900    grains, esculent roots,
1901And am stucco'd with quadrupeds and birds all over,
1902And have distanced what is behind me for good reasons,
1903But call any thing back again when I desire it.
1904
1905In vain the speeding or shyness,
1906In vain the plutonic rocks send their old heat against my approach,
1907In vain the mastodon retreats beneath its own powder'd bones,
1908In vain objects stand leagues off and assume manifold shapes,
1909In vain the ocean settling in hollows and the great monsters lying low,
1910In vain the buzzard houses herself with the sky,
1911In vain the snake slides through the creepers and logs,
1912In vain the elk takes to the inner passes of the woods,
1913In vain the razor-bill'd auk sails far north to Labrador,
1914I follow quickly, I ascend to the nest in the fissure of the cliff.
1915
1916
1917I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and
1918    self-contain'd,
1919I stand and look at them long and long.
1920
1921They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
1922They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
1923They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
1924Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of
1925    owning things,
1926Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of
1927    years ago,
1928Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
1929
1930So they show their relations to me and I accept them,
1931They bring me tokens of myself, they evince them plainly in their
1932    possession.
1933
1934I wonder where they get those tokens,
1935Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?
1936
1937Myself moving forward then and now and forever,
1938Gathering and showing more always and with velocity,
1939Infinite and omnigenous, and the like of these among them,
1940Not too exclusive toward the reachers of my remembrancers,
1941Picking out here one that I love, and now go with him on brotherly terms.
1942
1943A gigantic beauty of a stallion, fresh and responsive to my caresses,
1944Head high in the forehead, wide between the ears,
1945Limbs glossy and supple, tail dusting the ground,
1946Eyes full of sparkling wickedness, ears finely cut, flexibly moving.
1947
1948His nostrils dilate as my heels embrace him,
1949His well-built limbs tremble with pleasure as we race around and return.
1950
1951I but use you a minute, then I resign you, stallion,
1952Why do I need your paces when I myself out-gallop them?
1953Even as I stand or sit passing faster than you.
1954
1955
1956Space and Time! now I see it is true, what I guess'd at,
1957What I guess'd when I loaf'd on the grass,
1958What I guess'd while I lay alone in my bed,
1959And again as I walk'd the beach under the paling stars of the morning.
1960
1961My ties and ballasts leave me, my elbows rest in sea-gaps,
1962I skirt sierras, my palms cover continents,
1963I am afoot with my vision.
1964
1965By the city's quadrangular houses--in log huts, camping with lumber-men,
1966Along the ruts of the turnpike, along the dry gulch and rivulet bed,
1967Weeding my onion-patch or hosing rows of carrots and parsnips,
1968    crossing savannas, trailing in forests,
1969Prospecting, gold-digging, girdling the trees of a new purchase,
1970Scorch'd ankle-deep by the hot sand, hauling my boat down the
1971    shallow river,
1972Where the panther walks to and fro on a limb overhead, where the
1973    buck turns furiously at the hunter,
1974Where the rattlesnake suns his flabby length on a rock, where the
1975    otter is feeding on fish,
1976Where the alligator in his tough pimples sleeps by the bayou,
1977Where the black bear is searching for roots or honey, where the
1978    beaver pats the mud with his paddle-shaped tall;
1979Over the growing sugar, over the yellow-flower'd cotton plant, over
1980    the rice in its low moist field,
1981Over the sharp-peak'd farm house, with its scallop'd scum and
1982    slender shoots from the gutters,
1983Over the western persimmon, over the long-leav'd corn, over the
1984    delicate blue-flower flax,
1985Over the white and brown buckwheat, a hummer and buzzer there with
1986    the rest,
1987Over the dusky green of the rye as it ripples and shades in the breeze;
1988Scaling mountains, pulling myself cautiously up, holding on by low
1989    scragged limbs,
1990Walking the path worn in the grass and beat through the leaves of the brush,
1991Where the quail is whistling betwixt the woods and the wheat-lot,
1992Where the bat flies in the Seventh-month eve, where the great
1993    goldbug drops through the dark,
1994Where the brook puts out of the roots of the old tree and flows to
1995    the meadow,
1996Where cattle stand and shake away flies with the tremulous
1997    shuddering of their hides,
1998Where the cheese-cloth hangs in the kitchen, where andirons straddle
1999    the hearth-slab, where cobwebs fall in festoons from the rafters;
2000Where trip-hammers crash, where the press is whirling its cylinders,
2001Wherever the human heart beats with terrible throes under its ribs,
2002Where the pear-shaped balloon is floating aloft, (floating in it
2003    myself and looking composedly down,)
2004Where the life-car is drawn on the slip-noose, where the heat
2005    hatches pale-green eggs in the dented sand,
2006Where the she-whale swims with her calf and never forsakes it,
2007Where the steam-ship trails hind-ways its long pennant of smoke,
2008Where the fin of the shark cuts like a black chip out of the water,
2009Where the half-burn'd brig is riding on unknown currents,
2010Where shells grow to her slimy deck, where the dead are corrupting below;
2011Where the dense-starr'd flag is borne at the head of the regiments,
2012Approaching Manhattan up by the long-stretching island,
2013Under Niagara, the cataract falling like a veil over my countenance,
2014Upon a door-step, upon the horse-block of hard wood outside,
2015Upon the race-course, or enjoying picnics or jigs or a good game of
2016    base-ball,
2017At he-festivals, with blackguard gibes, ironical license,
2018    bull-dances, drinking, laughter,
2019At the cider-mill tasting the sweets of the brown mash, sucking the
2020    juice through a straw,
2021At apple-peelings wanting kisses for all the red fruit I find,
2022At musters, beach-parties, friendly bees, huskings, house-raisings;
2023Where the mocking-bird sounds his delicious gurgles, cackles,
2024    screams, weeps,
2025Where the hay-rick stands in the barn-yard, where the dry-stalks are
2026    scatter'd, where the brood-cow waits in the hovel,
2027Where the bull advances to do his masculine work, where the stud to
2028    the mare, where the cock is treading the hen,
2029Where the heifers browse, where geese nip their food with short jerks,
2030Where sun-down shadows lengthen over the limitless and lonesome prairie,
2031Where herds of buffalo make a crawling spread of the square miles
2032    far and near,
2033Where the humming-bird shimmers, where the neck of the long-lived
2034    swan is curving and winding,
2035Where the laughing-gull scoots by the shore, where she laughs her
2036    near-human laugh,
2037Where bee-hives range on a gray bench in the garden half hid by the
2038    high weeds,
2039Where band-neck'd partridges roost in a ring on the ground with
2040    their heads out,
2041Where burial coaches enter the arch'd gates of a cemetery,
2042Where winter wolves bark amid wastes of snow and icicled trees,
2043Where the yellow-crown'd heron comes to the edge of the marsh at
2044    night and feeds upon small crabs,
2045Where the splash of swimmers and divers cools the warm noon,
2046Where the katy-did works her chromatic reed on the walnut-tree over
2047    the well,
2048Through patches of citrons and cucumbers with silver-wired leaves,
2049Through the salt-lick or orange glade, or under conical firs,
2050Through the gymnasium, through the curtain'd saloon, through the
2051    office or public hall;
2052Pleas'd with the native and pleas'd with the foreign, pleas'd with
2053    the new and old,
2054Pleas'd with the homely woman as well as the handsome,
2055Pleas'd with the quakeress as she puts off her bonnet and talks melodiously,
2056Pleas'd with the tune of the choir of the whitewash'd church,
2057Pleas'd with the earnest words of the sweating Methodist preacher,
2058    impress'd seriously at the camp-meeting;
2059Looking in at the shop-windows of Broadway the whole forenoon,
2060    flatting the flesh of my nose on the thick plate glass,
2061Wandering the same afternoon with my face turn'd up to the clouds,
2062    or down a lane or along the beach,
2063My right and left arms round the sides of two friends, and I in the middle;
2064Coming home with the silent and dark-cheek'd bush-boy, (behind me
2065    he rides at the drape of the day,)
2066Far from the settlements studying the print of animals' feet, or the
2067    moccasin print,
2068By the cot in the hospital reaching lemonade to a feverish patient,
2069Nigh the coffin'd corpse when all is still, examining with a candle;
2070Voyaging to every port to dicker and adventure,
2071Hurrying with the modern crowd as eager and fickle as any,
2072Hot toward one I hate, ready in my madness to knife him,
2073Solitary at midnight in my back yard, my thoughts gone from me a long while,
2074Walking the old hills of Judaea with the beautiful gentle God by my side,
2075Speeding through space, speeding through heaven and the stars,
2076Speeding amid the seven satellites and the broad ring, and the
2077    diameter of eighty thousand miles,
2078Speeding with tail'd meteors, throwing fire-balls like the rest,
2079Carrying the crescent child that carries its own full mother in its belly,
2080Storming, enjoying, planning, loving, cautioning,
2081Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing,
2082I tread day and night such roads.
2083
2084I visit the orchards of spheres and look at the product,
2085And look at quintillions ripen'd and look at quintillions green.
2086
2087I fly those flights of a fluid and swallowing soul,
2088My course runs below the soundings of plummets.
2089
2090I help myself to material and immaterial,
2091No guard can shut me off, no law prevent me.
2092
2093I anchor my ship for a little while only,
2094My messengers continually cruise away or bring their returns to me.
2095
2096I go hunting polar furs and the seal, leaping chasms with a
2097    pike-pointed staff, clinging to topples of brittle and blue.
2098
2099I ascend to the foretruck,
2100I take my place late at night in the crow's-nest,
2101We sail the arctic sea, it is plenty light enough,
2102Through the clear atmosphere I stretch around on the wonderful beauty,
2103The enormous masses of ice pass me and I pass them, the scenery is
2104    plain in all directions,
2105The white-topt mountains show in the distance, I fling out my
2106    fancies toward them,
2107We are approaching some great battle-field in which we are soon to
2108    be engaged,
2109We pass the colossal outposts of the encampment, we pass with still
2110    feet and caution,
2111Or we are entering by the suburbs some vast and ruin'd city,
2112The blocks and fallen architecture more than all the living cities
2113    of the globe.
2114
2115I am a free companion, I bivouac by invading watchfires,
2116I turn the bridgroom out of bed and stay with the bride myself,
2117I tighten her all night to my thighs and lips.
2118
2119My voice is the wife's voice, the screech by the rail of the stairs,
2120They fetch my man's body up dripping and drown'd.
2121
2122I understand the large hearts of heroes,
2123The courage of present times and all times,
2124How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the
2125    steamship, and Death chasing it up and down the storm,
2126How he knuckled tight and gave not back an inch, and was faithful of
2127    days and faithful of nights,
2128And chalk'd in large letters on a board, Be of good cheer, we will
2129    not desert you;
2130How he follow'd with them and tack'd with them three days and
2131    would not give it up,
2132How he saved the drifting company at last,
2133How the lank loose-gown'd women look'd when boated from the
2134    side of their prepared graves,
2135How the silent old-faced infants and the lifted sick, and the
2136    sharp-lipp'd unshaved men;
2137All this I swallow, it tastes good, I like it well, it becomes mine,
2138I am the man, I suffer'd, I was there.
2139
2140The disdain and calmness of martyrs,
2141The mother of old, condemn'd for a witch, burnt with dry wood, her
2142    children gazing on,
2143The hounded slave that flags in the race, leans by the fence,
2144    blowing, cover'd with sweat,
2145The twinges that sting like needles his legs and neck, the murderous
2146    buckshot and the bullets,
2147All these I feel or am.
2148
2149I am the hounded slave, I wince at the bite of the dogs,
2150Hell and despair are upon me, crack and again crack the marksmen,
2151I clutch the rails of the fence, my gore dribs, thinn'd with the
2152    ooze of my skin,
2153I fall on the weeds and stones,
2154The riders spur their unwilling horses, haul close,
2155Taunt my dizzy ears and beat me violently over the head with whip-stocks.
2156
2157Agonies are one of my changes of garments,
2158I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the
2159    wounded person,
2160My hurts turn livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe.
2161
2162I am the mash'd fireman with breast-bone broken,
2163Tumbling walls buried me in their debris,
2164Heat and smoke I inspired, I heard the yelling shouts of my comrades,
2165I heard the distant click of their picks and shovels,
2166They have clear'd the beams away, they tenderly lift me forth.
2167
2168I lie in the night air in my red shirt, the pervading hush is for my sake,
2169Painless after all I lie exhausted but not so unhappy,
2170White and beautiful are the faces around me, the heads are bared
2171    of their fire-caps,
2172The kneeling crowd fades with the light of the torches.
2173
2174Distant and dead resuscitate,
2175They show as the dial or move as the hands of me, I am the clock myself.
2176
2177I am an old artillerist, I tell of my fort's bombardment,
2178I am there again.
2179
2180Again the long roll of the drummers,
2181Again the attacking cannon, mortars,
2182Again to my listening ears the cannon responsive.
2183
2184I take part, I see and hear the whole,
2185The cries, curses, roar, the plaudits for well-aim'd shots,
2186The ambulanza slowly passing trailing its red drip,
2187Workmen searching after damages, making indispensable repairs,
2188The fall of grenades through the rent roof, the fan-shaped explosion,
2189The whizz of limbs, heads, stone, wood, iron, high in the air.
2190
2191Again gurgles the mouth of my dying general, he furiously waves
2192    with his hand,
2193He gasps through the clot Mind not me--mind--the entrenchments.
2194
2195
2196Now I tell what I knew in Texas in my early youth,
2197(I tell not the fall of Alamo,
2198Not one escaped to tell the fall of Alamo,
2199The hundred and fifty are dumb yet at Alamo,)
2200'Tis the tale of the murder in cold blood of four hundred and twelve
2201    young men.
2202
2203Retreating they had form'd in a hollow square with their baggage for
2204    breastworks,
2205Nine hundred lives out of the surrounding enemies, nine times their
2206    number, was the price they took in advance,
2207Their colonel was wounded and their ammunition gone,
2208They treated for an honorable capitulation, receiv'd writing and
2209    seal, gave up their arms and march'd back prisoners of war.
2210
2211They were the glory of the race of rangers,
2212Matchless with horse, rifle, song, supper, courtship,
2213Large, turbulent, generous, handsome, proud, and affectionate,
2214Bearded, sunburnt, drest in the free costume of hunters,
2215Not a single one over thirty years of age.
2216
2217The second First-day morning they were brought out in squads and
2218    massacred, it was beautiful early summer,
2219The work commenced about five o'clock and was over by eight.
2220
2221None obey'd the command to kneel,
2222Some made a mad and helpless rush, some stood stark and straight,
2223A few fell at once, shot in the temple or heart, the living and dead
2224    lay together,
2225The maim'd and mangled dug in the dirt, the new-comers saw them there,
2226Some half-kill'd attempted to crawl away,
2227These were despatch'd with bayonets or batter'd with the blunts of muskets,
2228A youth not seventeen years old seiz'd his assassin till two more
2229    came to release him,
2230The three were all torn and cover'd with the boy's blood.
2231
2232At eleven o'clock began the burning of the bodies;
2233That is the tale of the murder of the four hundred and twelve young men.
2234
2235
2236Would you hear of an old-time sea-fight?
2237Would you learn who won by the light of the moon and stars?
2238List to the yarn, as my grandmother's father the sailor told it to me.
2239
2240Our foe was no sulk in his ship I tell you, (said he,)
2241His was the surly English pluck, and there is no tougher or truer,
2242    and never was, and never will be;
2243Along the lower'd eve he came horribly raking us.
2244
2245We closed with him, the yards entangled, the cannon touch'd,
2246My captain lash'd fast with his own hands.
2247
2248We had receiv'd some eighteen pound shots under the water,
2249On our lower-gun-deck two large pieces had burst at the first fire,
2250    killing all around and blowing up overhead.
2251
2252Fighting at sun-down, fighting at dark,
2253Ten o'clock at night, the full moon well up, our leaks on the gain,
2254    and five feet of water reported,
2255The master-at-arms loosing the prisoners confined in the after-hold
2256    to give them a chance for themselves.
2257
2258The transit to and from the magazine is now stopt by the sentinels,
2259They see so many strange faces they do not know whom to trust.
2260
2261Our frigate takes fire,
2262The other asks if we demand quarter?
2263If our colors are struck and the fighting done?
2264
2265Now I laugh content, for I hear the voice of my little captain,
2266We have not struck, he composedly cries, we have just begun our part
2267    of the fighting.
2268
2269Only three guns are in use,
2270One is directed by the captain himself against the enemy's main-mast,
2271Two well serv'd with grape and canister silence his musketry and
2272    clear his decks.
2273
2274The tops alone second the fire of this little battery, especially
2275    the main-top,
2276They hold out bravely during the whole of the action.
2277
2278Not a moment's cease,
2279The leaks gain fast on the pumps, the fire eats toward the powder-magazine.
2280
2281One of the pumps has been shot away, it is generally thought we are sinking.
2282
2283Serene stands the little captain,
2284He is not hurried, his voice is neither high nor low,
2285His eyes give more light to us than our battle-lanterns.
2286
2287Toward twelve there in the beams of the moon they surrender to us.
2288
2289
2290Stretch'd and still lies the midnight,
2291Two great hulls motionless on the breast of the darkness,
2292Our vessel riddled and slowly sinking, preparations to pass to the
2293    one we have conquer'd,
2294The captain on the quarter-deck coldly giving his orders through a
2295    countenance white as a sheet,
2296Near by the corpse of the child that serv'd in the cabin,
2297The dead face of an old salt with long white hair and carefully
2298    curl'd whiskers,
2299The flames spite of all that can be done flickering aloft and below,
2300The husky voices of the two or three officers yet fit for duty,
2301Formless stacks of bodies and bodies by themselves, dabs of flesh
2302    upon the masts and spars,
2303Cut of cordage, dangle of rigging, slight shock of the soothe of waves,
2304Black and impassive guns, litter of powder-parcels, strong scent,
2305A few large stars overhead, silent and mournful shining,
2306Delicate sniffs of sea-breeze, smells of sedgy grass and fields by
2307    the shore, death-messages given in charge to survivors,
2308The hiss of the surgeon's knife, the gnawing teeth of his saw,
2309Wheeze, cluck, swash of falling blood, short wild scream, and long,
2310    dull, tapering groan,
2311These so, these irretrievable.
2312
2313
2314You laggards there on guard! look to your arms!
2315In at the conquer'd doors they crowd! I am possess'd!
2316Embody all presences outlaw'd or suffering,
2317See myself in prison shaped like another man,
2318And feel the dull unintermitted pain.
2319
2320For me the keepers of convicts shoulder their carbines and keep watch,
2321It is I let out in the morning and barr'd at night.
2322
2323Not a mutineer walks handcuff'd to jail but I am handcuff'd to him
2324    and walk by his side,
2325(I am less the jolly one there, and more the silent one with sweat
2326    on my twitching lips.)
2327
2328Not a youngster is taken for larceny but I go up too, and am tried
2329    and sentenced.
2330
2331Not a cholera patient lies at the last gasp but I also lie at the last gasp,
2332My face is ash-color'd, my sinews gnarl, away from me people retreat.
2333
2334Askers embody themselves in me and I am embodied in them,
2335I project my hat, sit shame-faced, and beg.
2336
2337
2338Enough! enough! enough!
2339Somehow I have been stunn'd. Stand back!
2340Give me a little time beyond my cuff'd head, slumbers, dreams, gaping,
2341I discover myself on the verge of a usual mistake.
2342
2343That I could forget the mockers and insults!
2344That I could forget the trickling tears and the blows of the
2345    bludgeons and hammers!
2346That I could look with a separate look on my own crucifixion and
2347    bloody crowning.
2348
2349I remember now,
2350I resume the overstaid fraction,
2351The grave of rock multiplies what has been confided to it, or to any graves,
2352Corpses rise, gashes heal, fastenings roll from me.
2353
2354I troop forth replenish'd with supreme power, one of an average
2355    unending procession,
2356Inland and sea-coast we go, and pass all boundary lines,
2357Our swift ordinances on their way over the whole earth,
2358The blossoms we wear in our hats the growth of thousands of years.
2359
2360Eleves, I salute you! come forward!
2361Continue your annotations, continue your questionings.
2362
2363
2364The friendly and flowing savage, who is he?
2365Is he waiting for civilization, or past it and mastering it?
2366
2367Is he some Southwesterner rais'd out-doors? is he Kanadian?
2368Is he from the Mississippi country? Iowa, Oregon, California?
2369The mountains? prairie-life, bush-life? or sailor from the sea?
2370
2371Wherever he goes men and women accept and desire him,
2372They desire he should like them, touch them, speak to them, stay with them.
2373
2374Behavior lawless as snow-flakes, words simple as grass, uncomb'd
2375    head, laughter, and naivete,
2376Slow-stepping feet, common features, common modes and emanations,
2377They descend in new forms from the tips of his fingers,
2378They are wafted with the odor of his body or breath, they fly out of
2379    the glance of his eyes.
2380
2381
2382Flaunt of the sunshine I need not your bask--lie over!
2383You light surfaces only, I force surfaces and depths also.
2384
2385Earth! you seem to look for something at my hands,
2386Say, old top-knot, what do you want?
2387
2388Man or woman, I might tell how I like you, but cannot,
2389And might tell what it is in me and what it is in you, but cannot,
2390And might tell that pining I have, that pulse of my nights and days.
2391
2392Behold, I do not give lectures or a little charity,
2393When I give I give myself.
2394
2395You there, impotent, loose in the knees,
2396Open your scarf'd chops till I blow grit within you,
2397Spread your palms and lift the flaps of your pockets,
2398I am not to be denied, I compel, I have stores plenty and to spare,
2399And any thing I have I bestow.
2400
2401I do not ask who you are, that is not important to me,
2402You can do nothing and be nothing but what I will infold you.
2403
2404To cotton-field drudge or cleaner of privies I lean,
2405On his right cheek I put the family kiss,
2406And in my soul I swear I never will deny him.
2407
2408On women fit for conception I start bigger and nimbler babes.
2409(This day I am jetting the stuff of far more arrogant republics.)
2410
2411To any one dying, thither I speed and twist the knob of the door.
2412Turn the bed-clothes toward the foot of the bed,
2413Let the physician and the priest go home.
2414
2415I seize the descending man and raise him with resistless will,
2416O despairer, here is my neck,
2417By God, you shall not go down! hang your whole weight upon me.
2418
2419I dilate you with tremendous breath, I buoy you up,
2420Every room of the house do I fill with an arm'd force,
2421Lovers of me, bafflers of graves.
2422
2423Sleep--I and they keep guard all night,
2424Not doubt, not decease shall dare to lay finger upon you,
2425I have embraced you, and henceforth possess you to myself,
2426And when you rise in the morning you will find what I tell you is so.
2427
2428
2429I am he bringing help for the sick as they pant on their backs,
2430And for strong upright men I bring yet more needed help.
2431
2432I heard what was said of the universe,
2433Heard it and heard it of several thousand years;
2434It is middling well as far as it goes--but is that all?
2435
2436Magnifying and applying come I,
2437Outbidding at the start the old cautious hucksters,
2438Taking myself the exact dimensions of Jehovah,
2439Lithographing Kronos, Zeus his son, and Hercules his grandson,
2440Buying drafts of Osiris, Isis, Belus, Brahma, Buddha,
2441In my portfolio placing Manito loose, Allah on a leaf, the crucifix
2442    engraved,
2443With Odin and the hideous-faced Mexitli and every idol and image,
2444Taking them all for what they are worth and not a cent more,
2445Admitting they were alive and did the work of their days,
2446(They bore mites as for unfledg'd birds who have now to rise and fly
2447    and sing for themselves,)
2448Accepting the rough deific sketches to fill out better in myself,
2449    bestowing them freely on each man and woman I see,
2450Discovering as much or more in a framer framing a house,
2451Putting higher claims for him there with his roll'd-up sleeves
2452    driving the mallet and chisel,
2453Not objecting to special revelations, considering a curl of smoke or
2454    a hair on the back of my hand just as curious as any revelation,
2455Lads ahold of fire-engines and hook-and-ladder ropes no less to me
2456    than the gods of the antique wars,
2457Minding their voices peal through the crash of destruction,
2458Their brawny limbs passing safe over charr'd laths, their white
2459    foreheads whole and unhurt out of the flames;
2460By the mechanic's wife with her babe at her nipple interceding for
2461    every person born,
2462Three scythes at harvest whizzing in a row from three lusty angels
2463    with shirts bagg'd out at their waists,
2464The snag-tooth'd hostler with red hair redeeming sins past and to come,
2465Selling all he possesses, traveling on foot to fee lawyers for his
2466    brother and sit by him while he is tried for forgery;
2467What was strewn in the amplest strewing the square rod about me, and
2468    not filling the square rod then,
2469The bull and the bug never worshipp'd half enough,
2470Dung and dirt more admirable than was dream'd,
2471The supernatural of no account, myself waiting my time to be one of
2472    the supremes,
2473The day getting ready for me when I shall do as much good as the
2474    best, and be as prodigious;
2475By my life-lumps! becoming already a creator,
2476Putting myself here and now to the ambush'd womb of the shadows.
2477
2478
2479
2480A call in the midst of the crowd,
2481My own voice, orotund sweeping and final.
2482
2483Come my children,
2484Come my boys and girls, my women, household and intimates,
2485Now the performer launches his nerve, he has pass'd his prelude on
2486    the reeds within.
2487
2488Easily written loose-finger'd chords--I feel the thrum of your
2489    climax and close.
2490
2491My head slues round on my neck,
2492Music rolls, but not from the organ,
2493Folks are around me, but they are no household of mine.
2494
2495Ever the hard unsunk ground,
2496Ever the eaters and drinkers, ever the upward and downward sun, ever
2497    the air and the ceaseless tides,
2498Ever myself and my neighbors, refreshing, wicked, real,
2499Ever the old inexplicable query, ever that thorn'd thumb, that
2500    breath of itches and thirsts,
2501Ever the vexer's hoot! hoot! till we find where the sly one hides
2502    and bring him forth,
2503Ever love, ever the sobbing liquid of life,
2504Ever the bandage under the chin, ever the trestles of death.
2505
2506Here and there with dimes on the eyes walking,
2507To feed the greed of the belly the brains liberally spooning,
2508Tickets buying, taking, selling, but in to the feast never once going,
2509Many sweating, ploughing, thrashing, and then the chaff for payment
2510    receiving,
2511A few idly owning, and they the wheat continually claiming.
2512
2513This is the city and I am one of the citizens,
2514Whatever interests the rest interests me, politics, wars, markets,
2515    newspapers, schools,
2516The mayor and councils, banks, tariffs, steamships, factories,
2517    stocks, stores, real estate and personal estate.
2518
2519The little plentiful manikins skipping around in collars and tail'd coats
2520I am aware who they are, (they are positively not worms or fleas,)
2521I acknowledge the duplicates of myself, the weakest and shallowest
2522    is deathless with me,
2523What I do and say the same waits for them,
2524Every thought that flounders in me the same flounders in them.
2525
2526I know perfectly well my own egotism,
2527Know my omnivorous lines and must not write any less,
2528And would fetch you whoever you are flush with myself.
2529
2530Not words of routine this song of mine,
2531But abruptly to question, to leap beyond yet nearer bring;
2532This printed and bound book--but the printer and the
2533    printing-office boy?
2534The well-taken photographs--but your wife or friend close and solid
2535    in your arms?
2536The black ship mail'd with iron, her mighty guns in her turrets--but
2537    the pluck of the captain and engineers?
2538In the houses the dishes and fare and furniture--but the host and
2539    hostess, and the look out of their eyes?
2540The sky up there--yet here or next door, or across the way?
2541The saints and sages in history--but you yourself?
2542Sermons, creeds, theology--but the fathomless human brain,
2543And what is reason? and what is love? and what is life?
2544
2545
2546I do not despise you priests, all time, the world over,
2547My faith is the greatest of faiths and the least of faiths,
2548Enclosing worship ancient and modern and all between ancient and modern,
2549Believing I shall come again upon the earth after five thousand years,
2550Waiting responses from oracles, honoring the gods, saluting the sun,
2551Making a fetich of the first rock or stump, powowing with sticks in
2552    the circle of obis,
2553Helping the llama or brahmin as he trims the lamps of the idols,
2554Dancing yet through the streets in a phallic procession, rapt and
2555    austere in the woods a gymnosophist,
2556Drinking mead from the skull-cap, to Shastas and Vedas admirant,
2557    minding the Koran,
2558Walking the teokallis, spotted with gore from the stone and knife,
2559    beating the serpent-skin drum,
2560Accepting the Gospels, accepting him that was crucified, knowing
2561    assuredly that he is divine,
2562To the mass kneeling or the puritan's prayer rising, or sitting
2563    patiently in a pew,
2564Ranting and frothing in my insane crisis, or waiting dead-like till
2565    my spirit arouses me,
2566Looking forth on pavement and land, or outside of pavement and land,
2567Belonging to the winders of the circuit of circuits.
2568
2569One of that centripetal and centrifugal gang I turn and talk like
2570    man leaving charges before a journey.
2571
2572Down-hearted doubters dull and excluded,
2573Frivolous, sullen, moping, angry, affected, dishearten'd, atheistical,
2574I know every one of you, I know the sea of torment, doubt, despair
2575    and unbelief.
2576
2577How the flukes splash!
2578How they contort rapid as lightning, with spasms and spouts of blood!
2579
2580Be at peace bloody flukes of doubters and sullen mopers,
2581I take my place among you as much as among any,
2582The past is the push of you, me, all, precisely the same,
2583And what is yet untried and afterward is for you, me, all, precisely
2584    the same.
2585
2586I do not know what is untried and afterward,
2587But I know it will in its turn prove sufficient, and cannot fail.
2588
2589Each who passes is consider'd, each who stops is consider'd, not
2590    single one can it fall.
2591
2592It cannot fall the young man who died and was buried,
2593Nor the young woman who died and was put by his side,
2594Nor the little child that peep'd in at the door, and then drew back
2595    and was never seen again,
2596Nor the old man who has lived without purpose, and feels it with
2597    bitterness worse than gall,
2598Nor him in the poor house tubercled by rum and the bad disorder,
2599Nor the numberless slaughter'd and wreck'd, nor the brutish koboo
2600    call'd the ordure of humanity,
2601Nor the sacs merely floating with open mouths for food to slip in,
2602Nor any thing in the earth, or down in the oldest graves of the earth,
2603Nor any thing in the myriads of spheres, nor the myriads of myriads
2604    that inhabit them,
2605Nor the present, nor the least wisp that is known.
2606
2607
2608It is time to explain myself--let us stand up.
2609
2610What is known I strip away,
2611I launch all men and women forward with me into the Unknown.
2612
2613The clock indicates the moment--but what does eternity indicate?
2614
2615We have thus far exhausted trillions of winters and summers,
2616There are trillions ahead, and trillions ahead of them.
2617
2618Births have brought us richness and variety,
2619And other births will bring us richness and variety.
2620
2621I do not call one greater and one smaller,
2622That which fills its period and place is equal to any.
2623
2624Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you, my brother, my sister?
2625I am sorry for you, they are not murderous or jealous upon me,
2626All has been gentle with me, I keep no account with lamentation,
2627(What have I to do with lamentation?)
2628
2629I am an acme of things accomplish'd, and I an encloser of things to be.
2630
2631My feet strike an apex of the apices of the stairs,
2632On every step bunches of ages, and larger bunches between the steps,
2633All below duly travel'd, and still I mount and mount.
2634
2635Rise after rise bow the phantoms behind me,
2636Afar down I see the huge first Nothing, I know I was even there,
2637I waited unseen and always, and slept through the lethargic mist,
2638And took my time, and took no hurt from the fetid carbon.
2639
2640Long I was hugg'd close--long and long.
2641
2642Immense have been the preparations for me,
2643Faithful and friendly the arms that have help'd me.
2644
2645Cycles ferried my cradle, rowing and rowing like cheerful boatmen,
2646For room to me stars kept aside in their own rings,
2647They sent influences to look after what was to hold me.
2648
2649Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me,
2650My embryo has never been torpid, nothing could overlay it.
2651
2652For it the nebula cohered to an orb,
2653The long slow strata piled to rest it on,
2654Vast vegetables gave it sustenance,
2655Monstrous sauroids transported it in their mouths and deposited it
2656    with care.
2657
2658All forces have been steadily employ'd to complete and delight me,
2659Now on this spot I stand with my robust soul.
2660
2661
2662
2663O span of youth! ever-push'd elasticity!
2664O manhood, balanced, florid and full.
2665
2666My lovers suffocate me,
2667Crowding my lips, thick in the pores of my skin,
2668Jostling me through streets and public halls, coming naked to me at night,
2669Crying by day, Ahoy! from the rocks of the river, swinging and
2670    chirping over my head,
2671Calling my name from flower-beds, vines, tangled underbrush,
2672Lighting on every moment of my life,
2673Bussing my body with soft balsamic busses,
2674Noiselessly passing handfuls out of their hearts and giving them to be mine.
2675
2676Old age superbly rising! O welcome, ineffable grace of dying days!
2677
2678Every condition promulges not only itself, it promulges what grows
2679    after and out of itself,
2680And the dark hush promulges as much as any.
2681
2682I open my scuttle at night and see the far-sprinkled systems,
2683And all I see multiplied as high as I can cipher edge but the rim of
2684    the farther systems.
2685
2686Wider and wider they spread, expanding, always expanding,
2687Outward and outward and forever outward.
2688
2689My sun has his sun and round him obediently wheels,
2690He joins with his partners a group of superior circuit,
2691And greater sets follow, making specks of the greatest inside them.
2692
2693There is no stoppage and never can be stoppage,
2694If I, you, and the worlds, and all beneath or upon their surfaces,
2695    were this moment reduced back to a pallid float, it would
2696    not avail the long run,
2697We should surely bring up again where we now stand,
2698And surely go as much farther, and then farther and farther.
2699
2700A few quadrillions of eras, a few octillions of cubic leagues, do
2701    not hazard the span or make it impatient,
2702They are but parts, any thing is but a part.
2703
2704See ever so far, there is limitless space outside of that,
2705Count ever so much, there is limitless time around that.
2706
2707My rendezvous is appointed, it is certain,
2708The Lord will be there and wait till I come on perfect terms,
2709The great Camerado, the lover true for whom I pine will be there.
2710
2711
2712I know I have the best of time and space, and was never measured and
2713    never will be measured.
2714
2715I tramp a perpetual journey, (come listen all!)
2716My signs are a rain-proof coat, good shoes, and a staff cut from the woods,
2717No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair,
2718I have no chair, no church, no philosophy,
2719I lead no man to a dinner-table, library, exchange,
2720But each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll,
2721My left hand hooking you round the waist,
2722My right hand pointing to landscapes of continents and the public road.
2723
2724Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you,
2725You must travel it for yourself.
2726
2727It is not far, it is within reach,
2728Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not know,
2729Perhaps it is everywhere on water and on land.
2730
2731Shoulder your duds dear son, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth,
2732Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go.
2733
2734If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the chuff of your hand
2735    on my hip,
2736And in due time you shall repay the same service to me,
2737For after we start we never lie by again.
2738
2739This day before dawn I ascended a hill and look'd at the crowded heaven,
2740And I said to my spirit When we become the enfolders of those orbs,
2741    and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we
2742    be fill'd and satisfied then?
2743And my spirit said No, we but level that lift to pass and continue beyond.
2744
2745You are also asking me questions and I hear you,
2746I answer that I cannot answer, you must find out for yourself.
2747
2748Sit a while dear son,
2749Here are biscuits to eat and here is milk to drink,
2750But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself in sweet clothes, I kiss you
2751    with a good-by kiss and open the gate for your egress hence.
2752
2753Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams,
2754Now I wash the gum from your eyes,
2755You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every
2756    moment of your life.
2757
2758Long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore,
2759Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
2760To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout,
2761    and laughingly dash with your hair.
2762
2763
2764I am the teacher of athletes,
2765He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own proves the width of my own,
2766He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.
2767
2768The boy I love, the same becomes a man not through derived power,
2769    but in his own right,
2770Wicked rather than virtuous out of conformity or fear,
2771Fond of his sweetheart, relishing well his steak,
2772Unrequited love or a slight cutting him worse than sharp steel cuts,
2773First-rate to ride, to fight, to hit the bull's eye, to sail a
2774    skiff, to sing a song or play on the banjo,
2775Preferring scars and the beard and faces pitted with small-pox over
2776    all latherers,
2777And those well-tann'd to those that keep out of the sun.
2778
2779I teach straying from me, yet who can stray from me?
2780I follow you whoever you are from the present hour,
2781My words itch at your ears till you understand them.
2782
2783I do not say these things for a dollar or to fill up the time while
2784    I wait for a boat,
2785(It is you talking just as much as myself, I act as the tongue of you,
2786Tied in your mouth, in mine it begins to be loosen'd.)
2787
2788I swear I will never again mention love or death inside a house,
2789And I swear I will never translate myself at all, only to him or her
2790    who privately stays with me in the open air.
2791
2792If you would understand me go to the heights or water-shore,
2793The nearest gnat is an explanation, and a drop or motion of waves key,
2794The maul, the oar, the hand-saw, second my words.
2795
2796No shutter'd room or school can commune with me,
2797But roughs and little children better than they.
2798
2799The young mechanic is closest to me, he knows me well,
2800The woodman that takes his axe and jug with him shall take me with
2801    him all day,
2802The farm-boy ploughing in the field feels good at the sound of my voice,
2803In vessels that sail my words sail, I go with fishermen and seamen
2804    and love them.
2805
2806The soldier camp'd or upon the march is mine,
2807On the night ere the pending battle many seek me, and I do not fail them,
2808On that solemn night (it may be their last) those that know me seek me.
2809My face rubs to the hunter's face when he lies down alone in his blanket,
2810The driver thinking of me does not mind the jolt of his wagon,
2811The young mother and old mother comprehend me,
2812The girl and the wife rest the needle a moment and forget where they are,
2813They and all would resume what I have told them.
2814
2815
2816I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
2817And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,
2818And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's self is,
2819And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own
2820    funeral drest in his shroud,
2821And I or you pocketless of a dime may purchase the pick of the earth,
2822And to glance with an eye or show a bean in its pod confounds the
2823    learning of all times,
2824And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it
2825    may become a hero,
2826And there is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheel'd universe,
2827And I say to any man or woman, Let your soul stand cool and composed
2828    before a million universes.
2829
2830And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God,
2831For I who am curious about each am not curious about God,
2832(No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and
2833    about death.)
2834
2835I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,
2836Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.
2837
2838Why should I wish to see God better than this day?
2839I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,
2840In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,
2841I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is sign'd
2842    by God's name,
2843And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoe'er I go,
2844Others will punctually come for ever and ever.
2845
2846
2847And as to you Death, and you bitter hug of mortality, it is idle to
2848    try to alarm me.
2849
2850To his work without flinching the accoucheur comes,
2851I see the elder-hand pressing receiving supporting,
2852I recline by the sills of the exquisite flexible doors,
2853And mark the outlet, and mark the relief and escape.
2854
2855And as to you Corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not
2856    offend me,
2857I smell the white roses sweet-scented and growing,
2858I reach to the leafy lips, I reach to the polish'd breasts of melons.
2859
2860And as to you Life I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,
2861(No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.)
2862
2863I hear you whispering there O stars of heaven,
2864O suns--O grass of graves--O perpetual transfers and promotions,
2865If you do not say any thing how can I say any thing?
2866
2867Of the turbid pool that lies in the autumn forest,
2868Of the moon that descends the steeps of the soughing twilight,
2869Toss, sparkles of day and dusk--toss on the black stems that decay
2870    in the muck,
2871Toss to the moaning gibberish of the dry limbs.
2872
2873I ascend from the moon, I ascend from the night,
2874I perceive that the ghastly glimmer is noonday sunbeams reflected,
2875And debouch to the steady and central from the offspring great or small.
2876
2877
2878There is that in me--I do not know what it is--but I know it is in me.
2879
2880Wrench'd and sweaty--calm and cool then my body becomes,
2881I sleep--I sleep long.
2882
2883I do not know it--it is without name--it is a word unsaid,
2884It is not in any dictionary, utterance, symbol.
2885
2886Something it swings on more than the earth I swing on,
2887To it the creation is the friend whose embracing awakes me.
2888
2889Perhaps I might tell more. Outlines! I plead for my brothers and sisters.
2890
2891Do you see O my brothers and sisters?
2892It is not chaos or death--it is form, union, plan--it is eternal
2893    life--it is Happiness.
2894
2895
2896The past and present wilt--I have fill'd them, emptied them.
2897And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.
2898
2899Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
2900Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
2901(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)
2902
2903Do I contradict myself?
2904Very well then I contradict myself,
2905(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
2906
2907I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.
2908
2909Who has done his day's work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
2910Who wishes to walk with me?
2911
2912Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too late?
2913
2914
2915The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab
2916    and my loitering.
2917
2918I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
2919I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
2920
2921The last scud of day holds back for me,
2922It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds,
2923It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.
2924
2925I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
2926I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
2927
2928I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
2929If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
2930
2931You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
2932But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
2933And filter and fibre your blood.
2934
2935Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
2936Missing me one place search another,
2937I stop somewhere waiting for you.
2938
2939
2940
2941
2942
2943To the garden the world anew ascending,
2944Potent mates, daughters, sons, preluding,
2945The love, the life of their bodies, meaning and being,
2946Curious here behold my resurrection after slumber,
2947The revolving cycles in their wide sweep having brought me again,
2948Amorous, mature, all beautiful to me, all wondrous,
2949My limbs and the quivering fire that ever plays through them, for
2950    reasons, most wondrous,
2951Existing I peer and penetrate still,
2952Content with the present, content with the past,
2953By my side or back of me Eve following,
2954Or in front, and I following her just the same.
2955
2956
2957
2958
2959From pent-up aching rivers,
2960From that of myself without which I were nothing,
2961From what I am determin'd to make illustrious, even if I stand sole
2962    among men,
2963From my own voice resonant, singing the phallus,
2964Singing the song of procreation,
2965Singing the need of superb children and therein superb grown people,
2966Singing the muscular urge and the blending,
2967Singing the bedfellow's song, (O resistless yearning!
2968O for any and each the body correlative attracting!
2969O for you whoever you are your correlative body! O it, more than all
2970    else, you delighting!)
2971From the hungry gnaw that eats me night and day,
2972From native moments, from bashful pains, singing them,
2973Seeking something yet unfound though I have diligently sought it
2974    many a long year,
2975Singing the true song of the soul fitful at random,
2976Renascent with grossest Nature or among animals,
2977Of that, of them and what goes with them my poems informing,
2978Of the smell of apples and lemons, of the pairing of birds,
2979Of the wet of woods, of the lapping of waves,
2980Of the mad pushes of waves upon the land, I them chanting,
2981The overture lightly sounding, the strain anticipating,
2982The welcome nearness, the sight of the perfect body,
2983The swimmer swimming naked in the bath, or motionless on his back
2984    lying and floating,
2985The female form approaching, I pensive, love-flesh tremulous aching,
2986The divine list for myself or you or for any one making,
2987The face, the limbs, the index from head to foot, and what it arouses,
2988The mystic deliria, the madness amorous, the utter abandonment,
2989(Hark close and still what I now whisper to you,
2990I love you, O you entirely possess me,
2991O that you and I escape from the rest and go utterly off, free and lawless,
2992Two hawks in the air, two fishes swimming in the sea not more
2993    lawless than we;)
2994The furious storm through me careering, I passionately trembling.
2995The oath of the inseparableness of two together, of the woman that
2996    loves me and whom I love more than my life, that oath swearing,
2997(O I willingly stake all for you,
2998O let me be lost if it must be so!
2999O you and I! what is it to us what the rest do or think?
3000What is all else to us? only that we enjoy each other and exhaust
3001    each other if it must be so;)
3002From the master, the pilot I yield the vessel to,
3003The general commanding me, commanding all, from him permission taking,
3004From time the programme hastening, (I have loiter'd too long as it is,)
3005From sex, from the warp and from the woof,
3006From privacy, from frequent repinings alone,
3007From plenty of persons near and yet the right person not near,
3008From the soft sliding of hands over me and thrusting of fingers
3009    through my hair and beard,
3010From the long sustain'd kiss upon the mouth or bosom,
3011From the close pressure that makes me or any man drunk, fainting
3012    with excess,
3013From what the divine husband knows, from the work of fatherhood,
3014From exultation, victory and relief, from the bedfellow's embrace in
3015    the night,
3016From the act-poems of eyes, hands, hips and bosoms,
3017From the cling of the trembling arm,
3018From the bending curve and the clinch,
3019From side by side the pliant coverlet off-throwing,
3020From the one so unwilling to have me leave, and me just as unwilling
3021    to leave,
3022(Yet a moment O tender waiter, and I return,)
3023From the hour of shining stars and dropping dews,
3024From the night a moment I emerging flitting out,
3025Celebrate you act divine and you children prepared for,
3026And you stalwart loins.
3027
3028
3029
3030
3031
3032I sing the body electric,
3033The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them,
3034They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
3035And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.
3036
3037Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
3038And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
3039And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul?
3040And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?
3041
3042
3043The love of the body of man or woman balks account, the body itself
3044    balks account,
3045That of the male is perfect, and that of the female is perfect.
3046
3047The expression of the face balks account,
3048But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face,
3049It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of
3050    his hips and wrists,
3051It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist
3052    and knees, dress does not hide him,
3053The strong sweet quality he has strikes through the cotton and broadcloth,
3054To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more,
3055You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side.
3056
3057The sprawl and fulness of babes, the bosoms and heads of women, the
3058    folds of their dress, their style as we pass in the street, the
3059    contour of their shape downwards,
3060The swimmer naked in the swimming-bath, seen as he swims through
3061    the transparent green-shine, or lies with his face up and rolls
3062    silently to and from the heave of the water,
3063The bending forward and backward of rowers in row-boats, the
3064    horse-man in his saddle,
3065Girls, mothers, house-keepers, in all their performances,
3066The group of laborers seated at noon-time with their open
3067    dinner-kettles, and their wives waiting,
3068The female soothing a child, the farmer's daughter in the garden or
3069    cow-yard,
3070The young fellow hosing corn, the sleigh-driver driving his six
3071    horses through the crowd,
3072The wrestle of wrestlers, two apprentice-boys, quite grown, lusty,
3073    good-natured, native-born, out on the vacant lot at sundown after work,
3074The coats and caps thrown down, the embrace of love and resistance,
3075The upper-hold and under-hold, the hair rumpled over and blinding the eyes;
3076The march of firemen in their own costumes, the play of masculine
3077    muscle through clean-setting trowsers and waist-straps,
3078The slow return from the fire, the pause when the bell strikes
3079    suddenly again, and the listening on the alert,
3080The natural, perfect, varied attitudes, the bent head, the curv'd
3081    neck and the counting;
3082Such-like I love--I loosen myself, pass freely, am at the mother's
3083    breast with the little child,
3084Swim with the swimmers, wrestle with wrestlers, march in line with
3085    the firemen, and pause, listen, count.
3086
3087
3088I knew a man, a common farmer, the father of five sons,
3089And in them the fathers of sons, and in them the fathers of sons.
3090
3091This man was a wonderful vigor, calmness, beauty of person,
3092The shape of his head, the pale yellow and white of his hair and
3093    beard, the immeasurable meaning of his black eyes, the richness
3094    and breadth of his manners,
3095These I used to go and visit him to see, he was wise also,
3096He was six feet tall, he was over eighty years old, his sons were
3097    massive, clean, bearded, tan-faced, handsome,
3098They and his daughters loved him, all who saw him loved him,
3099They did not love him by allowance, they loved him with personal love,
3100He drank water only, the blood show'd like scarlet through the
3101    clear-brown skin of his face,
3102He was a frequent gunner and fisher, he sail'd his boat himself, he
3103    had a fine one presented to him by a ship-joiner, he had
3104    fowling-pieces presented to him by men that loved him,
3105When he went with his five sons and many grand-sons to hunt or fish,
3106    you would pick him out as the most beautiful and vigorous of the gang,
3107You would wish long and long to be with him, you would wish to sit
3108    by him in the boat that you and he might touch each other.
3109
3110
3111I have perceiv'd that to be with those I like is enough,
3112To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
3113To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,
3114To pass among them or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly
3115    round his or her neck for a moment, what is this then?
3116I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as in a sea.
3117
3118There is something in staying close to men and women and looking
3119    on them, and in the contact and odor of them, that pleases the soul well,
3120All things please the soul, but these please the soul well.
3121
3122
3123This is the female form,
3124A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot,
3125It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction,
3126I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor,
3127    all falls aside but myself and it,
3128Books, art, religion, time, the visible and solid earth, and what
3129    was expected of heaven or fear'd of hell, are now consumed,
3130Mad filaments, ungovernable shoots play out of it, the response
3131    likewise ungovernable,
3132Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, negligent falling hands all
3133    diffused, mine too diffused,
3134Ebb stung by the flow and flow stung by the ebb, love-flesh swelling
3135    and deliciously aching,
3136Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous, quivering jelly of
3137    love, white-blow and delirious nice,
3138Bridegroom night of love working surely and softly into the prostrate dawn,
3139Undulating into the willing and yielding day,
3140Lost in the cleave of the clasping and sweet-flesh'd day.
3141
3142This the nucleus--after the child is born of woman, man is born of woman,
3143This the bath of birth, this the merge of small and large, and the
3144    outlet again.
3145
3146Be not ashamed women, your privilege encloses the rest, and is the
3147    exit of the rest,
3148You are the gates of the body, and you are the gates of the soul.
3149
3150The female contains all qualities and tempers them,
3151She is in her place and moves with perfect balance,
3152She is all things duly veil'd, she is both passive and active,
3153She is to conceive daughters as well as sons, and sons as well as daughters.
3154
3155As I see my soul reflected in Nature,
3156As I see through a mist, One with inexpressible completeness,
3157    sanity, beauty,
3158See the bent head and arms folded over the breast, the Female I see.
3159
3160
3161The male is not less the soul nor more, he too is in his place,
3162He too is all qualities, he is action and power,
3163The flush of the known universe is in him,
3164Scorn becomes him well, and appetite and defiance become him well,
3165The wildest largest passions, bliss that is utmost, sorrow that is
3166    utmost become him well, pride is for him,
3167The full-spread pride of man is calming and excellent to the soul,
3168Knowledge becomes him, he likes it always, he brings every thing to
3169    the test of himself,
3170Whatever the survey, whatever the sea and the sail he strikes
3171    soundings at last only here,
3172(Where else does he strike soundings except here?)
3173
3174The man's body is sacred and the woman's body is sacred,
3175No matter who it is, it is sacred--is it the meanest one in the
3176    laborers' gang?
3177Is it one of the dull-faced immigrants just landed on the wharf?
3178Each belongs here or anywhere just as much as the well-off, just as
3179    much as you,
3180Each has his or her place in the procession.
3181
3182(All is a procession,
3183The universe is a procession with measured and perfect motion.)
3184
3185Do you know so much yourself that you call the meanest ignorant?
3186Do you suppose you have a right to a good sight, and he or she has
3187    no right to a sight?
3188Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffuse float, and
3189    the soil is on the surface, and water runs and vegetation sprouts,
3190For you only, and not for him and her?
3191
3192
3193A man's body at auction,
3194(For before the war I often go to the slave-mart and watch the sale,)
3195I help the auctioneer, the sloven does not half know his business.
3196
3197Gentlemen look on this wonder,
3198Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for it,
3199For it the globe lay preparing quintillions of years without one
3200    animal or plant,
3201For it the revolving cycles truly and steadily roll'd.
3202
3203In this head the all-baffling brain,
3204In it and below it the makings of heroes.
3205
3206Examine these limbs, red, black, or white, they are cunning in
3207    tendon and nerve,
3208They shall be stript that you may see them.
3209
3210Exquisite senses, life-lit eyes, pluck, volition,
3211Flakes of breast-muscle, pliant backbone and neck, flesh not flabby,
3212    good-sized arms and legs,
3213And wonders within there yet.
3214
3215Within there runs blood,
3216The same old blood! the same red-running blood!
3217There swells and jets a heart, there all passions, desires,
3218    reachings, aspirations,
3219(Do you think they are not there because they are not express'd in
3220    parlors and lecture-rooms?)
3221
3222This is not only one man, this the father of those who shall be
3223    fathers in their turns,
3224In him the start of populous states and rich republics,
3225Of him countless immortal lives with countless embodiments and enjoyments.
3226
3227How do you know who shall come from the offspring of his offspring
3228    through the centuries?
3229(Who might you find you have come from yourself, if you could trace
3230    back through the centuries?)
3231
3232
3233A woman's body at auction,
3234She too is not only herself, she is the teeming mother of mothers,
3235She is the bearer of them that shall grow and be mates to the mothers.
3236
3237Have you ever loved the body of a woman?
3238Have you ever loved the body of a man?
3239Do you not see that these are exactly the same to all in all nations
3240    and times all over the earth?
3241
3242If any thing is sacred the human body is sacred,
3243And the glory and sweet of a man is the token of manhood untainted,
3244And in man or woman a clean, strong, firm-fibred body, is more
3245    beautiful than the most beautiful face.
3246
3247Have you seen the fool that corrupted his own live body? or the fool
3248    that corrupted her own live body?
3249For they do not conceal themselves, and cannot conceal themselves.
3250
3251
3252O my body! I dare not desert the likes of you in other men and
3253    women, nor the likes of the parts of you,
3254I believe the likes of you are to stand or fall with the likes of
3255    the soul, (and that they are the soul,)
3256I believe the likes of you shall stand or fall with my poems, and
3257    that they are my poems,
3258Man's, woman's, child, youth's, wife's, husband's, mother's,
3259    father's, young man's, young woman's poems,
3260Head, neck, hair, ears, drop and tympan of the ears,
3261Eyes, eye-fringes, iris of the eye, eyebrows, and the waking or
3262    sleeping of the lids,
3263Mouth, tongue, lips, teeth, roof of the mouth, jaws, and the jaw-hinges,
3264Nose, nostrils of the nose, and the partition,
3265Cheeks, temples, forehead, chin, throat, back of the neck, neck-slue,
3266Strong shoulders, manly beard, scapula, hind-shoulders, and the
3267    ample side-round of the chest,
3268Upper-arm, armpit, elbow-socket, lower-arm, arm-sinews, arm-bones,
3269Wrist and wrist-joints, hand, palm, knuckles, thumb, forefinger,
3270    finger-joints, finger-nails,
3271Broad breast-front, curling hair of the breast, breast-bone, breast-side,
3272Ribs, belly, backbone, joints of the backbone,
3273Hips, hip-sockets, hip-strength, inward and outward round,
3274    man-balls, man-root,
3275Strong set of thighs, well carrying the trunk above,
3276Leg-fibres, knee, knee-pan, upper-leg, under-leg,
3277Ankles, instep, foot-ball, toes, toe-joints, the heel;
3278All attitudes, all the shapeliness, all the belongings of my or your
3279    body or of any one's body, male or female,
3280The lung-sponges, the stomach-sac, the bowels sweet and clean,
3281The brain in its folds inside the skull-frame,
3282Sympathies, heart-valves, palate-valves, sexuality, maternity,
3283Womanhood, and all that is a woman, and the man that comes from woman,
3284The womb, the teats, nipples, breast-milk, tears, laughter, weeping,
3285    love-looks, love-perturbations and risings,
3286The voice, articulation, language, whispering, shouting aloud,
3287Food, drink, pulse, digestion, sweat, sleep, walking, swimming,
3288Poise on the hips, leaping, reclining, embracing, arm-curving and tightening,
3289The continual changes of the flex of the mouth, and around the eyes,
3290The skin, the sunburnt shade, freckles, hair,
3291The curious sympathy one feels when feeling with the hand the naked
3292    meat of the body,
3293The circling rivers the breath, and breathing it in and out,
3294The beauty of the waist, and thence of the hips, and thence downward
3295    toward the knees,
3296The thin red jellies within you or within me, the bones and the
3297    marrow in the bones,
3298The exquisite realization of health;
3299O I say these are not the parts and poems of the body only, but of the soul,
3300O I say now these are the soul!
3301
3302
3303
3304
3305A woman waits for me, she contains all, nothing is lacking,
3306Yet all were lacking if sex were lacking, or if the moisture of the
3307    right man were lacking.
3308
3309Sex contains all, bodies, souls,
3310Meanings, proofs, purities, delicacies, results, promulgations,
3311Songs, commands, health, pride, the maternal mystery, the seminal milk,
3312All hopes, benefactions, bestowals, all the passions, loves,
3313    beauties, delights of the earth,
3314All the governments, judges, gods, follow'd persons of the earth,
3315These are contain'd in sex as parts of itself and justifications of itself.
3316
3317Without shame the man I like knows and avows the deliciousness of his sex,
3318Without shame the woman I like knows and avows hers.
3319
3320Now I will dismiss myself from impassive women,
3321I will go stay with her who waits for me, and with those women that
3322    are warm-blooded and sufficient for me,
3323I see that they understand me and do not deny me,
3324I see that they are worthy of me, I will be the robust husband of
3325    those women.
3326
3327They are not one jot less than I am,
3328They are tann'd in the face by shining suns and blowing winds,
3329Their flesh has the old divine suppleness and strength,
3330They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle, shoot, run, strike,
3331    retreat, advance, resist, defend themselves,
3332They are ultimate in their own right--they are calm, clear,
3333    well-possess'd of themselves.
3334
3335I draw you close to me, you women,
3336I cannot let you go, I would do you good,
3337I am for you, and you are for me, not only for our own sake, but for
3338    others' sakes,
3339Envelop'd in you sleep greater heroes and bards,
3340They refuse to awake at the touch of any man but me.
3341
3342It is I, you women, I make my way,
3343I am stern, acrid, large, undissuadable, but I love you,
3344I do not hurt you any more than is necessary for you,
3345I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters fit for these States, I
3346    press with slow rude muscle,
3347I brace myself effectually, I listen to no entreaties,
3348I dare not withdraw till I deposit what has so long accumulated within me.
3349
3350Through you I drain the pent-up rivers of myself,
3351In you I wrap a thousand onward years,
3352On you I graft the grafts of the best-beloved of me and America,
3353The drops I distil upon you shall grow fierce and athletic girls,
3354    new artists, musicians, and singers,
3355The babes I beget upon you are to beget babes in their turn,
3356I shall demand perfect men and women out of my love-spendings,
3357I shall expect them to interpenetrate with others, as I and you
3358    inter-penetrate now,
3359I shall count on the fruits of the gushing showers of them, as I
3360    count on the fruits of the gushing showers I give now,
3361I shall look for loving crops from the birth, life, death,
3362    immortality, I plant so lovingly now.
3363
3364
3365
3366
3367Spontaneous me, Nature,
3368The loving day, the mounting sun, the friend I am happy with,
3369The arm of my friend hanging idly over my shoulder,
3370The hillside whiten'd with blossoms of the mountain ash,
3371The same late in autumn, the hues of red, yellow, drab, purple, and
3372    light and dark green,
3373The rich coverlet of the grass, animals and birds, the private
3374    untrimm'd bank, the primitive apples, the pebble-stones,
3375Beautiful dripping fragments, the negligent list of one after
3376    another as I happen to call them to me or think of them,
3377The real poems, (what we call poems being merely pictures,)
3378The poems of the privacy of the night, and of men like me,
3379This poem drooping shy and unseen that I always carry, and that all
3380    men carry,
3381(Know once for all, avow'd on purpose, wherever are men like me, are
3382    our lusty lurking masculine poems,)
3383Love-thoughts, love-juice, love-odor, love-yielding, love-climbers,
3384    and the climbing sap,
3385Arms and hands of love, lips of love, phallic thumb of love, breasts
3386    of love, bellies press'd and glued together with love,
3387Earth of chaste love, life that is only life after love,
3388The body of my love, the body of the woman I love, the body of the
3389    man, the body of the earth,
3390Soft forenoon airs that blow from the south-west,
3391The hairy wild-bee that murmurs and hankers up and down, that gripes the
3392    full-grown lady-flower, curves upon her with amorous firm legs, takes
3393    his will of her, and holds himself tremulous and tight till he is
3394    satisfied;
3395The wet of woods through the early hours,
3396Two sleepers at night lying close together as they sleep, one with
3397    an arm slanting down across and below the waist of the other,
3398The smell of apples, aromas from crush'd sage-plant, mint, birch-bark,
3399The boy's longings, the glow and pressure as he confides to me what
3400    he was dreaming,
3401The dead leaf whirling its spiral whirl and falling still and
3402    content to the ground,
3403The no-form'd stings that sights, people, objects, sting me with,
3404The hubb'd sting of myself, stinging me as much as it ever can any
3405    one,
3406The sensitive, orbic, underlapp'd brothers, that only privileged
3407    feelers may be intimate where they are,
3408The curious roamer the hand roaming all over the body, the bashful
3409    withdrawing of flesh where the fingers soothingly pause and
3410    edge themselves,
3411The limpid liquid within the young man,
3412The vex'd corrosion so pensive and so painful,
3413The torment, the irritable tide that will not be at rest,
3414The like of the same I feel, the like of the same in others,
3415The young man that flushes and flushes, and the young woman that
3416    flushes and flushes,
3417The young man that wakes deep at night, the hot hand seeking to
3418    repress what would master him,
3419The mystic amorous night, the strange half-welcome pangs, visions, sweats,
3420The pulse pounding through palms and trembling encircling fingers,
3421    the young man all color'd, red, ashamed, angry;
3422The souse upon me of my lover the sea, as I lie willing and naked,
3423The merriment of the twin babes that crawl over the grass in the
3424    sun, the mother never turning her vigilant eyes from them,
3425The walnut-trunk, the walnut-husks, and the ripening or ripen'd
3426    long-round walnuts,
3427The continence of vegetables, birds, animals,
3428The consequent meanness of me should I skulk or find myself indecent,
3429    while birds and animals never once skulk or find themselves indecent,
3430The great chastity of paternity, to match the great chastity of maternity,
3431The oath of procreation I have sworn, my Adamic and fresh daughters,
3432The greed that eats me day and night with hungry gnaw, till I saturate
3433    what shall produce boys to fill my place when I am through,
3434The wholesome relief, repose, content,
3435And this bunch pluck'd at random from myself,
3436It has done its work--I toss it carelessly to fall where it may.
3437
3438
3439
3440
3441One hour to madness and joy! O furious! O confine me not!
3442(What is this that frees me so in storms?
3443What do my shouts amid lightnings and raging winds mean?)
3444O to drink the mystic deliria deeper than any other man!
3445O savage and tender achings! (I bequeath them to you my children,
3446I tell them to you, for reasons, O bridegroom and bride.)
3447
3448O to be yielded to you whoever you are, and you to be yielded to me
3449    in defiance of the world!
3450O to return to Paradise! O bashful and feminine!
3451O to draw you to me, to plant on you for the first time the lips of
3452    a determin'd man.
3453
3454O the puzzle, the thrice-tied knot, the deep and dark pool, all
3455    untied and illumin'd!
3456O to speed where there is space enough and air enough at last!
3457To be absolv'd from previous ties and conventions, I from mine and
3458    you from yours!
3459To find a new unthought-of nonchalance with the best of Nature!
3460To have the gag remov'd from one's mouth!
3461To have the feeling to-day or any day I am sufficient as I am.
3462
3463O something unprov'd! something in a trance!
3464To escape utterly from others' anchors and holds!
3465To drive free! to love free! to dash reckless and dangerous!
3466To court destruction with taunts, with invitations!
3467To ascend, to leap to the heavens of the love indicated to me!
3468To rise thither with my inebriate soul!
3469To be lost if it must be so!
3470To feed the remainder of life with one hour of fulness and freedom!
3471With one brief hour of madness and joy.
3472
3473
3474
3475
3476Out of the rolling ocean the crowd came a drop gently to me,
3477Whispering I love you, before long I die,
3478I have travel'd a long way merely to look on you to touch you,
3479For I could not die till I once look'd on you,
3480For I fear'd I might afterward lose you.
3481
3482Now we have met, we have look'd, we are safe,
3483Return in peace to the ocean my love,
3484I too am part of that ocean my love, we are not so much separated,
3485Behold the great rondure, the cohesion of all, how perfect!
3486But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate us,
3487As for an hour carrying us diverse, yet cannot carry us diverse forever;
3488Be not impatient--a little space--know you I salute the air, the
3489    ocean and the land,
3490Every day at sundown for your dear sake my love.
3491
3492
3493
3494
3495Ages and ages returning at intervals,
3496Undestroy'd, wandering immortal,
3497Lusty, phallic, with the potent original loins, perfectly sweet,
3498I, chanter of Adamic songs,
3499Through the new garden the West, the great cities calling,
3500Deliriate, thus prelude what is generated, offering these, offering myself,
3501Bathing myself, bathing my songs in Sex,
3502Offspring of my loins.
3503
3504
3505
3506
3507We two, how long we were fool'd,
3508Now transmuted, we swiftly escape as Nature escapes,
3509We are Nature, long have we been absent, but now we return,
3510We become plants, trunks, foliage, roots, bark,
3511We are bedded in the ground, we are rocks,
3512We are oaks, we grow in the openings side by side,
3513We browse, we are two among the wild herds spontaneous as any,
3514We are two fishes swimming in the sea together,
3515We are what locust blossoms are, we drop scent around lanes mornings
3516    and evenings,
3517We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals,
3518We are two predatory hawks, we soar above and look down,
3519We are two resplendent suns, we it is who balance ourselves orbic
3520    and stellar, we are as two comets,
3521We prowl fang'd and four-footed in the woods, we spring on prey,
3522We are two clouds forenoons and afternoons driving overhead,
3523We are seas mingling, we are two of those cheerful waves rolling
3524    over each other and interwetting each other,
3525We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious, impervious,
3526We are snow, rain, cold, darkness, we are each product and influence
3527    of the globe,
3528We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again, we two,
3529We have voided all but freedom and all but our own joy.
3530
3531
3532
3533
3534O hymen! O hymenee! why do you tantalize me thus?
3535O why sting me for a swift moment only?
3536Why can you not continue? O why do you now cease?
3537Is it because if you continued beyond the swift moment you would
3538    soon certainly kill me?
3539
3540
3541
3542
3543I am he that aches with amorous love;
3544Does the earth gravitate? does not all matter, aching, attract all matter?
3545So the body of me to all I meet or know.
3546
3547
3548
3549
3550Native moments--when you come upon me--ah you are here now,
3551Give me now libidinous joys only,
3552Give me the drench of my passions, give me life coarse and rank,
3553To-day I go consort with Nature's darlings, to-night too,
3554I am for those who believe in loose delights, I share the midnight
3555    orgies of young men,
3556I dance with the dancers and drink with the drinkers,
3557The echoes ring with our indecent calls, I pick out some low person
3558    for my dearest friend,
3559He shall be lawless, rude, illiterate, he shall be one condemn'd by
3560    others for deeds done,
3561I will play a part no longer, why should I exile myself from my companions?
3562O you shunn'd persons, I at least do not shun you,
3563I come forthwith in your midst, I will be your poet,
3564I will be more to you than to any of the rest.
3565
3566
3567
3568
3569Once I pass'd through a populous city imprinting my brain for future
3570    use with its shows, architecture, customs, traditions,
3571Yet now of all that city I remember only a woman I casually met
3572    there who detain'd me for love of me,
3573Day by day and night by night we were together--all else has long
3574    been forgotten by me,
3575I remember I say only that woman who passionately clung to me,
3576Again we wander, we love, we separate again,
3577Again she holds me by the hand, I must not go,
3578I see her close beside me with silent lips sad and tremulous.
3579
3580
3581
3582
3583I heard you solemn-sweet pipes of the organ as last Sunday morn I
3584    pass'd the church,
3585Winds of autumn, as I walk'd the woods at dusk I heard your long-
3586    stretch'd sighs up above so mournful,
3587I heard the perfect Italian tenor singing at the opera, I heard the
3588    soprano in the midst of the quartet singing;
3589Heart of my love! you too I heard murmuring low through one of the
3590    wrists around my head,
3591Heard the pulse of you when all was still ringing little bells last
3592    night under my ear.
3593
3594
3595
3596
3597Facing west from California's shores,
3598Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,
3599I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity,
3600    the land of migrations, look afar,
3601Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled;
3602For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,
3603From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero,
3604From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands,
3605Long having wander'd since, round the earth having wander'd,
3606Now I face home again, very pleas'd and joyous,
3607(But where is what I started for so long ago?
3608And why is it yet unfound?)
3609
3610
3611
3612
3613As Adam early in the morning,
3614Walking forth from the bower refresh'd with sleep,
3615Behold me where I pass, hear my voice, approach,
3616Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass,
3617Be not afraid of my body.
3618
3619
3620
3621
3622
3623In paths untrodden,
3624In the growth by margins of pond-waters,
3625Escaped from the lite that exhibits itself,
3626From all the standards hitherto publish'd, from the pleasures,
3627    profits, conformities,
3628Which too long I was offering to feed my soul,
3629Clear to me now standards not yet publish'd, clear to me that my soul,
3630That the soul of the man I speak for rejoices in comrades,
3631Here by myself away from the clank of the world,
3632Tallying and talk'd to here by tongues aromatic,
3633No longer abash'd, (for in this secluded spot I can respond as I
3634    would not dare elsewhere,)
3635Strong upon me the life that does not exhibit itself, yet contains
3636    all the rest,
3637Resolv'd to sing no songs to-day but those of manly attachment,
3638Projecting them along that substantial life,
3639Bequeathing hence types of athletic love,
3640Afternoon this delicious Ninth-month in my forty-first year,
3641I proceed for all who are or have been young men,
3642To tell the secret my nights and days,
3643To celebrate the need of comrades.
3644
3645
3646
3647
3648Scented herbage of my breast,
3649Leaves from you I glean, I write, to be perused best afterwards,
3650Tomb-leaves, body-leaves growing up above me above death,
3651Perennial roots, tall leaves, O the winter shall not freeze you
3652    delicate leaves,
3653Every year shall you bloom again, out from where you retired you
3654    shall emerge again;
3655O I do not know whether many passing by will discover you or inhale
3656    your faint odor, but I believe a few will;
3657O slender leaves! O blossoms of my blood! I permit you to tell in
3658    your own way of the heart that is under you,
3659O I do not know what you mean there underneath yourselves, you are
3660    not happiness,
3661You are often more bitter than I can bear, you burn and sting me,
3662Yet you are beautiful to me you faint tinged roots, you make me
3663    think of death,
3664Death is beautiful from you, (what indeed is finally beautiful
3665    except death and love?)
3666O I think it is not for life I am chanting here my chant of lovers,
3667    I think it must be for death,
3668For how calm, how solemn it grows to ascend to the atmosphere of lovers,
3669Death or life I am then indifferent, my soul declines to prefer,
3670(I am not sure but the high soul of lovers welcomes death most,)
3671Indeed O death, I think now these leaves mean precisely the same as
3672    you mean,
3673Grow up taller sweet leaves that I may see! grow up out of my breast!
3674Spring away from the conceal'd heart there!
3675Do not fold yourself so in your pink-tinged roots timid leaves!
3676Do not remain down there so ashamed, herbage of my breast!
3677Come I am determin'd to unbare this broad breast of mine, I have
3678    long enough stifled and choked;
3679Emblematic and capricious blades I leave you, now you serve me not,
3680I will say what I have to say by itself,
3681I will sound myself and comrades only, I will never again utter a
3682    call only their call,
3683I will raise with it immortal reverberations through the States,
3684I will give an example to lovers to take permanent shape and will
3685    through the States,
3686Through me shall the words be said to make death exhilarating,
3687Give me your tone therefore O death, that I may accord with it,
3688Give me yourself, for I see that you belong to me now above all, and
3689    are folded inseparably together, you love and death are,
3690Nor will I allow you to balk me any more with what I was calling life,
3691For now it is convey'd to me that you are the purports essential,
3692That you hide in these shifting forms of life, for reasons, and that
3693    they are mainly for you,
3694That you beyond them come forth to remain, the real reality,
3695That behind the mask of materials you patiently wait, no matter how long,
3696That you will one day perhaps take control of all,
3697That you will perhaps dissipate this entire show of appearance,
3698That may-be you are what it is all for, but it does not last so very long,
3699But you will last very long.
3700
3701
3702
3703
3704Whoever you are holding me now in hand,
3705Without one thing all will be useless,
3706I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,
3707I am not what you supposed, but far different.
3708
3709Who is he that would become my follower?
3710Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections?
3711
3712The way is suspicious, the result uncertain, perhaps destructive,
3713You would have to give up all else, I alone would expect to be your
3714    sole and exclusive standard,
3715Your novitiate would even then be long and exhausting,
3716The whole past theory of your life and all conformity to the lives
3717    around you would have to be abandon'd,
3718Therefore release me now before troubling yourself any further, let
3719    go your hand from my shoulders,
3720Put me down and depart on your way.
3721
3722Or else by stealth in some wood for trial,
3723Or back of a rock in the open air,
3724(For in any roof'd room of a house I emerge not, nor in company,
3725And in libraries I lie as one dumb, a gawk, or unborn, or dead,)
3726But just possibly with you on a high hill, first watching lest any
3727    person for miles around approach unawares,
3728Or possibly with you sailing at sea, or on the beach of the sea or
3729    some quiet island,
3730Here to put your lips upon mine I permit you,
3731With the comrade's long-dwelling kiss or the new husband's kiss,
3732For I am the new husband and I am the comrade.
3733
3734Or if you will, thrusting me beneath your clothing,
3735Where I may feel the throbs of your heart or rest upon your hip,
3736Carry me when you go forth over land or sea;
3737For thus merely touching you is enough, is best,
3738And thus touching you would I silently sleep and be carried eternally.
3739
3740But these leaves conning you con at peril,
3741For these leaves and me you will not understand,
3742They will elude you at first and still more afterward, I will
3743    certainly elude you.
3744Even while you should think you had unquestionably caught me, behold!
3745Already you see I have escaped from you.
3746
3747For it is not for what I have put into it that I have written this book,
3748Nor is it by reading it you will acquire it,
3749Nor do those know me best who admire me and vauntingly praise me,
3750Nor will the candidates for my love (unless at most a very few)
3751    prove victorious,
3752Nor will my poems do good only, they will do just as much evil,
3753    perhaps more,
3754For all is useless without that which you may guess at many times
3755    and not hit, that which I hinted at;
3756Therefore release me and depart on your way.
3757
3758
3759
3760
3761Come, I will make the continent indissoluble,
3762I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon,
3763I will make divine magnetic lands,
3764     With the love of comrades,
3765       With the life-long love of comrades.
3766
3767I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America,
3768    and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies,
3769I will make inseparable cities with their arms about each other's necks,
3770     By the love of comrades,
3771       By the manly love of comrades.
3772
3773For you these from me, O Democracy, to serve you ma femme!
3774For you, for you I am trilling these songs.
3775
3776
3777
3778
3779These I singing in spring collect for lovers,
3780(For who but I should understand lovers and all their sorrow and joy?
3781And who but I should be the poet of comrades?)
3782Collecting I traverse the garden the world, but soon I pass the gates,
3783Now along the pond-side, now wading in a little, fearing not the wet,
3784Now by the post-and-rail fences where the old stones thrown there,
3785    pick'd from the fields, have accumulated,
3786(Wild-flowers and vines and weeds come up through the stones and
3787    partly cover them, beyond these I pass,)
3788Far, far in the forest, or sauntering later in summer, before I
3789    think where I go,
3790Solitary, smelling the earthy smell, stopping now and then in the silence,
3791Alone I had thought, yet soon a troop gathers around me,
3792Some walk by my side and some behind, and some embrace my arms or neck,
3793They the spirits of dear friends dead or alive, thicker they come, a
3794    great crowd, and I in the middle,
3795Collecting, dispensing, singing, there I wander with them,
3796Plucking something for tokens, tossing toward whoever is near me,
3797Here, lilac, with a branch of pine,
3798Here, out of my pocket, some moss which I pull'd off a live-oak in
3799    Florida as it hung trailing down,
3800Here, some pinks and laurel leaves, and a handful of sage,
3801And here what I now draw from the water, wading in the pondside,
3802(O here I last saw him that tenderly loves me, and returns again
3803    never to separate from me,
3804And this, O this shall henceforth be the token of comrades, this
3805    calamus-root shall,
3806Interchange it youths with each other! let none render it back!)
3807And twigs of maple and a bunch of wild orange and chestnut,
3808And stems of currants and plum-blows, and the aromatic cedar,
3809These I compass'd around by a thick cloud of spirits,
3810Wandering, point to or touch as I pass, or throw them loosely from me,
3811Indicating to each one what he shall have, giving something to each;
3812But what I drew from the water by the pond-side, that I reserve,
3813I will give of it, but only to them that love as I myself am capable
3814    of loving.
3815
3816
3817
3818
3819Not heaving from my ribb'd breast only,
3820Not in sighs at night in rage dissatisfied with myself,
3821Not in those long-drawn, ill-supprest sighs,
3822Not in many an oath and promise broken,
3823Not in my wilful and savage soul's volition,
3824Not in the subtle nourishment of the air,
3825Not in this beating and pounding at my temples and wrists,
3826Not in the curious systole and diastole within which will one day cease,
3827Not in many a hungry wish told to the skies only,
3828Not in cries, laughter, defiancies, thrown from me when alone far in
3829    the wilds,
3830Not in husky pantings through clinch'd teeth,
3831Not in sounded and resounded words, chattering words, echoes, dead words,
3832Not in the murmurs of my dreams while I sleep,
3833Nor the other murmurs of these incredible dreams of every day,
3834Nor in the limbs and senses of my body that take you and dismiss you
3835    continually--not there,
3836Not in any or all of them O adhesiveness! O pulse of my life!
3837Need I that you exist and show yourself any more than in these songs.
3838
3839
3840
3841
3842Of the terrible doubt of appearances,
3843Of the uncertainty after all, that we may be deluded,
3844That may-be reliance and hope are but speculations after all,
3845That may-be identity beyond the grave is a beautiful fable only,
3846May-be the things I perceive, the animals, plants, men, hills,
3847    shining and flowing waters,
3848The skies of day and night, colors, densities, forms, may-be these
3849    are (as doubtless they are) only apparitions, and the real
3850    something has yet to be known,
3851(How often they dart out of themselves as if to confound me and mock me!
3852How often I think neither I know, nor any man knows, aught of them,)
3853May-be seeming to me what they are (as doubtless they indeed but seem)
3854    as from my present point of view, and might prove (as of course they
3855    would) nought of what they appear, or nought anyhow, from entirely
3856    changed points of view;
3857To me these and the like of these are curiously answer'd by my
3858    lovers, my dear friends,
3859When he whom I love travels with me or sits a long while holding me
3860    by the hand,
3861When the subtle air, the impalpable, the sense that words and reason
3862    hold not, surround us and pervade us,
3863Then I am charged with untold and untellable wisdom, I am silent, I
3864    require nothing further,
3865I cannot answer the question of appearances or that of identity
3866    beyond the grave,
3867But I walk or sit indifferent, I am satisfied,
3868He ahold of my hand has completely satisfied me.
3869
3870
3871
3872
3873And now gentlemen,
3874A word I give to remain in your memories and minds,
3875As base and finale too for all metaphysics.
3876
3877(So to the students the old professor,
3878At the close of his crowded course.)
3879
3880Having studied the new and antique, the Greek and Germanic systems,
3881Kant having studied and stated, Fichte and Schelling and Hegel,
3882Stated the lore of Plato, and Socrates greater than Plato,
3883And greater than Socrates sought and stated, Christ divine having
3884    studied long,
3885I see reminiscent to-day those Greek and Germanic systems,
3886See the philosophies all, Christian churches and tenets see,
3887Yet underneath Socrates clearly see, and underneath Christ the divine I see,
3888The dear love of man for his comrade, the attraction of friend to friend,
3889Of the well-married husband and wife, of children and parents,
3890Of city for city and land for land.
3891
3892
3893
3894
3895Recorders ages hence,
3896Come, I will take you down underneath this impassive exterior, I
3897    will tell you what to say of me,
3898Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of the tenderest lover,
3899The friend the lover's portrait, of whom his friend his lover was fondest,
3900Who was not proud of his songs, but of the measureless ocean of love
3901    within him, and freely pour'd it forth,
3902Who often walk'd lonesome walks thinking of his dear friends, his lovers,
3903Who pensive away from one he lov'd often lay sleepless and
3904    dissatisfied at night,
3905Who knew too well the sick, sick dread lest the one he lov'd might
3906    secretly be indifferent to him,
3907Whose happiest days were far away through fields, in woods, on hills,
3908    he and another wandering hand in hand, they twain apart from other men,
3909Who oft as he saunter'd the streets curv'd with his arm the shoulder
3910    of his friend, while the arm of his friend rested upon him also.
3911
3912
3913
3914
3915When I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv'd
3916    with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for
3917    me that follow'd,
3918And else when I carous'd, or when my plans were accomplish'd, still
3919    I was not happy,
3920But the day when I rose at dawn from the bed of perfect health,
3921    refresh'd, singing, inhaling the ripe breath of autumn,
3922When I saw the full moon in the west grow pale and disappear in the
3923    morning light,
3924When I wander'd alone over the beach, and undressing bathed,
3925    laughing with the cool waters, and saw the sun rise,
3926And when I thought how my dear friend my lover was on his way
3927    coming, O then I was happy,
3928O then each breath tasted sweeter, and all that day my food
3929    nourish'd me more, and the beautiful day pass'd well,
3930And the next came with equal joy, and with the next at evening came
3931    my friend,
3932And that night while all was still I heard the waters roll slowly
3933    continually up the shores,
3934I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands as directed to me
3935    whispering to congratulate me,
3936For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in
3937    the cool night,
3938In the stillness in the autumn moonbeams his face was inclined toward me,
3939And his arm lay lightly around my breast--and that night I was happy.
3940
3941
3942
3943
3944Are you the new person drawn toward me?
3945To begin with take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;
3946Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?
3947Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
3948Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy'd satisfaction?
3949Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
3950Do you see no further than this facade, this smooth and tolerant
3951    manner of me?
3952Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real heroic man?
3953Have you no thought O dreamer that it may be all maya, illusion?
3954
3955
3956
3957
3958Roots and leaves themselves alone are these,
3959Scents brought to men and women from the wild woods and pond-side,
3960Breast-sorrel and pinks of love, fingers that wind around tighter
3961    than vines,
3962Gushes from the throats of birds hid in the foliage of trees as the
3963    sun is risen,
3964Breezes of land and love set from living shores to you on the living
3965    sea, to you O sailors!
3966Frost-mellow'd berries and Third-month twigs offer'd fresh to young
3967    persons wandering out in the fields when the winter breaks up,
3968Love-buds put before you and within you whoever you are,
3969Buds to be unfolded on the old terms,
3970If you bring the warmth of the sun to them they will open and bring
3971    form, color, perfume, to you,
3972If you become the aliment and the wet they will become flowers,
3973    fruits, tall branches and trees.
3974
3975
3976
3977
3978Not heat flames up and consumes,
3979Not sea-waves hurry in and out,
3980Not the air delicious and dry, the air of ripe summer, bears lightly
3981    along white down-balls of myriads of seeds,
3982Waited, sailing gracefully, to drop where they may;
3983Not these, O none of these more than the flames of me, consuming,
3984    burning for his love whom I love,
3985O none more than I hurrying in and out;
3986Does the tide hurry, seeking something, and never give up? O I the same,
3987O nor down-balls nor perfumes, nor the high rain-emitting clouds,
3988    are borne through the open air,
3989Any more than my soul is borne through the open air,
3990Wafted in all directions O love, for friendship, for you.
3991
3992
3993
3994
3995Trickle drops! my blue veins leaving!
3996O drops of me! trickle, slow drops,
3997Candid from me falling, drip, bleeding drops,
3998From wounds made to free you whence you were prison'd,
3999From my face, from my forehead and lips,
4000From my breast, from within where I was conceal'd, press forth red
4001    drops, confession drops,
4002Stain every page, stain every song I sing, every word I say, bloody drops,
4003Let them know your scarlet heat, let them glisten,
4004Saturate them with yourself all ashamed and wet,
4005Glow upon all I have written or shall write, bleeding drops,
4006Let it all be seen in your light, blushing drops.
4007
4008
4009
4010
4011City of orgies, walks and joys,
4012City whom that I have lived and sung in your midst will one day make
4013Not the pageants of you, not your shifting tableaus, your
4014    spectacles, repay me,
4015Not the interminable rows of your houses, nor the ships at the wharves,
4016Nor the processions in the streets, nor the bright windows with
4017    goods in them,
4018Nor to converse with learn'd persons, or bear my share in the soiree
4019    or feast;
4020Not those, but as I pass O Manhattan, your frequent and swift flash
4021    of eyes offering me love,
4022Offering response to my own--these repay me,
4023Lovers, continual lovers, only repay me.
4024
4025
4026
4027
4028Behold this swarthy face, these gray eyes,
4029This beard, the white wool unclipt upon my neck,
4030My brown hands and the silent manner of me without charm;
4031Yet comes one a Manhattanese and ever at parting kisses me lightly
4032    on the lips with robust love,
4033And I on the crossing of the street or on the ship's deck give a
4034    kiss in return,
4035We observe that salute of American comrades land and sea,
4036We are those two natural and nonchalant persons.
4037
4038
4039
4040
4041I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
4042All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
4043Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous of dark green,
4044And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,
4045But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there
4046    without its friend near, for I knew I could not,
4047And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it and
4048    twined around it a little moss,
4049And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,
4050It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,
4051(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them,)
4052Yet it remains to me a curious token, it makes me think of manly love;
4053For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana
4054    solitary in a wide in a wide flat space,
4055Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near,
4056I know very well I could not.
4057
4058
4059
4060
4061Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
4062You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me
4063    as of a dream,)
4064I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
4065All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate,
4066    chaste, matured,
4067You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,
4068I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours
4069    only nor left my body mine only,
4070You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you
4071    take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
4072I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or
4073    wake at night alone,
4074I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
4075I am to see to it that I do not lose you.
4076
4077
4078
4079
4080This moment yearning and thoughtful sitting alone,
4081It seems to me there are other men in other lands yearning and thoughtful,
4082It seems to me I can look over and behold them in Germany, Italy,
4083    France, Spain,
4084Or far, far away, in China, or in Russia or talking other dialects,
4085And it seems to me if I could know those men I should become
4086    attached to them as I do to men in my own lands,
4087O I know we should be brethren and lovers,
4088I know I should be happy with them.
4089
4090
4091
4092
4093I hear it was charged against me that I sought to destroy institutions,
4094But really I am neither for nor against institutions,
4095(What indeed have I in common with them? or what with the
4096    destruction of them?)
4097Only I will establish in the Mannahatta and in every city of these
4098    States inland and seaboard,
4099And in the fields and woods, and above every keel little or large
4100    that dents the water,
4101Without edifices or rules or trustees or any argument,
4102The institution of the dear love of comrades.
4103
4104
4105
4106
4107The prairie-grass dividing, its special odor breathing,
4108I demand of it the spiritual corresponding,
4109Demand the most copious and close companionship of men,
4110Demand the blades to rise of words, acts, beings,
4111Those of the open atmosphere, coarse, sunlit, fresh, nutritious,
4112Those that go their own gait, erect, stepping with freedom and
4113    command, leading not following,
4114Those with a never-quell'd audacity, those with sweet and lusty
4115    flesh clear of taint,
4116Those that look carelessly in the faces of Presidents and governors,
4117    as to say Who are you?
4118Those of earth-born passion, simple, never constrain'd, never obedient,
4119Those of inland America.
4120
4121
4122
4123
4124When I peruse the conquer'd fame of heroes and the victories of
4125    mighty generals, I do not envy the generals,
4126Nor the President in his Presidency, nor the rich in his great house,
4127But when I hear of the brotherhood of lovers, how it was with them,
4128How together through life, through dangers, odium, unchanging, long
4129    and long,
4130Through youth and through middle and old age, how unfaltering, how
4131    affectionate and faithful they were,
4132Then I am pensive--I hastily walk away fill'd with the bitterest envy.
4133
4134
4135
4136
4137We two boys together clinging,
4138One the other never leaving,
4139Up and down the roads going, North and South excursions making,
4140Power enjoying, elbows stretching, fingers clutching,
4141Arm'd and fearless, eating, drinking, sleeping, loving.
4142No law less than ourselves owning, sailing, soldiering, thieving,
4143    threatening,
4144Misers, menials, priests alarming, air breathing, water drinking, on
4145    the turf or the sea-beach dancing,
4146Cities wrenching, ease scorning, statutes mocking, feebleness chasing,
4147Fulfilling our foray.
4148
4149
4150
4151
4152A promise to California,
4153Or inland to the great pastoral Plains, and on to Puget sound and Oregon;
4154Sojourning east a while longer, soon I travel toward you, to remain,
4155    to teach robust American love,
4156For I know very well that I and robust love belong among you,
4157    inland, and along the Western sea;
4158For these States tend inland and toward the Western sea, and I will also.
4159
4160
4161
4162
4163Here the frailest leaves of me and yet my strongest lasting,
4164Here I shade and hide my thoughts, I myself do not expose them,
4165And yet they expose me more than all my other poems.
4166
4167
4168
4169
4170No labor-saving machine,
4171Nor discovery have I made,
4172Nor will I be able to leave behind me any wealthy bequest to found
4173    hospital or library,
4174Nor reminiscence of any deed of courage for America,
4175Nor literary success nor intellect; nor book for the book-shelf,
4176But a few carols vibrating through the air I leave,
4177For comrades and lovers.
4178
4179
4180
4181
4182A glimpse through an interstice caught,
4183Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room around the stove
4184    late of a winter night, and I unremark'd seated in a corner,
4185Of a youth who loves me and whom I love, silently approaching and
4186    seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand,
4187A long while amid the noises of coming and going, of drinking and
4188    oath and smutty jest,
4189There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little,
4190    perhaps not a word.
4191
4192
4193
4194
4195A leaf for hand in hand;
4196You natural persons old and young!
4197You on the Mississippi and on all the branches and bayous of
4198    the Mississippi!
4199You friendly boatmen and mechanics! you roughs!
4200You twain! and all processions moving along the streets!
4201I wish to infuse myself among you till I see it common for you to
4202    walk hand in hand.
4203
4204
4205
4206
4207Earth, my likeness,
4208Though you look so impassive, ample and spheric there,
4209I now suspect that is not all;
4210I now suspect there is something fierce in you eligible to burst forth,
4211For an athlete is enamour'd of me, and I of him,
4212But toward him there is something fierce and terrible in me eligible
4213    to burst forth,
4214I dare not tell it in words, not even in these songs.
4215
4216
4217
4218
4219I dream'd in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the
4220    whole of the rest of the earth,
4221I dream'd that was the new city of Friends,
4222Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest,
4223It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,
4224And in all their looks and words.
4225
4226
4227
4228
4229What think you I take my pen in hand to record?
4230The battle-ship, perfect-model'd, majestic, that I saw pass the
4231    offing to-day under full sail?
4232The splendors of the past day? or the splendor of the night that
4233    envelops me?
4234Or the vaunted glory and growth of the great city spread around me? --no;
4235But merely of two simple men I saw to-day on the pier in the midst
4236    of the crowd, parting the parting of dear friends,
4237The one to remain hung on the other's neck and passionately kiss'd him,
4238While the one to depart tightly prest the one to remain in his arms.
4239
4240
4241
4242
4243To the East and to the West,
4244To the man of the Seaside State and of Pennsylvania,
4245To the Kanadian of the north, to the Southerner I love,
4246These with perfect trust to depict you as myself, the germs are in all men,
4247I believe the main purport of these States is to found a superb
4248    friendship, exalte, previously unknown,
4249Because I perceive it waits, and has been always waiting, latent in all men.
4250
4251
4252
4253
4254Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I effuse
4255    unreturn'd love,
4256But now I think there is no unreturn'd love, the pay is certain one
4257    way or another,
4258(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not return'd,
4259Yet out of that I have written these songs.)
4260
4261
4262
4263
4264Many things to absorb I teach to help you become eleve of mine;
4265Yet if blood like mine circle not in your veins,
4266If you be not silently selected by lovers and do not silently select lovers,
4267Of what use is it that you seek to become eleve of mine?
4268
4269
4270
4271
4272Fast-anchor'd eternal O love! O woman I love!
4273O bride! O wife! more resistless than I can tell, the thought of you!
4274Then separate, as disembodied or another born,
4275Ethereal, the last athletic reality, my consolation,
4276I ascend, I float in the regions of your love O man,
4277O sharer of my roving life.
4278
4279
4280
4281
4282Among the men and women the multitude,
4283I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs,
4284Acknowledging none else, not parent, wife, husband, brother, child,
4285    any nearer than I am,
4286Some are baffled, but that one is not--that one knows me.
4287
4288Ah lover and perfect equal,
4289I meant that you should discover me so by faint indirections,
4290And I when I meet you mean to discover you by the like in you.
4291
4292
4293
4294
4295O you whom I often and silently come where you are that I may be with you,
4296As I walk by your side or sit near, or remain in the same room with you,
4297Little you know the subtle electric fire that for your sake is
4298    playing within me.
4299
4300
4301
4302
4303That shadow my likeness that goes to and fro seeking a livelihood,
4304    chattering, chaffering,
4305How often I find myself standing and looking at it where it flits,
4306How often I question and doubt whether that is really me;
4307But among my lovers and caroling these songs,
4308O I never doubt whether that is really me.
4309
4310
4311
4312
4313Full of life now, compact, visible,
4314I, forty years old the eighty-third year of the States,
4315To one a century hence or any number of centuries hence,
4316To you yet unborn these, seeking you.
4317
4318When you read these I that was visible am become invisible,
4319Now it is you, compact, visible, realizing my poems, seeking me,
4320Fancying how happy you were if I could be with you and become your comrade;
4321Be it as if I were with you. (Be not too certain but I am now with you.)
4322
4323
4324
4325
4326
4327
4328O take my hand Walt Whitman!
4329Such gliding wonders! such sights and sounds!
4330Such join'd unended links, each hook'd to the next,
4331Each answering all, each sharing the earth with all.
4332
4333What widens within you Walt Whitman?
4334What waves and soils exuding?
4335What climes? what persons and cities are here?
4336Who are the infants, some playing, some slumbering?
4337Who are the girls? who are the married women?
4338Who are the groups of old men going slowly with their arms about
4339    each other's necks?
4340What rivers are these? what forests and fruits are these?
4341What are the mountains call'd that rise so high in the mists?
4342What myriads of dwellings are they fill'd with dwellers?
4343
4344
4345Within me latitude widens, longitude lengthens,
4346Asia, Africa, Europe, are to the east--America is provided for in the west,
4347Banding the bulge of the earth winds the hot equator,
4348Curiously north and south turn the axis-ends,
4349Within me is the longest day, the sun wheels in slanting rings, it
4350    does not set for months,
4351Stretch'd in due time within me the midnight sun just rises above
4352    the horizon and sinks again,
4353Within me zones, seas, cataracts, forests, volcanoes, groups,
4354Malaysia, Polynesia, and the great West Indian islands.
4355
4356
4357What do you hear Walt Whitman?
4358
4359I hear the workman singing and the farmer's wife singing,
4360I hear in the distance the sounds of children and of animals early
4361    in the day,
4362I hear emulous shouts of Australians pursuing the wild horse,
4363I hear the Spanish dance with castanets in the chestnut shade, to
4364    the rebeck and guitar,
4365I hear continual echoes from the Thames,
4366I hear fierce French liberty songs,
4367I hear of the Italian boat-sculler the musical recitative of old poems,
4368I hear the locusts in Syria as they strike the grain and grass with
4369    the showers of their terrible clouds,
4370I hear the Coptic refrain toward sundown, pensively falling on the
4371    breast of the black venerable vast mother the Nile,
4372I hear the chirp of the Mexican muleteer, and the bells of the mule,
4373I hear the Arab muezzin calling from the top of the mosque,
4374I hear the Christian priests at the altars of their churches, I hear
4375    the responsive base and soprano,
4376I hear the cry of the Cossack, and the sailor's voice putting to sea
4377    at Okotsk,
4378I hear the wheeze of the slave-coffle as the slaves march on, as the
4379    husky gangs pass on by twos and threes, fasten'd together
4380    with wrist-chains and ankle-chains,
4381I hear the Hebrew reading his records and psalms,
4382I hear the rhythmic myths of the Greeks, and the strong legends of
4383    the Romans,
4384I hear the tale of the divine life and bloody death of the beautiful
4385    God the Christ,
4386I hear the Hindoo teaching his favorite pupil the loves, wars,
4387    adages, transmitted safely to this day from poets who wrote three
4388    thousand years ago.
4389
4390
4391What do you see Walt Whitman?
4392Who are they you salute, and that one after another salute you?
4393I see a great round wonder rolling through space,
4394I see diminute farms, hamlets, ruins, graveyards, jails, factories,
4395    palaces, hovels, huts of barbarians, tents of nomads upon the surface,
4396I see the shaded part on one side where the sleepers are sleeping,
4397    and the sunlit part on the other side,
4398I see the curious rapid change of the light and shade,
4399I see distant lands, as real and near to the inhabitants of them as
4400    my land is to me.
4401
4402I see plenteous waters,
4403I see mountain peaks, I see the sierras of Andes where they range,
4404I see plainly the Himalayas, Chian Shahs, Altays, Ghauts,
4405I see the giant pinnacles of Elbruz, Kazbek, Bazardjusi,
4406I see the Styrian Alps, and the Karnac Alps,
4407I see the Pyrenees, Balks, Carpathians, and to the north the
4408    Dofrafields, and off at sea mount Hecla,
4409I see Vesuvius and Etna, the mountains of the Moon, and the Red
4410    mountains of Madagascar,
4411I see the Lybian, Arabian, and Asiatic deserts,
4412I see huge dreadful Arctic and Antarctic icebergs,
4413I see the superior oceans and the inferior ones, the Atlantic and
4414    Pacific, the sea of Mexico, the Brazilian sea, and the sea of Peru,
4415The waters of Hindustan, the China sea, and the gulf of Guinea,
4416The Japan waters, the beautiful bay of Nagasaki land-lock'd in its
4417    mountains,
4418The spread of the Baltic, Caspian, Bothnia, the British shores, and
4419    the bay of Biscay,
4420The clear-sunn'd Mediterranean, and from one to another of its islands,
4421The White sea, and the sea around Greenland.
4422
4423I behold the mariners of the world,
4424Some are in storms, some in the night with the watch on the lookout,
4425Some drifting helplessly, some with contagious diseases.
4426
4427I behold the sail and steamships of the world, some in clusters in
4428    port, some on their voyages,
4429Some double the cape of Storms, some cape Verde, others capes
4430    Guardafui, Bon, or Bajadore,
4431Others Dondra head, others pass the straits of Sunda, others cape
4432    Lopatka, others Behring's straits,
4433Others cape Horn, others sail the gulf of Mexico or along Cuba or
4434    Hayti, others Hudson's bay or Baffin's bay,
4435Others pass the straits of Dover, others enter the Wash, others the
4436    firth of Solway, others round cape Clear, others the Land's End,
4437Others traverse the Zuyder Zee or the Scheld,
4438Others as comers and goers at Gibraltar or the Dardanelles,
4439Others sternly push their way through the northern winter-packs,
4440Others descend or ascend the Obi or the Lena,
4441Others the Niger or the Congo, others the Indus, the Burampooter
4442    and Cambodia,
4443Others wait steam'd up ready to start in the ports of Australia,
4444Wait at Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin, Marseilles, Lisbon, Naples,
4445Hamburg, Bremen, Bordeaux, the Hague, Copenhagen,
4446Wait at Valparaiso, Rio Janeiro, Panama.
4447
4448
4449I see the tracks of the railroads of the earth,
4450I see them in Great Britain, I see them in Europe,
4451I see them in Asia and in Africa.
4452
4453I see the electric telegraphs of the earth,
4454I see the filaments of the news of the wars, deaths, losses, gains,
4455    passions, of my race.
4456
4457I see the long river-stripes of the earth,
4458I see the Amazon and the Paraguay,
4459I see the four great rivers of China, the Amour, the Yellow River,
4460    the Yiang-tse, and the Pearl,
4461I see where the Seine flows, and where the Danube, the Loire, the
4462    Rhone, and the Guadalquiver flow,
4463I see the windings of the Volga, the Dnieper, the Oder,
4464I see the Tuscan going down the Arno, and the Venetian along the Po,
4465I see the Greek seaman sailing out of Egina bay.
4466
4467
4468I see the site of the old empire of Assyria, and that of Persia, and
4469    that of India,
4470I see the falling of the Ganges over the high rim of Saukara.
4471
4472I see the place of the idea of the Deity incarnated by avatars in
4473    human forms,
4474I see the spots of the successions of priests on the earth, oracles,
4475    sacrificers, brahmins, sabians, llamas, monks, muftis, exhorters,
4476I see where druids walk'd the groves of Mona, I see the mistletoe
4477    and vervain,
4478I see the temples of the deaths of the bodies of Gods, I see the old
4479    signifiers.
4480
4481I see Christ eating the bread of his last supper in the midst of
4482    youths and old persons,
4483I see where the strong divine young man the Hercules toil'd
4484    faithfully and long and then died,
4485I see the place of the innocent rich life and hapless fate of the
4486    beautiful nocturnal son, the full-limb'd Bacchus,
4487I see Kneph, blooming, drest in blue, with the crown of feathers on
4488    his head,
4489I see Hermes, unsuspected, dying, well-belov'd, saying to the people
4490    Do not weep for me,
4491This is not my true country, I have lived banish'd from my true
4492    country, I now go back there,
4493I return to the celestial sphere where every one goes in his turn.
4494
4495
4496I see the battle-fields of the earth, grass grows upon them and
4497    blossoms and corn,
4498I see the tracks of ancient and modern expeditions.
4499
4500I see the nameless masonries, venerable messages of the unknown
4501    events, heroes, records of the earth.
4502
4503I see the places of the sagas,
4504I see pine-trees and fir-trees torn by northern blasts,
4505I see granite bowlders and cliffs, I see green meadows and lakes,
4506I see the burial-cairns of Scandinavian warriors,
4507I see them raised high with stones by the marge of restless oceans,
4508    that the dead men's spirits when they wearied of their quiet
4509    graves might rise up through the mounds and gaze on the tossing
4510    billows, and be refresh'd by storms, immensity, liberty, action.
4511
4512I see the steppes of Asia,
4513I see the tumuli of Mongolia, I see the tents of Kalmucks and Baskirs,
4514I see the nomadic tribes with herds of oxen and cows,
4515I see the table-lands notch'd with ravines, I see the jungles and deserts,
4516I see the camel, the wild steed, the bustard, the fat-tail'd sheep,
4517    the antelope, and the burrowing wolf
4518
4519I see the highlands of Abyssinia,
4520I see flocks of goats feeding, and see the fig-tree, tamarind, date,
4521And see fields of teff-wheat and places of verdure and gold.
4522
4523I see the Brazilian vaquero,
4524I see the Bolivian ascending mount Sorata,
4525I see the Wacho crossing the plains, I see the incomparable rider of
4526    horses with his lasso on his arm,
4527I see over the pampas the pursuit of wild cattle for their hides.
4528
4529
4530I see the regions of snow and ice,
4531I see the sharp-eyed Samoiede and the Finn,
4532I see the seal-seeker in his boat poising his lance,
4533I see the Siberian on his slight-built sledge drawn by dogs,
4534I see the porpoise-hunters, I see the whale-crews of the south
4535    Pacific and the north Atlantic,
4536I see the cliffs, glaciers, torrents, valleys, of Switzerland--I
4537    mark the long winters and the isolation.
4538
4539I see the cities of the earth and make myself at random a part of them,
4540I am a real Parisian,
4541I am a habitan of Vienna, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Constantinople,
4542I am of Adelaide, Sidney, Melbourne,
4543I am of London, Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh, Limerick,
4544I am of Madrid, Cadiz, Barcelona, Oporto, Lyons, Brussels, Berne,
4545    Frankfort, Stuttgart, Turin, Florence,
4546I belong in Moscow, Cracow, Warsaw, or northward in Christiania or
4547    Stockholm, or in Siberian Irkutsk, or in some street in Iceland,
4548I descend upon all those cities, and rise from them again.
4549
4550
4551I see vapors exhaling from unexplored countries,
4552I see the savage types, the bow and arrow, the poison'd splint, the
4553    fetich, and the obi.
4554I see African and Asiatic towns,
4555I see Algiers, Tripoli, Derne, Mogadore, Timbuctoo, Monrovia,
4556I see the swarms of Pekin, Canton, Benares, Delhi, Calcutta, Tokio,
4557I see the Kruman in his hut, and the Dahoman and Ashantee-man in their huts,
4558I see the Turk smoking opium in Aleppo,
4559I see the picturesque crowds at the fairs of Khiva and those of Herat,
4560I see Teheran, I see Muscat and Medina and the intervening sands,
4561    see the caravans toiling onward,
4562I see Egypt and the Egyptians, I see the pyramids and obelisks.
4563I look on chisell'd histories, records of conquering kings,
4564    dynasties, cut in slabs of sand-stone, or on granite-blocks,
4565I see at Memphis mummy-pits containing mummies embalm'd,
4566    swathed in linen cloth, lying there many centuries,
4567I look on the fall'n Theban, the large-ball'd eyes, the
4568    side-drooping neck, the hands folded across the breast.
4569
4570I see all the menials of the earth, laboring,
4571I see all the prisoners in the prisons,
4572I see the defective human bodies of the earth,
4573The blind, the deaf and dumb, idiots, hunchbacks, lunatics,
4574The pirates, thieves, betrayers, murderers, slave-makers of the earth,
4575The helpless infants, and the helpless old men and women.
4576
4577I see male and female everywhere,
4578I see the serene brotherhood of philosophs,
4579I see the constructiveness of my race,
4580I see the results of the perseverance and industry of my race,
4581I see ranks, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, I go among them, I
4582    mix indiscriminately,
4583And I salute all the inhabitants of the earth.
4584
4585
4586You whoever you are!
4587You daughter or son of England!
4588You of the mighty Slavic tribes and empires! you Russ in Russia!
4589You dim-descended, black, divine-soul'd African, large, fine-headed,
4590    nobly-form'd, superbly destin'd, on equal terms with me!
4591You Norwegian! Swede! Dane! Icelander! you Prussian!
4592You Spaniard of Spain! you Portuguese!
4593You Frenchwoman and Frenchman of France!
4594You Belge! you liberty-lover of the Netherlands! (you stock whence I
4595    myself have descended;)
4596You sturdy Austrian! you Lombard! Hun! Bohemian! farmer of Styria!
4597You neighbor of the Danube!
4598You working-man of the Rhine, the Elbe, or the Weser! you working-woman too!
4599You Sardinian! you Bavarian! Swabian! Saxon! Wallachian! Bulgarian!
4600You Roman! Neapolitan! you Greek!
4601You lithe matador in the arena at Seville!
4602You mountaineer living lawlessly on the Taurus or Caucasus!
4603You Bokh horse-herd watching your mares and stallions feeding!
4604You beautiful-bodied Persian at full speed in the saddle shooting
4605    arrows to the mark!
4606You Chinaman and Chinawoman of China! you Tartar of Tartary!
4607You women of the earth subordinated at your tasks!
4608You Jew journeying in your old age through every risk to stand once
4609    on Syrian ground!
4610You other Jews waiting in all lands for your Messiah!
4611You thoughtful Armenian pondering by some stream of the Euphrates!
4612    you peering amid the ruins of Nineveh! you ascending mount Ararat!
4613You foot-worn pilgrim welcoming the far-away sparkle of the minarets
4614    of Mecca!
4615You sheiks along the stretch from Suez to Bab-el-mandeb ruling your
4616    families and tribes!
4617You olive-grower tending your fruit on fields of Nazareth, Damascus,
4618    or lake Tiberias!
4619You Thibet trader on the wide inland or bargaining in the shops of Lassa!
4620You Japanese man or woman! you liver in Madagascar, Ceylon, Sumatra, Borneo!
4621All you continentals of Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, indifferent
4622    of place!
4623All you on the numberless islands of the archipelagoes of the sea!
4624And you of centuries hence when you listen to me!
4625And you each and everywhere whom I specify not, but include just the same!
4626Health to you! good will to you all, from me and America sent!
4627
4628Each of us inevitable,
4629Each of us limitless--each of us with his or her right upon the earth,
4630Each of us allow'd the eternal purports of the earth,
4631Each of us here as divinely as any is here.
4632
4633
4634You Hottentot with clicking palate! you woolly-hair'd hordes!
4635You own'd persons dropping sweat-drops or blood-drops!
4636You human forms with the fathomless ever-impressive countenances of brutes!
4637You poor koboo whom the meanest of the rest look down upon for all
4638    your glimmering language and spirituality!
4639You dwarf'd Kamtschatkan, Greenlander, Lapp!
4640You Austral negro, naked, red, sooty, with protrusive lip,
4641    groveling, seeking your food!
4642You Caffre, Berber, Soudanese!
4643You haggard, uncouth, untutor'd Bedowee!
4644You plague-swarms in Madras, Nankin, Kaubul, Cairo!
4645You benighted roamer of Amazonia! you Patagonian! you Feejeeman!
4646I do not prefer others so very much before you either,
4647I do not say one word against you, away back there where you stand,
4648(You will come forward in due time to my side.)
4649
4650
4651My spirit has pass'd in compassion and determination around the whole earth,
4652I have look'd for equals and lovers and found them ready for me in
4653    all lands,
4654I think some divine rapport has equalized me with them.
4655
4656You vapors, I think I have risen with you, moved away to distant
4657    continents, and fallen down there, for reasons,
4658I think I have blown with you you winds;
4659You waters I have finger'd every shore with you,
4660I have run through what any river or strait of the globe has run through,
4661I have taken my stand on the bases of peninsulas and on the high
4662    embedded rocks, to cry thence:
4663
4664What cities the light or warmth penetrates I penetrate those cities myself,
4665All islands to which birds wing their way I wing my way myself.
4666
4667Toward you all, in America's name,
4668I raise high the perpendicular hand, I make the signal,
4669To remain after me in sight forever,
4670For all the haunts and homes of men.
4671
4672
4673
4674
4675
4676
4677Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
4678Healthy, free, the world before me,
4679The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
4680
4681Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
4682Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
4683Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
4684Strong and content I travel the open road.
4685
4686The earth, that is sufficient,
4687I do not want the constellations any nearer,
4688I know they are very well where they are,
4689I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
4690
4691(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
4692I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
4693I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
4694I am fill'd with them, and I will fill them in return.)
4695
4696
4697You road I enter upon and look around, I believe you are not all
4698    that is here,
4699I believe that much unseen is also here.
4700
4701Here the profound lesson of reception, nor preference nor denial,
4702The black with his woolly head, the felon, the diseas'd, the
4703    illiterate person, are not denied;
4704The birth, the hasting after the physician, the beggar's tramp, the
4705    drunkard's stagger, the laughing party of mechanics,
4706The escaped youth, the rich person's carriage, the fop, the eloping couple,
4707The early market-man, the hearse, the moving of furniture into the
4708    town, the return back from the town,
4709They pass, I also pass, any thing passes, none can be interdicted,
4710None but are accepted, none but shall be dear to me.
4711
4712
4713You air that serves me with breath to speak!
4714You objects that call from diffusion my meanings and give them shape!
4715You light that wraps me and all things in delicate equable showers!
4716You paths worn in the irregular hollows by the roadsides!
4717I believe you are latent with unseen existences, you are so dear to me.
4718
4719You flagg'd walks of the cities! you strong curbs at the edges!
4720You ferries! you planks and posts of wharves! you timber-lined
4721    side! you distant ships!
4722You rows of houses! you window-pierc'd facades! you roofs!
4723You porches and entrances! you copings and iron guards!
4724You windows whose transparent shells might expose so much!
4725You doors and ascending steps! you arches!
4726You gray stones of interminable pavements! you trodden crossings!
4727From all that has touch'd you I believe you have imparted to
4728    yourselves, and now would impart the same secretly to me,
4729From the living and the dead you have peopled your impassive surfaces,
4730    and the spirits thereof would be evident and amicable with me.
4731
4732
4733The earth expanding right hand and left hand,
4734The picture alive, every part in its best light,
4735The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is
4736    not wanted,
4737The cheerful voice of the public road, the gay fresh sentiment of the road.
4738
4739O highway I travel, do you say to me Do not leave me?
4740Do you say Venture not--if you leave me you are lost?
4741Do you say I am already prepared, I am well-beaten and undenied,
4742    adhere to me?
4743
4744O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you,
4745You express me better than I can express myself,
4746You shall be more to me than my poem.
4747
4748I think heroic deeds were all conceiv'd in the open air, and all
4749    free poems also,
4750I think I could stop here myself and do miracles,
4751I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like, and whoever
4752    beholds me shall like me,
4753I think whoever I see must be happy.
4754
4755
4756From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines,
4757Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,
4758Listening to others, considering well what they say,
4759Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
4760Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that
4761    would hold me.
4762
4763I inhale great draughts of space,
4764The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.
4765
4766I am larger, better than I thought,
4767I did not know I held so much goodness.
4768
4769All seems beautiful to me,
4770can repeat over to men and women You have done such good to me
4771    I would do the same to you,
4772I will recruit for myself and you as I go,
4773I will scatter myself among men and women as I go,
4774I will toss a new gladness and roughness among them,
4775Whoever denies me it shall not trouble me,
4776Whoever accepts me he or she shall be blessed and shall bless me.
4777
4778
4779Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear it would not amaze me,
4780Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women appear'd it would not
4781    astonish me.
4782
4783Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
4784It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
4785
4786Here a great personal deed has room,
4787(Such a deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole race of men,
4788Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law and mocks all
4789    authority and all argument against it.)
4790
4791Here is the test of wisdom,
4792Wisdom is not finally tested in schools,
4793Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it to another not having it,
4794Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof,
4795Applies to all stages and objects and qualities and is content,
4796Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the
4797    excellence of things;
4798Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes
4799    it out of the soul.
4800
4801Now I re-examine philosophies and religions,
4802They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the
4803    spacious clouds and along the landscape and flowing currents.
4804
4805Here is realization,
4806Here is a man tallied--he realizes here what he has in him,
4807The past, the future, majesty, love--if they are vacant of you, you
4808    are vacant of them.
4809
4810Only the kernel of every object nourishes;
4811Where is he who tears off the husks for you and me?
4812Where is he that undoes stratagems and envelopes for you and me?
4813
4814Here is adhesiveness, it is not previously fashion'd, it is apropos;
4815Do you know what it is as you pass to be loved by strangers?
4816Do you know the talk of those turning eye-balls?
4817
4818
4819Here is the efflux of the soul,
4820The efflux of the soul comes from within through embower'd gates,
4821    ever provoking questions,
4822These yearnings why are they? these thoughts in the darkness why are they?
4823Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me the sunlight
4824    expands my blood?
4825Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?
4826Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious
4827    thoughts descend upon me?
4828(I think they hang there winter and summer on those trees and always
4829    drop fruit as I pass;)
4830What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers?
4831What with some driver as I ride on the seat by his side?
4832What with some fisherman drawing his seine by the shore as I walk by
4833    and pause?
4834What gives me to be free to a woman's and man's good-will? what
4835    gives them to be free to mine?
4836
4837
4838The efflux of the soul is happiness, here is happiness,
4839I think it pervades the open air, waiting at all times,
4840Now it flows unto us, we are rightly charged.
4841
4842Here rises the fluid and attaching character,
4843The fluid and attaching character is the freshness and sweetness of
4844    man and woman,
4845(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and sweeter every day
4846    out of the roots of themselves, than it sprouts fresh and sweet
4847    continually out of itself.)
4848
4849Toward the fluid and attaching character exudes the sweat of the
4850    love of young and old,
4851From it falls distill'd the charm that mocks beauty and attainments,
4852Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of contact.
4853
4854
4855Allons! whoever you are come travel with me!
4856Traveling with me you find what never tires.
4857
4858The earth never tires,
4859The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude
4860    and incomprehensible at first,
4861Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop'd,
4862I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.
4863
4864Allons! we must not stop here,
4865However sweet these laid-up stores, however convenient this dwelling
4866    we cannot remain here,
4867However shelter'd this port and however calm these waters we must
4868    not anchor here,
4869However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us we are permitted
4870    to receive it but a little while.
4871
4872
4873Allons! the inducements shall be greater,
4874We will sail pathless and wild seas,
4875We will go where winds blow, waves dash, and the Yankee clipper
4876    speeds by under full sail.
4877
4878Allons! with power, liberty, the earth, the elements,
4879Health, defiance, gayety, self-esteem, curiosity;
4880Allons! from all formules!
4881From your formules, O bat-eyed and materialistic priests.
4882
4883The stale cadaver blocks up the passage--the burial waits no longer.
4884
4885Allons! yet take warning!
4886He traveling with me needs the best blood, thews, endurance,
4887None may come to the trial till he or she bring courage and health,
4888Come not here if you have already spent the best of yourself,
4889Only those may come who come in sweet and determin'd bodies,
4890No diseas'd person, no rum-drinker or venereal taint is permitted here.
4891
4892(I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes, rhymes,
4893We convince by our presence.)
4894
4895
4896Listen! I will be honest with you,
4897I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough new prizes,
4898These are the days that must happen to you:
4899You shall not heap up what is call'd riches,
4900You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,
4901You but arrive at the city to which you were destin'd, you hardly
4902    settle yourself to satisfaction before you are call'd by an
4903    irresistible call to depart,
4904You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mockings of those
4905    who remain behind you,
4906What beckonings of love you receive you shall only answer with
4907    passionate kisses of parting,
4908You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reach'd hands
4909    toward you.
4910
4911
4912Allons! after the great Companions, and to belong to them!
4913They too are on the road--they are the swift and majestic men--they
4914    are the greatest women,
4915Enjoyers of calms of seas and storms of seas,
4916Sailors of many a ship, walkers of many a mile of land,
4917Habitues of many distant countries, habitues of far-distant dwellings,
4918Trusters of men and women, observers of cities, solitary toilers,
4919Pausers and contemplators of tufts, blossoms, shells of the shore,
4920Dancers at wedding-dances, kissers of brides, tender helpers of
4921    children, bearers of children,
4922Soldiers of revolts, standers by gaping graves, lowerers-down of coffins,
4923Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the years, the curious
4924    years each emerging from that which preceded it,
4925Journeyers as with companions, namely their own diverse phases,
4926Forth-steppers from the latent unrealized baby-days,
4927Journeyers gayly with their own youth, journeyers with their bearded
4928    and well-grain'd manhood,
4929Journeyers with their womanhood, ample, unsurpass'd, content,
4930Journeyers with their own sublime old age of manhood or womanhood,
4931Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe,
4932Old age, flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.
4933
4934
4935Allons! to that which is endless as it was beginningless,
4936To undergo much, tramps of days, rests of nights,
4937To merge all in the travel they tend to, and the days and nights
4938    they tend to,
4939Again to merge them in the start of superior journeys,
4940To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach it and pass it,
4941To conceive no time, however distant, but what you may reach it and pass it,
4942To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you,
4943    however long but it stretches and waits for you,
4944To see no being, not God's or any, but you also go thither,
4945To see no possession but you may possess it, enjoying all without
4946    labor or purchase, abstracting the feast yet not abstracting one
4947    particle of it,
4948To take the best of the farmer's farm and the rich man's elegant
4949    villa, and the chaste blessings of the well-married couple, and
4950    the fruits of orchards and flowers of gardens,
4951To take to your use out of the compact cities as you pass through,
4952To carry buildings and streets with you afterward wherever you go,
4953To gather the minds of men out of their brains as you encounter
4954    them, to gather the love out of their hearts,
4955To take your lovers on the road with you, for all that you leave
4956    them behind you,
4957To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for
4958    traveling souls.
4959
4960All parts away for the progress of souls,
4961All religion, all solid things, arts, governments--all that was or is
4962    apparent upon this globe or any globe, falls into niches and corners
4963    before the procession of souls along the grand roads of the universe.
4964
4965Of the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of
4966    the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.
4967
4968Forever alive, forever forward,
4969Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad, turbulent, feeble,
4970    dissatisfied,
4971Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men, rejected by men,
4972They go! they go! I know that they go, but I know not where they go,
4973But I know that they go toward the best--toward something great.
4974
4975Whoever you are, come forth! or man or woman come forth!
4976You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house, though
4977    you built it, or though it has been built for you.
4978
4979Out of the dark confinement! out from behind the screen!
4980It is useless to protest, I know all and expose it.
4981
4982Behold through you as bad as the rest,
4983Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,
4984Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those wash'd and trimm'd faces,
4985Behold a secret silent loathing and despair.
4986
4987No husband, no wife, no friend, trusted to hear the confession,
4988Another self, a duplicate of every one, skulking and hiding it goes,
4989Formless and wordless through the streets of the cities, polite and
4990    bland in the parlors,
4991In the cars of railroads, in steamboats, in the public assembly,
4992Home to the houses of men and women, at the table, in the bedroom,
4993    everywhere,
4994Smartly attired, countenance smiling, form upright, death under the
4995    breast-bones, hell under the skull-bones,
4996Under the broadcloth and gloves, under the ribbons and artificial flowers,
4997Keeping fair with the customs, speaking not a syllable of itself,
4998Speaking of any thing else but never of itself.
4999
5000
5001Allons! through struggles and wars!
5002The goal that was named cannot be countermanded.
5003
5004Have the past struggles succeeded?
5005What has succeeded? yourself? your nation? Nature?
5006Now understand me well--it is provided in the essence of things that
5007    from any fruition of success, no matter what, shall come forth
5008    something to make a greater struggle necessary.
5009
5010My call is the call of battle, I nourish active rebellion,
5011He going with me must go well arm'd,
5012He going with me goes often with spare diet, poverty, angry enemies,
5013    desertions.
5014
5015
5016Allons! the road is before us!
5017It is safe--I have tried it--my own feet have tried it well--be not
5018    detain'd!
5019Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the
5020    shelf unopen'd!
5021Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn'd!
5022Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
5023Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the
5024    court, and the judge expound the law.
5025
5026Camerado, I give you my hand!
5027I give you my love more precious than money,
5028I give you myself before preaching or law;
5029Will you give me yourselp. will you come travel with me?
5030Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?
5031
5032
5033
5034
5035
5036
5037Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!
5038Clouds of the west--sun there half an hour high--I see you also face
5039    to face.
5040
5041Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious
5042    you are to me!
5043On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning
5044    home, are more curious to me than you suppose,
5045And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more
5046    to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.
5047
5048
5049The impalpable sustenance of me from all things at all hours of the day,
5050The simple, compact, well-join'd scheme, myself disintegrated, every
5051    one disintegrated yet part of the scheme,
5052The similitudes of the past and those of the future,
5053The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings, on
5054    the walk in the street and the passage over the river,
5055The current rushing so swiftly and swimming with me far away,
5056The others that are to follow me, the ties between me and them,
5057The certainty of others, the life, love, sight, hearing of others.
5058
5059Others will enter the gates of the ferry and cross from shore to shore,
5060Others will watch the run of the flood-tide,
5061Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the
5062    heights of Brooklyn to the south and east,
5063Others will see the islands large and small;
5064Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half
5065    an hour high,
5066A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, others
5067    will see them,
5068Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring-in of the flood-tide, the
5069    falling-back to the sea of the ebb-tide.
5070
5071
5072It avails not, time nor place--distance avails not,
5073I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many
5074    generations hence,
5075Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,
5076Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd,
5077Just as you are refresh'd by the gladness of the river and the
5078    bright flow, I was refresh'd,
5079Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift
5080    current, I stood yet was hurried,
5081Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and the
5082    thick-stemm'd pipes of steamboats, I look'd.
5083
5084I too many and many a time cross'd the river of old,
5085Watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls, saw them high in the air
5086    floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies,
5087Saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies and left
5088    the rest in strong shadow,
5089Saw the slow-wheeling circles and the gradual edging toward the south,
5090Saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water,
5091Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams,
5092Look'd at the fine centrifugal spokes of light round the shape of my
5093    head in the sunlit water,
5094Look'd on the haze on the hills southward and south-westward,
5095Look'd on the vapor as it flew in fleeces tinged with violet,
5096Look'd toward the lower bay to notice the vessels arriving,
5097Saw their approach, saw aboard those that were near me,
5098Saw the white sails of schooners and sloops, saw the ships at anchor,
5099The sailors at work in the rigging or out astride the spars,
5100The round masts, the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender
5101    serpentine pennants,
5102The large and small steamers in motion, the pilots in their pilothouses,
5103The white wake left by the passage, the quick tremulous whirl of the wheels,
5104The flags of all nations, the falling of them at sunset,
5105The scallop-edged waves in the twilight, the ladled cups, the
5106    frolic-some crests and glistening,
5107The stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the gray walls of the
5108    granite storehouses by the docks,
5109On the river the shadowy group, the big steam-tug closely flank'd on
5110    each side by the barges, the hay-boat, the belated lighter,
5111On the neighboring shore the fires from the foundry chimneys burning
5112    high and glaringly into the night,
5113Casting their flicker of black contrasted with wild red and yellow
5114    light over the tops of houses, and down into the clefts of streets.
5115
5116
5117These and all else were to me the same as they are to you,
5118I loved well those cities, loved well the stately and rapid river,
5119The men and women I saw were all near to me,
5120Others the same--others who look back on me because I look'd forward
5121    to them,
5122(The time will come, though I stop here to-day and to-night.)
5123
5124
5125What is it then between us?
5126What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?
5127
5128Whatever it is, it avails not--distance avails not, and place avails not,
5129I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine,
5130I too walk'd the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in the
5131    waters around it,
5132I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me,
5133In the day among crowds of people sometimes they came upon me,
5134In my walks home late at night or as I lay in my bed they came upon me,
5135I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution,
5136I too had receiv'd identity by my body,
5137That I was I knew was of my body, and what I should be I knew I
5138    should be of my body.
5139
5140
5141It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall,
5142The dark threw its patches down upon me also,
5143The best I had done seem'd to me blank and suspicious,
5144My great thoughts as I supposed them, were they not in reality meagre?
5145Nor is it you alone who know what it is to be evil,
5146I am he who knew what it was to be evil,
5147I too knitted the old knot of contrariety,
5148Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd,
5149Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak,
5150Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant,
5151The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me.
5152The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous wish, not wanting,
5153
5154Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness, none of these wanting,
5155Was one with the rest, the days and haps of the rest,
5156Was call'd by my nighest name by clear loud voices of young men as
5157    they saw me approaching or passing,
5158Felt their arms on my neck as I stood, or the negligent leaning of
5159    their flesh against me as I sat,
5160Saw many I loved in the street or ferry-boat or public assembly, yet
5161    never told them a word,
5162Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping,
5163Play'd the part that still looks back on the actor or actress,
5164The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great as we like,
5165Or as small as we like, or both great and small.
5166
5167
5168Closer yet I approach you,
5169What thought you have of me now, I had as much of you--I laid in my
5170    stores in advance,
5171I consider'd long and seriously of you before you were born.
5172
5173Who was to know what should come home to me?
5174Who knows but I am enjoying this?
5175Who knows, for all the distance, but I am as good as looking at you
5176    now, for all you cannot see me?
5177
5178
5179Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than
5180    mast-hemm'd Manhattan?
5181River and sunset and scallop-edg'd waves of flood-tide?
5182The sea-gulls oscillating their bodies, the hay-boat in the
5183    twilight, and the belated lighter?
5184What gods can exceed these that clasp me by the hand, and with voices I
5185    love call me promptly and loudly by my nighest name as approach?
5186What is more subtle than this which ties me to the woman or man that
5187    looks in my face?
5188Which fuses me into you now, and pours my meaning into you?
5189
5190We understand then do we not?
5191What I promis'd without mentioning it, have you not accepted?
5192What the study could not teach--what the preaching could not
5193    accomplish is accomplish'd, is it not?
5194
5195
5196Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide!
5197Frolic on, crested and scallop-edg'd waves!
5198Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! drench with your splendor me, or the
5199    men and women generations after me!
5200Cross from shore to shore, countless crowds of passengers!
5201Stand up, tall masts of Mannahatta! stand up, beautiful hills of Brooklyn!
5202Throb, baffled and curious brain! throw out questions and answers!
5203Suspend here and everywhere, eternal float of solution!
5204Gaze, loving and thirsting eyes, in the house or street or public assembly!
5205Sound out, voices of young men! loudly and musically call me by my
5206    nighest name!
5207Live, old life! play the part that looks back on the actor or actress!
5208Play the old role, the role that is great or small according as one
5209    makes it!
5210Consider, you who peruse me, whether I may not in unknown ways be
5211    looking upon you;
5212Be firm, rail over the river, to support those who lean idly, yet
5213    haste with the hasting current;
5214Fly on, sea-birds! fly sideways, or wheel in large circles high in the air;
5215Receive the summer sky, you water, and faithfully hold it till all
5216    downcast eyes have time to take it from you!
5217Diverge, fine spokes of light, from the shape of my head, or any
5218    one's head, in the sunlit water!
5219Come on, ships from the lower bay! pass up or down, white-sail'd
5220    schooners, sloops, lighters!
5221Flaunt away, flags of all nations! be duly lower'd at sunset!
5222Burn high your fires, foundry chimneys! cast black shadows at
5223    nightfall! cast red and yellow light over the tops of the houses!
5224Appearances, now or henceforth, indicate what you are,
5225You necessary film, continue to envelop the soul,
5226About my body for me, and your body for you, be hung our divinest aromas,
5227Thrive, cities--bring your freight, bring your shows, ample and
5228    sufficient rivers,
5229Expand, being than which none else is perhaps more spiritual,
5230Keep your places, objects than which none else is more lasting.
5231
5232You have waited, you always wait, you dumb, beautiful ministers,
5233We receive you with free sense at last, and are insatiate henceforward,
5234Not you any more shall be able to foil us, or withhold yourselves from us,
5235We use you, and do not cast you aside--we plant you permanently within us,
5236We fathom you not--we love you--there is perfection in you also,
5237You furnish your parts toward eternity,
5238Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul.
5239
5240
5241
5242
5243
5244
5245Now list to my morning's romanza, I tell the signs of the Answerer,
5246To the cities and farms I sing as they spread in the sunshine before me.
5247
5248A young man comes to me bearing a message from his brother,
5249How shall the young man know the whether and when of his brother?
5250Tell him to send me the signs. And I stand before the young man
5251    face to face, and take his right hand in my left hand and his
5252    left hand in my right hand,
5253And I answer for his brother and for men, and I answer for him that
5254    answers for all, and send these signs.
5255
5256Him all wait for, him all yield up to, his word is decisive and final,
5257Him they accept, in him lave, in him perceive themselves as amid light,
5258Him they immerse and he immerses them.
5259
5260Beautiful women, the haughtiest nations, laws, the landscape,
5261    people, animals,
5262The profound earth and its attributes and the unquiet ocean, (so
5263    tell I my morning's romanza,)
5264All enjoyments and properties and money, and whatever money will buy,
5265The best farms, others toiling and planting and he unavoidably reaps,
5266The noblest and costliest cities, others grading and building and he
5267    domiciles there,
5268Nothing for any one but what is for him, near and far are for him,
5269    the ships in the offing,
5270The perpetual shows and marches on land are for him if they are for anybody.
5271
5272He puts things in their attitudes,
5273He puts to-day out of himself with plasticity and love,
5274He places his own times, reminiscences, parents, brothers and
5275    sisters, associations, employment, politics, so that the rest
5276    never shame them afterward, nor assume to command them.
5277
5278He is the Answerer,
5279What can be answer'd he answers, and what cannot be answer'd he
5280    shows how it cannot be answer'd.
5281
5282A man is a summons and challenge,
5283(It is vain to skulk--do you hear that mocking and laughter? do you
5284    hear the ironical echoes?)
5285
5286Books, friendships, philosophers, priests, action, pleasure, pride,
5287    beat up and down seeking to give satisfaction,
5288He indicates the satisfaction, and indicates them that beat up and
5289    down also.
5290
5291Whichever the sex, whatever the season or place, he may go freshly
5292    and gently and safely by day or by night,
5293He has the pass-key of hearts, to him the response of the prying of
5294    hands on the knobs.
5295
5296His welcome is universal, the flow of beauty is not more welcome or
5297    universal than he is,
5298The person he favors by day or sleeps with at night is blessed.
5299
5300Every existence has its idiom, every thing has an idiom and tongue,
5301He resolves all tongues into his own and bestows it upon men, and
5302    any man translates, and any man translates himself also,
5303One part does not counteract another part, he is the joiner, he sees
5304    how they join.
5305
5306He says indifferently and alike How are you friend? to the President
5307    at his levee,
5308And he says Good-day my brother, to Cudge that hoes in the sugar-field,
5309And both understand him and know that his speech is right.
5310
5311He walks with perfect ease in the capitol,
5312He walks among the Congress, and one Representative says to another,
5313    Here is our equal appearing and new.
5314
5315Then the mechanics take him for a mechanic,
5316And the soldiers suppose him to be a soldier, and the sailors that
5317    he has follow'd the sea,
5318And the authors take him for an author, and the artists for an artist,
5319And the laborers perceive he could labor with them and love them,
5320No matter what the work is, that he is the one to follow it or has
5321    follow'd it,
5322No matter what the nation, that he might find his brothers and
5323    sisters there.
5324
5325The English believe he comes of their English stock,
5326A Jew to the Jew he seems, a Russ to the Russ, usual and near,
5327    removed from none.
5328
5329Whoever he looks at in the traveler's coffee-house claims him,
5330The Italian or Frenchman is sure, the German is sure, the Spaniard
5331    is sure, and the island Cuban is sure,
5332The engineer, the deck-hand on the great lakes, or on the Mississippi
5333    or St. Lawrence or Sacramento, or Hudson or Paumanok sound, claims him.
5334
5335The gentleman of perfect blood acknowledges his perfect blood,
5336The insulter, the prostitute, the angry person, the beggar, see
5337    themselves in the ways of him, he strangely transmutes them,
5338They are not vile any more, they hardly know themselves they are so grown.
5339
5340
5341The indications and tally of time,
5342Perfect sanity shows the master among philosophs,
5343Time, always without break, indicates itself in parts,
5344What always indicates the poet is the crowd of the pleasant company
5345    of singers, and their words,
5346The words of the singers are the hours or minutes of the light or dark,
5347    but the words of the maker of poems are the general light and dark,
5348The maker of poems settles justice, reality, immortality,
5349His insight and power encircle things and the human race,
5350He is the glory and extract thus far of things and of the human race.
5351
5352The singers do not beget, only the Poet begets,
5353The singers are welcom'd, understood, appear often enough, but rare
5354    has the day been, likewise the spot, of the birth of the maker
5355    of poems, the Answerer,
5356(Not every century nor every five centuries has contain'd such a
5357    day, for all its names.)
5358
5359The singers of successive hours of centuries may have ostensible
5360    names, but the name of each of them is one of the singers,
5361The name of each is, eye-singer, ear-singer, head-singer,
5362    sweet-singer, night-singer, parlor-singer, love-singer,
5363    weird-singer, or something else.
5364
5365All this time and at all times wait the words of true poems,
5366The words of true poems do not merely please,
5367The true poets are not followers of beauty but the august masters of beauty;
5368The greatness of sons is the exuding of the greatness of mothers
5369    and fathers,
5370The words of true poems are the tuft and final applause of science.
5371
5372Divine instinct, breadth of vision, the law of reason, health,
5373    rudeness of body, withdrawnness,
5374Gayety, sun-tan, air-sweetness, such are some of the words of poems.
5375
5376The sailor and traveler underlie the maker of poems, the Answerer,
5377The builder, geometer, chemist, anatomist, phrenologist, artist, all
5378    these underlie the maker of poems, the Answerer.
5379
5380The words of the true poems give you more than poems,
5381They give you to form for yourself poems, religions, politics, war,
5382    peace, behavior, histories, essays, daily life, and every thing else,
5383They balance ranks, colors, races, creeds, and the sexes,
5384They do not seek beauty, they are sought,
5385Forever touching them or close upon them follows beauty, longing,
5386    fain, love-sick.
5387
5388They prepare for death, yet are they not the finish, but rather the outset,
5389They bring none to his or her terminus or to be content and full,
5390Whom they take they take into space to behold the birth of stars, to
5391    learn one of the meanings,
5392To launch off with absolute faith, to sweep through the ceaseless
5393    rings and never be quiet again.
5394
5395
5396
5397
5398
5399Always our old feuillage!
5400Always Florida's green peninsula--always the priceless delta of
5401    Louisiana--always the cotton-fields of Alabama and Texas,
5402Always California's golden hills and hollows, and the silver
5403    mountains of New Mexico--always soft-breath'd Cuba,
5404Always the vast slope drain'd by the Southern sea, inseparable with
5405    the slopes drain'd by the Eastern and Western seas,
5406The area the eighty-third year of these States, the three and a half
5407    millions of square miles,
5408The eighteen thousand miles of sea-coast and bay-coast on the main,
5409    the thirty thousand miles of river navigation,
5410The seven millions of distinct families and the same number of dwellings--
5411    always these, and more, branching forth into numberless branches,
5412Always the free range and diversity--always the continent of Democracy;
5413Always the prairies, pastures, forests, vast cities, travelers,
5414    Kanada, the snows;
5415Always these compact lands tied at the hips with the belt stringing
5416    the huge oval lakes;
5417Always the West with strong native persons, the increasing density there,
5418    the habitans, friendly, threatening, ironical, scorning invaders;
5419All sights, South, North, East--all deeds, promiscuously done at all times,
5420All characters, movements, growths, a few noticed, myriads unnoticed,
5421Through Mannahatta's streets I walking, these things gathering,
5422On interior rivers by night in the glare of pine knots, steamboats
5423    wooding up,
5424Sunlight by day on the valley of the Susquehanna, and on the valleys
5425    of the Potomac and Rappahannock, and the valleys of the Roanoke
5426    and Delaware,
5427In their northerly wilds beasts of prey haunting the Adirondacks the
5428    hills, or lapping the Saginaw waters to drink,
5429In a lonesome inlet a sheldrake lost from the flock, sitting on the
5430    water rocking silently,
5431In farmers' barns oxen in the stable, their harvest labor done, they
5432    rest standing, they are too tired,
5433Afar on arctic ice the she-walrus lying drowsily while her cubs play around,
5434The hawk sailing where men have not yet sail'd, the farthest polar
5435    sea, ripply, crystalline, open, beyond the floes,
5436White drift spooning ahead where the ship in the tempest dashes,
5437On solid land what is done in cities as the bells strike midnight together,
5438In primitive woods the sounds there also sounding, the howl of the
5439    wolf, the scream of the panther, and the hoarse bellow of the elk,
5440In winter beneath the hard blue ice of Moosehead lake, in summer
5441    visible through the clear waters, the great trout swimming,
5442In lower latitudes in warmer air in the Carolinas the large black
5443    buzzard floating slowly high beyond the tree tops,
5444Below, the red cedar festoon'd with tylandria, the pines and
5445    cypresses growing out of the white sand that spreads far and flat,
5446Rude boats descending the big Pedee, climbing plants, parasites with
5447    color'd flowers and berries enveloping huge trees,
5448The waving drapery on the live-oak trailing long and low,
5449    noiselessly waved by the wind,
5450The camp of Georgia wagoners just after dark, the supper-fires and
5451    the cooking and eating by whites and negroes,
5452Thirty or forty great wagons, the mules, cattle, horses, feeding
5453    from troughs,
5454The shadows, gleams, up under the leaves of the old sycamore-trees,
5455    the flames with the black smoke from the pitch-pine curling and rising;
5456Southern fishermen fishing, the sounds and inlets of North
5457    Carolina's coast, the shad-fishery and the herring-fishery, the
5458    large sweep-seines, the windlasses on shore work'd by horses, the
5459    clearing, curing, and packing-houses;
5460Deep in the forest in piney woods turpentine dropping from the
5461    incisions in the trees, there are the turpentine works,
5462There are the negroes at work in good health, the ground in all
5463    directions is cover'd with pine straw;
5464In Tennessee and Kentucky slaves busy in the coalings, at the forge,
5465    by the furnace-blaze, or at the corn-shucking,
5466In Virginia, the planter's son returning after a long absence,
5467    joyfully welcom'd and kiss'd by the aged mulatto nurse,
5468On rivers boatmen safely moor'd at nightfall in their boats under
5469    shelter of high banks,
5470Some of the younger men dance to the sound of the banjo or fiddle,
5471    others sit on the gunwale smoking and talking;
5472Late in the afternoon the mocking-bird, the American mimic, singing
5473    in the Great Dismal Swamp,
5474There are the greenish waters, the resinous odor, the plenteous
5475    moss, the cypress-tree, and the juniper-tree;
5476Northward, young men of Mannahatta, the target company from an
5477    excursion returning home at evening, the musket-muzzles all
5478    bear bunches of flowers presented by women;
5479Children at play, or on his father's lap a young boy fallen asleep,
5480    (how his lips move! how he smiles in his sleep!)
5481The scout riding on horseback over the plains west of the
5482    Mississippi, he ascends a knoll and sweeps his eyes around;
5483California life, the miner, bearded, dress'd in his rude costume,
5484    the stanch California friendship, the sweet air, the graves one
5485    in passing meets solitary just aside the horse-path;
5486Down in Texas the cotton-field, the negro-cabins, drivers driving
5487    mules or oxen before rude carts, cotton bales piled on banks
5488    and wharves;
5489Encircling all, vast-darting up and wide, the American Soul, with
5490    equal hemispheres, one Love, one Dilation or Pride;
5491In arriere the peace-talk with the Iroquois the aborigines, the
5492    calumet, the pipe of good-will, arbitration, and indorsement,
5493The sachem blowing the smoke first toward the sun and then toward
5494    the earth,
5495The drama of the scalp-dance enacted with painted faces and guttural
5496    exclamations,
5497The setting out of the war-party, the long and stealthy march,
5498The single file, the swinging hatchets, the surprise and slaughter
5499    of enemies;
5500All the acts, scenes, ways, persons, attitudes of these States,
5501    reminiscences, institutions,
5502All these States compact, every square mile of these States without
5503    excepting a particle;
5504Me pleas'd, rambling in lanes and country fields, Paumanok's fields,
5505Observing the spiral flight of two little yellow butterflies
5506    shuffling between each other, ascending high in the air,
5507The darting swallow, the destroyer of insects, the fall traveler
5508    southward but returning northward early in the spring,
5509The country boy at the close of the day driving the herd of cows and
5510    shouting to them as they loiter to browse by the roadside,
5511The city wharf, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, New
5512    Orleans, San Francisco,
5513The departing ships when the sailors heave at the capstan;
5514Evening--me in my room--the setting sun,
5515The setting summer sun shining in my open window, showing the
5516    swarm of flies, suspended, balancing in the air in the centre
5517    of the room, darting athwart, up and down, casting swift
5518    shadows in specks on the opposite wall where the shine is;
5519The athletic American matron speaking in public to crowds of listeners,
5520Males, females, immigrants, combinations, the copiousness, the
5521    individuality of the States, each for itself--the moneymakers,
5522Factories, machinery, the mechanical forces, the windlass, lever,
5523    pulley, all certainties,
5524The certainty of space, increase, freedom, futurity,
5525In space the sporades, the scatter'd islands, the stars--on the firm
5526    earth, the lands, my lands,
5527O lands! all so dear to me--what you are, (whatever it is,) I putting it
5528    at random in these songs, become a part of that, whatever it is,
5529Southward there, I screaming, with wings slow flapping, with the
5530    myriads of gulls wintering along the coasts of Florida,
5531Otherways there atwixt the banks of the Arkansaw, the Rio Grande,
5532    the Nueces, the Brazos, the Tombigbee, the Red River, the
5533    Saskatchawan or the Osage, I with the spring waters laughing
5534    and skipping and running,
5535Northward, on the sands, on some shallow bay of Paumanok, I with
5536    parties of snowy herons wading in the wet to seek worms and
5537    aquatic plants,
5538Retreating, triumphantly twittering, the king-bird, from piercing
5539    the crow with its bill, for amusement--and I triumphantly twittering,
5540The migrating flock of wild geese alighting in autumn to refresh
5541    themselves, the body of the flock feed, the sentinels outside
5542    move around with erect heads watching, and are from time to time
5543    reliev'd by other sentinels--and I feeding and taking turns
5544    with the rest,
5545In Kanadian forests the moose, large as an ox, corner'd by hunters,
5546    rising desperately on his hind-feet, and plunging with his
5547    fore-feet, the hoofs as sharp as knives--and I, plunging at the
5548    hunters, corner'd and desperate,
5549In the Mannahatta, streets, piers, shipping, store-houses, and the
5550    countless workmen working in the shops,
5551And I too of the Mannahatta, singing thereof--and no less in myself
5552    than the whole of the Mannahatta in itself,
5553Singing the song of These, my ever-united lands--my body no more
5554    inevitably united, part to part, and made out of a thousand
5555    diverse contributions one identity, any more than my lands
5556    are inevitably united and made ONE IDENTITY;
5557Nativities, climates, the grass of the great pastoral Plains,
5558Cities, labors, death, animals, products, war, good and evil--these me,
5559These affording, in all their particulars, the old feuillage to me
5560    and to America, how can I do less than pass the clew of the union
5561    of them, to afford the like to you?
5562Whoever you are! how can I but offer you divine leaves, that you
5563    also be eligible as I am?
5564How can I but as here chanting, invite you for yourself to collect
5565    bouquets of the incomparable feuillage of these States?
5566
5567
5568
5569
5570
5571O to make the most jubilant song!
5572Full of music--full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
5573Full of common employments--full of grain and trees.
5574
5575O for the voices of animals--O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
5576O for the dropping of raindrops in a song!
5577O for the sunshine and motion of waves in a song!
5578
5579O the joy of my spirit--it is uncaged--it darts like lightning!
5580It is not enough to have this globe or a certain time,
5581I will have thousands of globes and all time.
5582
5583O the engineer's joys! to go with a locomotive!
5584To hear the hiss of steam, the merry shriek, the steam-whistle, the
5585    laughing locomotive!
5586To push with resistless way and speed off in the distance.
5587
5588O the gleesome saunter over fields and hillsides!
5589The leaves and flowers of the commonest weeds, the moist fresh
5590    stillness of the woods,
5591The exquisite smell of the earth at daybreak, and all through the forenoon.
5592
5593O the horseman's and horsewoman's joys!
5594The saddle, the gallop, the pressure upon the seat, the cool
5595    gurgling by the ears and hair.
5596
5597O the fireman's joys!
5598I hear the alarm at dead of night,
5599I hear bells, shouts! I pass the crowd, I run!
5600The sight of the flames maddens me with pleasure.
5601
5602O the joy of the strong-brawn'd fighter, towering in the arena in
5603    perfect condition, conscious of power, thirsting to meet his opponent.
5604
5605O the joy of that vast elemental sympathy which only the human soul is
5606    capable of generating and emitting in steady and limitless floods.
5607
5608O the mother's joys!
5609The watching, the endurance, the precious love, the anguish, the
5610    patiently yielded life.
5611
5612O the of increase, growth, recuperation,
5613The joy of soothing and pacifying, the joy of concord and harmony.
5614
5615O to go back to the place where I was born,
5616To hear the birds sing once more,
5617To ramble about the house and barn and over the fields once more,
5618And through the orchard and along the old lanes once more.
5619
5620O to have been brought up on bays, lagoons, creeks, or along the coast,
5621To continue and be employ'd there all my life,
5622The briny and damp smell, the shore, the salt weeds exposed at low water,
5623The work of fishermen, the work of the eel-fisher and clam-fisher;
5624I come with my clam-rake and spade, I come with my eel-spear,
5625Is the tide out? I Join the group of clam-diggers on the flats,
5626I laugh and work with them, I joke at my work like a mettlesome young man;
5627In winter I take my eel-basket and eel-spear and travel out on foot
5628    on the ice--I have a small axe to cut holes in the ice,
5629Behold me well-clothed going gayly or returning in the afternoon,
5630    my brood of tough boys accompanying me,
5631My brood of grown and part-grown boys, who love to be with no
5632    one else so well as they love to be with me,
5633By day to work with me, and by night to sleep with me.
5634
5635Another time in warm weather out in a boat, to lift the lobster-pots
5636    where they are sunk with heavy stones, (I know the buoys,)
5637O the sweetness of the Fifth-month morning upon the water as I row
5638    just before sunrise toward the buoys,
5639I pull the wicker pots up slantingly, the dark green lobsters are
5640    desperate with their claws as I take them out, I insert
5641    wooden pegs in the 'oints of their pincers,
5642
5643I go to all the places one after another, and then row back to the shore,
5644There in a huge kettle of boiling water the lobsters shall be boil'd
5645    till their color becomes scarlet.
5646
5647Another time mackerel-taking,
5648Voracious, mad for the hook, near the surface, they seem to fill the
5649    water for miles;
5650Another time fishing for rock-fish in Chesapeake bay, I one of the
5651    brown-faced crew;
5652Another time trailing for blue-fish off Paumanok, I stand with braced body,
5653My left foot is on the gunwale, my right arm throws far out the
5654    coils of slender rope,
5655In sight around me the quick veering and darting of fifty skiffs, my
5656    companions.
5657
5658O boating on the rivers,
5659The voyage down the St. Lawrence, the superb scenery, the steamers,
5660The ships sailing, the Thousand Islands, the occasional timber-raft
5661    and the raftsmen with long-reaching sweep-oars,
5662The little huts on the rafts, and the stream of smoke when they cook
5663    supper at evening.
5664
5665(O something pernicious and dread!
5666Something far away from a puny and pious life!
5667Something unproved! something in a trance!
5668Something escaped from the anchorage and driving free.)
5669
5670O to work in mines, or forging iron,
5671Foundry casting, the foundry itself, the rude high roof, the ample
5672    and shadow'd space,
5673The furnace, the hot liquid pour'd out and running.
5674
5675O to resume the joys of the soldier!
5676To feel the presence of a brave commanding officer--to feel his sympathy!
5677To behold his calmness--to be warm'd in the rays of his smile!
5678To go to battle--to hear the bugles play and the drums beat!
5679To hear the crash of artillery--to see the glittering of the bayonets
5680    and musket-barrels in the sun!
5681
5682To see men fall and die and not complain!
5683To taste the savage taste of blood--to be so devilish!
5684To gloat so over the wounds and deaths of the enemy.
5685
5686O the whaleman's joys! O I cruise my old cruise again!
5687I feel the ship's motion under me, I feel the Atlantic breezes fanning me,
5688I hear the cry again sent down from the mast-head, There--she blows!
5689Again I spring up the rigging to look with the rest--we descend,
5690    wild with excitement,
5691I leap in the lower'd boat, we row toward our prey where he lies,
5692We approach stealthy and silent, I see the mountainous mass,
5693    lethargic, basking,
5694I see the harpooneer standing up, I see the weapon dart from his
5695    vigorous arm;
5696O swift again far out in the ocean the wounded whale, settling,
5697    running to windward, tows me,
5698Again I see him rise to breathe, we row close again,
5699I see a lance driven through his side, press'd deep, turn'd in the wound,
5700Again we back off, I see him settle again, the life is leaving him fast,
5701As he rises he spouts blood, I see him swim in circles narrower and
5702    narrower, swiftly cutting the water--I see him die,
5703He gives one convulsive leap in the centre of the circle, and then
5704    falls flat and still in the bloody foam.
5705
5706O the old manhood of me, my noblest joy of all!
5707My children and grand-children, my white hair and beard,
5708My largeness, calmness, majesty, out of the long stretch of my life.
5709
5710O ripen'd joy of womanhood! O happiness at last!
5711I am more than eighty years of age, I am the most venerable mother,
5712How clear is my mind--how all people draw nigh to me!
5713What attractions are these beyond any before? what bloom more
5714    than the bloom of youth?
5715What beauty is this that descends upon me and rises out of me?
5716
5717O the orator's joys!
5718To inflate the chest, to roll the thunder of the voice out from the
5719    ribs and throat,
5720To make the people rage, weep, hate, desire, with yourself,
5721To lead America--to quell America with a great tongue.
5722
5723O the joy of my soul leaning pois'd on itself, receiving identity through
5724    materials and loving them, observing characters and absorbing them,
5725My soul vibrated back to me from them, from sight, hearing, touch,
5726    reason, articulation, comparison, memory, and the like,
5727The real life of my senses and flesh transcending my senses and flesh,
5728My body done with materials, my sight done with my material eyes,
5729Proved to me this day beyond cavil that it is not my material eyes
5730    which finally see,
5731Nor my material body which finally loves, walks, laughs, shouts,
5732    embraces, procreates.
5733
5734O the farmer's joys!
5735Ohioan's, Illinoisian's, Wisconsinese', Kanadian's, Iowan's,
5736    Kansian's, Missourian's, Oregonese' joys!
5737To rise at peep of day and pass forth nimbly to work,
5738To plough land in the fall for winter-sown crops,
5739To plough land in the spring for maize,
5740To train orchards, to graft the trees, to gather apples in the fall.
5741
5742O to bathe in the swimming-bath, or in a good place along shore,
5743To splash the water! to walk ankle-deep, or race naked along the shore.
5744
5745O to realize space!
5746The plenteousness of all, that there are no bounds,
5747To emerge and be of the sky, of the sun and moon and flying
5748    clouds, as one with them.
5749
5750O the joy a manly self-hood!
5751To be servile to none, to defer to none, not to any tyrant known or unknown,
5752To walk with erect carriage, a step springy and elastic,
5753To look with calm gaze or with a flashing eye,
5754To speak with a full and sonorous voice out of a broad chest,
5755To confront with your personality all the other personalities of the earth.
5756
5757Knowist thou the excellent joys of youth?
5758Joys of the dear companions and of the merry word and laughing face?
5759Joy of the glad light-beaming day, joy of the wide-breath'd games?
5760Joy of sweet music, joy of the lighted ball-room and the dancers?
5761Joy of the plenteous dinner, strong carouse and drinking?
5762
5763Yet O my soul supreme!
5764Knowist thou the joys of pensive thought?
5765Joys of the free and lonesome heart, the tender, gloomy heart?
5766Joys of the solitary walk, the spirit bow'd yet proud, the suffering
5767    and the struggle?
5768The agonistic throes, the ecstasies, joys of the solemn musings day
5769    or night?
5770Joys of the thought of Death, the great spheres Time and Space?
5771Prophetic joys of better, loftier love's ideals, the divine wife,
5772    the sweet, eternal, perfect comrade?
5773Joys all thine own undying one, joys worthy thee O soul.
5774
5775O while I live to be the ruler of life, not a slave,
5776To meet life as a powerful conqueror,
5777No fumes, no ennui, no more complaints or scornful criticisms,
5778To these proud laws of the air, the water and the ground, proving
5779    my interior soul impregnable,
5780And nothing exterior shall ever take command of me.
5781
5782For not life's joys alone I sing, repeating--the joy of death!
5783The beautiful touch of Death, soothing and benumbing a few moments,
5784    for reasons,
5785Myself discharging my excrementitious body to be burn'd, or render'd
5786    to powder, or buried,
5787My real body doubtless left to me for other spheres,
5788My voided body nothing more to me, returning to the purifications,
5789    further offices, eternal uses of the earth.
5790
5791O to attract by more than attraction!
5792How it is I know not--yet behold! the something which obeys none
5793    of the rest,
5794It is offensive, never defensive--yet how magnetic it draws.
5795
5796O to struggle against great odds, to meet enemies undaunted!
5797To be entirely alone with them, to find how much one can stand!
5798To look strife, torture, prison, popular odium, face to face!
5799To mount the scaffold, to advance to the muzzles of guns with
5800    perfect nonchalance!
5801To be indeed a God!
5802
5803O to sail to sea in a ship!
5804To leave this steady unendurable land,
5805To leave the tiresome sameness of the streets, the sidewalks and the
5806    houses,
5807To leave you O you solid motionless land, and entering a ship,
5808To sail and sail and sail!
5809
5810O to have life henceforth a poem of new joys!
5811To dance, clap hands, exult, shout, skip, leap, roll on, float on!
5812To be a sailor of the world bound for all ports,
5813A ship itself, (see indeed these sails I spread to the sun and air,)
5814A swift and swelling ship full of rich words, full of joys.
5815
5816
5817
5818
5819
5820
5821Weapon shapely, naked, wan,
5822Head from the mother's bowels drawn,
5823Wooded flesh and metal bone, limb only one and lip only one,
5824Gray-blue leaf by red-heat grown, helve produced from a little seed sown,
5825Resting the grass amid and upon,
5826To be lean'd and to lean on.
5827
5828Strong shapes and attributes of strong shapes, masculine trades,
5829    sights and sounds.
5830Long varied train of an emblem, dabs of music,
5831Fingers of the organist skipping staccato over the keys of the great organ.
5832
5833
5834Welcome are all earth's lands, each for its kind,
5835Welcome are lands of pine and oak,
5836Welcome are lands of the lemon and fig,
5837Welcome are lands of gold,
5838Welcome are lands of wheat and maize, welcome those of the grape,
5839Welcome are lands of sugar and rice,
5840Welcome the cotton-lands, welcome those of the white potato and
5841    sweet potato,
5842Welcome are mountains, flats, sands, forests, prairies,
5843Welcome the rich borders of rivers, table-lands, openings,
5844Welcome the measureless grazing-lands, welcome the teeming soil of
5845    orchards, flax, honey, hemp;
5846Welcome just as much the other more hard-faced lands,
5847Lands rich as lands of gold or wheat and fruit lands,
5848Lands of mines, lands of the manly and rugged ores,
5849Lands of coal, copper, lead, tin, zinc,
5850Lands of iron--lands of the make of the axe.
5851
5852
5853The log at the wood-pile, the axe supported by it,
5854The sylvan hut, the vine over the doorway, the space clear'd for garden,
5855The irregular tapping of rain down on the leaves after the storm is lull'd,
5856The walling and moaning at intervals, the thought of the sea,
5857The thought of ships struck in the storm and put on their beam ends,
5858    and the cutting away of masts,
5859The sentiment of the huge timbers of old-fashion'd houses and barns,
5860The remember'd print or narrative, the voyage at a venture of men,
5861    families, goods,
5862The disembarkation, the founding of a new city,
5863The voyage of those who sought a New England and found it, the outset
5864    anywhere,
5865The settlements of the Arkansas, Colorado, Ottawa, Willamette,
5866The slow progress, the scant fare, the axe, rifle, saddle-bags;
5867The beauty of all adventurous and daring persons,
5868The beauty of wood-boys and wood-men with their clear untrimm'd faces,
5869The beauty of independence, departure, actions that rely on themselves,
5870The American contempt for statutes and ceremonies, the boundless
5871    impatience of restraint,
5872The loose drift of character, the inkling through random types, the
5873    solidification;
5874The butcher in the slaughter-house, the hands aboard schooners and
5875    sloops, the raftsman, the pioneer,
5876Lumbermen in their winter camp, daybreak in the woods, stripes of
5877    snow on the limbs of trees, the occasional snapping,
5878The glad clear sound of one's own voice, the merry song, the natural
5879    life of the woods, the strong day's work,
5880The blazing fire at night, the sweet taste of supper, the talk, the
5881    bed of hemlock-boughs and the bear-skin;
5882The house-builder at work in cities or anywhere,
5883The preparatory jointing, squaring, sawing, mortising,
5884The hoist-up of beams, the push of them in their places, laying them
5885    regular,
5886Setting the studs by their tenons in the mortises according as they
5887    were prepared,
5888The blows of mallets and hammers, the attitudes of the men, their
5889    curv'd limbs,
5890Bending, standing, astride the beams, driving in pins, holding on by
5891    posts and braces,
5892The hook'd arm over the plate, the other arm wielding the axe,
5893The floor-men forcing the planks close to be nail'd,
5894Their postures bringing their weapons downward on the bearers,
5895The echoes resounding through the vacant building:
5896The huge storehouse carried up in the city well under way,
5897The six framing-men, two in the middle and two at each end, carefully
5898    bearing on their shoulders a heavy stick for a cross-beam,
5899The crowded line of masons with trowels in their right hands rapidly
5900    laying the long side-wall, two hundred feet from front to rear,
5901The flexible rise and fall of backs, the continual click of the
5902    trowels striking the bricks,
5903The bricks one after another each laid so workmanlike in its place,
5904    and set with a knock of the trowel-handle,
5905The piles of materials, the mortar on the mortar-boards, and the
5906    steady replenishing by the hod-men;
5907Spar-makers in the spar-yard, the swarming row of well-grown apprentices,
5908The swing of their axes on the square-hew'd log shaping it toward
5909    the shape of a mast,
5910The brisk short crackle of the steel driven slantingly into the pine,
5911The butter-color'd chips flying off in great flakes and slivers,
5912The limber motion of brawny young arms and hips in easy costumes,
5913The constructor of wharves, bridges, piers, bulk-heads, floats,
5914    stays against the sea;
5915The city fireman, the fire that suddenly bursts forth in the
5916    close-pack'd square,
5917The arriving engines, the hoarse shouts, the nimble stepping and daring,
5918The strong command through the fire-trumpets, the falling in line,
5919    the rise and fall of the arms forcing the water,
5920The slender, spasmic, blue-white jets, the bringing to bear of the
5921    hooks and ladders and their execution,
5922The crash and cut away of connecting wood-work, or through floors
5923    if the fire smoulders under them,
5924The crowd with their lit faces watching, the glare and dense shadows;
5925The forger at his forge-furnace and the user of iron after him,
5926The maker of the axe large and small, and the welder and temperer,
5927The chooser breathing his breath on the cold steel and trying the
5928    edge with his thumb,
5929The one who clean-shapes the handle and sets it firmly in the socket;
5930The shadowy processions of the portraits of the past users also,
5931The primal patient mechanics, the architects and engineers,
5932The far-off Assyrian edifice and Mizra edifice,
5933The Roman lictors preceding the consuls,
5934The antique European warrior with his axe in combat,
5935The uplifted arm, the clatter of blows on the helmeted head,
5936The death-howl, the limpsy tumbling body, the rush of friend and foe
5937    thither,
5938The siege of revolted lieges determin'd for liberty,
5939The summons to surrender, the battering at castle gates, the truce
5940    and parley,
5941The sack of an old city in its time,
5942The bursting in of mercenaries and bigots tumultuously and disorderly,
5943Roar, flames, blood, drunkenness, madness,
5944Goods freely rifled from houses and temples, screams of women in the
5945    gripe of brigands,
5946Craft and thievery of camp-followers, men running, old persons despairing,
5947The hell of war, the cruelties of creeds,
5948The list of all executive deeds and words just or unjust,
5949The power of personality just or unjust.
5950
5951
5952Muscle and pluck forever!
5953What invigorates life invigorates death,
5954And the dead advance as much as the living advance,
5955And the future is no more uncertain than the present,
5956For the roughness of the earth and of man encloses as much as the
5957    delicatesse of the earth and of man,
5958And nothing endures but personal qualities.
5959
5960What do you think endures?
5961Do you think a great city endures?
5962Or a teeming manufacturing state? or a prepared constitution? or the
5963    best built steamships?
5964Or hotels of granite and iron? or any chef-d'oeuvres of engineering,
5965    forts, armaments?
5966
5967Away! these are not to be cherish'd for themselves,
5968They fill their hour, the dancers dance, the musicians play for them,
5969The show passes, all does well enough of course,
5970All does very well till one flash of defiance.
5971
5972A great city is that which has the greatest men and women,
5973If it be a few ragged huts it is still the greatest city in the
5974    whole world.
5975
5976
5977The place where a great city stands is not the place of stretch'd
5978    wharves, docks, manufactures, deposits of produce merely,
5979Nor the place of ceaseless salutes of new-comers or the
5980    anchor-lifters of the departing,
5981Nor the place of the tallest and costliest buildings or shops
5982    selling goods from the rest of the earth,
5983Nor the place of the best libraries and schools, nor the place where
5984    money is plentiest,
5985Nor the place of the most numerous population.
5986
5987Where the city stands with the brawniest breed of orators and bards,
5988Where the city stands that is belov'd by these, and loves them in
5989    return and understands them,
5990Where no monuments exist to heroes but in the common words and deeds,
5991Where thrift is in its place, and prudence is in its place,
5992Where the men and women think lightly of the laws,
5993Where the slave ceases, and the master of slaves ceases,
5994Where the populace rise at once against the never-ending audacity of
5995    elected persons,
5996Where fierce men and women pour forth as the sea to the whistle of
5997    death pours its sweeping and unript waves,
5998Where outside authority enters always after the precedence of inside
5999    authority,
6000Where the citizen is always the head and ideal, and President,
6001    Mayor, Governor and what not, are agents for pay,
6002Where children are taught to be laws to themselves, and to depend on
6003    themselves,
6004Where equanimity is illustrated in affairs,
6005Where speculations on the soul are encouraged,
6006Where women walk in public processions in the streets the same as the men,
6007Where they enter the public assembly and take places the same as the men;
6008Where the city of the faithfulest friends stands,
6009Where the city of the cleanliness of the sexes stands,
6010Where the city of the healthiest fathers stands,
6011Where the city of the best-bodied mothers stands,
6012There the great city stands.
6013
6014
6015How beggarly appear arguments before a defiant deed!
6016How the floridness of the materials of cities shrivels before a
6017    man's or woman's look!
6018
6019All waits or goes by default till a strong being appears;
6020A strong being is the proof of the race and of the ability of the universe,
6021When he or she appears materials are overaw'd,
6022The dispute on the soul stops,
6023The old customs and phrases are confronted, turn'd back, or laid away.
6024
6025What is your money-making now? what can it do now?
6026What is your respectability now?
6027What are your theology, tuition, society, traditions, statute-books, now?
6028Where are your jibes of being now?
6029Where are your cavils about the soul now?
6030
6031
6032A sterile landscape covers the ore, there is as good as the best for
6033    all the forbidding appearance,
6034There is the mine, there are the miners,
6035The forge-furnace is there, the melt is accomplish'd, the hammersmen
6036    are at hand with their tongs and hammers,
6037What always served and always serves is at hand.
6038
6039Than this nothing has better served, it has served all,
6040Served the fluent-tongued and subtle-sensed Greek, and long ere the Greek,
6041Served in building the buildings that last longer than any,
6042Served the Hebrew, the Persian, the most ancient Hindustanee,
6043Served the mound-raiser on the Mississippi, served those whose
6044    relics remain in Central America,
6045Served Albic temples in woods or on plains, with unhewn pillars and
6046    the druids,
6047Served the artificial clefts, vast, high, silent, on the
6048    snow-cover'd hills of Scandinavia,
6049Served those who time out of mind made on the granite walls rough
6050    sketches of the sun, moon, stars, ships, ocean waves,
6051Served the paths of the irruptions of the Goths, served the pastoral
6052    tribes and nomads,
6053Served the long distant Kelt, served the hardy pirates of the Baltic,
6054Served before any of those the venerable and harmless men of Ethiopia,
6055Served the making of helms for the galleys of pleasure and the
6056    making of those for war,
6057Served all great works on land and all great works on the sea,
6058For the mediaeval ages and before the mediaeval ages,
6059Served not the living only then as now, but served the dead.
6060
6061
6062I see the European headsman,
6063He stands mask'd, clothed in red, with huge legs and strong naked arms,
6064And leans on a ponderous axe.
6065
6066(Whom have you slaughter'd lately European headsman?
6067Whose is that blood upon you so wet and sticky?)
6068
6069I see the clear sunsets of the martyrs,
6070I see from the scaffolds the descending ghosts,
6071Ghosts of dead lords, uncrown'd ladies, impeach'd ministers, rejected kings,
6072Rivals, traitors, poisoners, disgraced chieftains and the rest.
6073
6074I see those who in any land have died for the good cause,
6075The seed is spare, nevertheless the crop shall never run out,
6076(Mind you O foreign kings, O priests, the crop shall never run out.)
6077
6078I see the blood wash'd entirely away from the axe,
6079Both blade and helve are clean,
6080They spirt no more the blood of European nobles, they clasp no more
6081    the necks of queens.
6082
6083I see the headsman withdraw and become useless,
6084I see the scaffold untrodden and mouldy, I see no longer any axe upon it,
6085
6086I see the mighty and friendly emblem of the power of my own race,
6087    the newest, largest race.
6088
6089
6090(America! I do not vaunt my love for you,
6091I have what I have.)
6092
6093The axe leaps!
6094The solid forest gives fluid utterances,
6095They tumble forth, they rise and form,
6096Hut, tent, landing, survey,
6097Flail, plough, pick, crowbar, spade,
6098Shingle, rail, prop, wainscot, lamb, lath, panel, gable,
6099Citadel, ceiling, saloon, academy, organ, exhibition-house, library,
6100Cornice, trellis, pilaster, balcony, window, turret, porch,
6101Hoe, rake, pitchfork, pencil, wagon, staff, saw, jack-plane, mallet,
6102    wedge, rounce,
6103Chair, tub, hoop, table, wicket, vane, sash, floor,
6104Work-box, chest, string'd instrument, boat, frame, and what not,
6105Capitols of States, and capitol of the nation of States,
6106Long stately rows in avenues, hospitals for orphans or for the poor or sick,
6107Manhattan steamboats and clippers taking the measure of all seas.
6108
6109The shapes arise!
6110Shapes of the using of axes anyhow, and the users and all that
6111    neighbors them,
6112Cutters down of wood and haulers of it to the Penobscot or Kenebec,
6113Dwellers in cabins among the Californian mountains or by the little
6114    lakes, or on the Columbia,
6115Dwellers south on the banks of the Gila or Rio Grande, friendly
6116    gatherings, the characters and fun,
6117Dwellers along the St. Lawrence, or north in Kanada, or down by the
6118    Yellowstone, dwellers on coasts and off coasts,
6119Seal-fishers, whalers, arctic seamen breaking passages through the ice.
6120
6121The shapes arise!
6122Shapes of factories, arsenals, foundries, markets,
6123Shapes of the two-threaded tracks of railroads,
6124Shapes of the sleepers of bridges, vast frameworks, girders, arches,
6125Shapes of the fleets of barges, tows, lake and canal craft, river craft,
6126Ship-yards and dry-docks along the Eastern and Western seas, and in
6127    many a bay and by-place,
6128The live-oak kelsons, the pine planks, the spars, the
6129    hackmatack-roots for knees,
6130The ships themselves on their ways, the tiers of scaffolds, the
6131    workmen busy outside and inside,
6132The tools lying around, the great auger and little auger, the adze,
6133    bolt, line, square, gouge, and bead-plane.
6134
6135
6136The shapes arise!
6137The shape measur'd, saw'd, jack'd, join'd, stain'd,
6138The coffin-shape for the dead to lie within in his shroud,
6139The shape got out in posts, in the bedstead posts, in the posts of
6140    the bride's bed,
6141The shape of the little trough, the shape of the rockers beneath,
6142    the shape of the babe's cradle,
6143The shape of the floor-planks, the floor-planks for dancers' feet,
6144The shape of the planks of the family home, the home of the friendly
6145    parents and children,
6146The shape of the roof of the home of the happy young man and
6147    woman, the roof over the well-married young man and woman,
6148The roof over the supper joyously cook'd by the chaste wife, and joyously
6149    eaten by the chaste husband, content after his day's work.
6150
6151The shapes arise!
6152The shape of the prisoner's place in the court-room, and of him or
6153    her seated in the place,
6154The shape of the liquor-bar lean'd against by the young rum-drinker
6155    and the old rum-drinker,
6156The shape of the shamed and angry stairs trod by sneaking foot- steps,
6157The shape of the sly settee, and the adulterous unwholesome couple,
6158The shape of the gambling-board with its devilish winnings and losings,
6159The shape of the step-ladder for the convicted and sentenced
6160    murderer, the murderer with haggard face and pinion'd arms,
6161The sheriff at hand with his deputies, the silent and white-lipp'd
6162    crowd, the dangling of the rope.
6163
6164The shapes arise!
6165Shapes of doors giving many exits and entrances,
6166The door passing the dissever'd friend flush'd and in haste,
6167The door that admits good news and bad news,
6168The door whence the son left home confident and puff'd up,
6169The door he enter'd again from a long and scandalous absence,
6170    diseas'd, broken down, without innocence, without means.
6171
6172
6173Her shape arises,
6174She less guarded than ever, yet more guarded than ever,
6175The gross and soil'd she moves among do not make her gross and soil'd,
6176She knows the thoughts as she passes, nothing is conceal'd from her,
6177She is none the less considerate or friendly therefor,
6178She is the best belov'd, it is without exception, she has no reason
6179    to fear and she does not fear,
6180Oaths, quarrels, hiccupp'd songs, smutty expressions, are idle to
6181    her as she passes,
6182She is silent, she is possess'd of herself, they do not offend her,
6183She receives them as the laws of Nature receive them, she is strong,
6184She too is a law of Nature--there is no law stronger than she is.
6185
6186
6187The main shapes arise!
6188Shapes of Democracy total, result of centuries,
6189Shapes ever projecting other shapes,
6190Shapes of turbulent manly cities,
6191Shapes of the friends and home-givers of the whole earth,
6192Shapes bracing the earth and braced with the whole earth.
6193
6194
6195
6196
6197
6198
6199(Ah little recks the laborer,
6200How near his work is holding him to God,
6201The loving Laborer through space and time.)
6202
6203After all not to create only, or found only,
6204But to bring perhaps from afar what is already founded,
6205To give it our own identity, average, limitless, free,
6206To fill the gross the torpid bulk with vital religious fire,
6207Not to repel or destroy so much as accept, fuse, rehabilitate,
6208To obey as well as command, to follow more than to lead,
6209These also are the lessons of our New World;
6210While how little the New after all, how much the Old, Old World!
6211
6212Long and long has the grass been growing,
6213Long and long has the rain been falling,
6214Long has the globe been rolling round.
6215
6216
6217Come Muse migrate from Greece and Ionia,
6218Cross out please those immensely overpaid accounts,
6219That matter of Troy and Achilles' wrath, and AEneas', Odysseus' wanderings,
6220Placard "Removed" and "To Let" on the rocks of your snowy Parnassus,
6221Repeat at Jerusalem, place the notice high on jaffa's gate and on
6222    Mount Moriah,
6223The same on the walls of your German, French and Spanish castles,
6224    and Italian collections,
6225For know a better, fresher, busier sphere, a wide, untried domain
6226    awaits, demands you.
6227
6228
6229Responsive to our summons,
6230Or rather to her long-nurs'd inclination,
6231Join'd with an irresistible, natural gravitation,
6232She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown,
6233I scent the odor of her breath's delicious fragrance,
6234I mark her step divine, her curious eyes a-turning, rolling,
6235Upon this very scene.
6236
6237The dame of dames! can I believe then,
6238Those ancient temples, sculptures classic, could none of them retain her?
6239Nor shades of Virgil and Dante, nor myriad memories, poems, old
6240    associations, magnetize and hold on to her?
6241But that she's left them all--and here?
6242
6243Yes, if you will allow me to say so,
6244I, my friends, if you do not, can plainly see her,
6245The same undying soul of earth's, activity's, beauty's, heroism's
6246    expression,
6247Out from her evolutions hither come, ended the strata of her former themes,
6248Hidden and cover'd by to-day's, foundation of to-day's,
6249Ended, deceas'd through time, her voice by Castaly's fountain,
6250Silent the broken-lipp'd Sphynx in Egypt, silent all those century-
6251    baffling tombs,
6252Ended for aye the epics of Asia's, Europe's helmeted warriors, ended
6253    the primitive call of the muses,
6254Calliope's call forever closed, Clio, Melpomene, Thalia dead,
6255Ended the stately rhythmus of Una and Oriana, ended the quest of the
6256    holy Graal,
6257Jerusalem a handful of ashes blown by the wind, extinct,
6258The Crusaders' streams of shadowy midnight troops sped with the sunrise,
6259Amadis, Tancred, utterly gone, Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver gone,
6260Palmerin, ogre, departed, vanish'd the turrets that Usk from its
6261    waters reflected,
6262Arthur vanish'd with all his knights, Merlin and Lancelot and
6263    Galahad, all gone, dissolv'd utterly like an exhalation;
6264Pass'd! pass'd! for us, forever pass'd, that once so mighty world,
6265    now void, inanimate, phantom world,
6266Embroider'd, dazzling, foreign world, with all its gorgeous legends, myths,
6267Its kings and castles proud, its priests and warlike lords and
6268    courtly dames,
6269Pass'd to its charnel vault, coffin'd with crown and armor on,
6270Blazon'd with Shakspere's purple page,
6271And dirged by Tennyson's sweet sad rhyme.
6272
6273I say I see, my friends, if you do not, the illustrious emigre, (having it
6274    is true in her day, although the same, changed, journey'd considerable,)
6275Making directly for this rendezvous, vigorously clearing a path for
6276    herself, striding through the confusion,
6277By thud of machinery and shrill steam-whistle undismay'd,
6278Bluff'd not a bit by drain-pipe, gasometers, artificial fertilizers,
6279Smiling and pleas'd with palpable intent to stay,
6280She's here, install'd amid the kitchen ware!
6281
6282
6283But hold--don't I forget my manners?
6284To introduce the stranger, (what else indeed do I live to chant
6285    for?) to thee Columbia;
6286In liberty's name welcome immortal! clasp hands,
6287And ever henceforth sisters dear be both.
6288
6289Fear not O Muse! truly new ways and days receive, surround you,
6290I candidly confess a queer, queer race, of novel fashion,
6291And yet the same old human race, the same within, without,
6292Faces and hearts the same, feelings the same, yearnings the same,
6293The same old love, beauty and use the same.
6294
6295
6296We do not blame thee elder World, nor really separate ourselves from thee,
6297(Would the son separate himself from the father?)
6298Looking back on thee, seeing thee to thy duties, grandeurs, through
6299    past ages bending, building,
6300We build to ours to-day.
6301
6302Mightier than Egypt's tombs,
6303Fairer than Grecia's, Roma's temples,
6304Prouder than Milan's statued, spired cathedral,
6305More picturesque than Rhenish castle-keeps,
6306We plan even now to raise, beyond them all,
6307Thy great cathedral sacred industry, no tomb,
6308A keep for life for practical invention.
6309
6310As in a waking vision,
6311E'en while I chant I see it rise, I scan and prophesy outside and in,
6312Its manifold ensemble.
6313
6314Around a palace, loftier, fairer, ampler than any yet,
6315Earth's modern wonder, history's seven outstripping,
6316High rising tier on tier with glass and iron facades,
6317Gladdening the sun and sky, enhued in cheerfulest hues,
6318Bronze, lilac, robin's-egg, marine and crimson,
6319Over whose golden roof shall flaunt, beneath thy banner Freedom,
6320The banners of the States and flags of every land,
6321A brood of lofty, fair, but lesser palaces shall cluster.
6322
6323Somewhere within their walls shall all that forwards perfect human
6324    life be started,
6325Tried, taught, advanced, visibly exhibited.
6326
6327Not only all the world of works, trade, products,
6328But all the workmen of the world here to be represented.
6329
6330Here shall you trace in flowing operation,
6331In every state of practical, busy movement, the rills of civilization,
6332Materials here under your eye shall change their shape as if by magic,
6333The cotton shall be pick'd almost in the very field,
6334Shall be dried, clean'd, ginn'd, baled, spun into thread and cloth
6335    before you,
6336You shall see hands at work at all the old processes and all the new ones,
6337You shall see the various grains and how flour is made and then
6338    bread baked by the bakers,
6339You shall see the crude ores of California and Nevada passing on and
6340    on till they become bullion,
6341You shall watch how the printer sets type, and learn what a
6342    composing-stick is,
6343You shall mark in amazement the Hoe press whirling its cylinders,
6344    shedding the printed leaves steady and fast,
6345The photograph, model, watch, pin, nail, shall be created before you.
6346
6347In large calm halls, a stately museum shall teach you the infinite
6348    lessons of minerals,
6349In another, woods, plants, vegetation shall be illustrated--in
6350    another animals, animal life and development.
6351
6352One stately house shall be the music house,
6353Others for other arts--learning, the sciences, shall all be here,
6354None shall be slighted, none but shall here be honor'd, help'd, exampled.
6355
6356
6357(This, this and these, America, shall be your pyramids and obelisks,
6358Your Alexandrian Pharos, gardens of Babylon,
6359Your temple at Olympia.)
6360
6361The male and female many laboring not,
6362Shall ever here confront the laboring many,
6363With precious benefits to both, glory to all,
6364To thee America, and thee eternal Muse.
6365
6366And here shall ye inhabit powerful Matrons!
6367In your vast state vaster than all the old,
6368Echoed through long, long centuries to come,
6369To sound of different, prouder songs, with stronger themes,
6370Practical, peaceful life, the people's life, the People themselves,
6371Lifted, illumin'd, bathed in peace--elate, secure in peace.
6372
6373
6374Away with themes of war! away with war itself!
6375Hence from my shuddering sight to never more return that show of
6376    blacken'd, mutilated corpses!
6377That hell unpent and raid of blood, fit for wild tigers or for
6378    lop-tongued wolves, not reasoning men,
6379And in its stead speed industry's campaigns,
6380With thy undaunted armies, engineering,
6381Thy pennants labor, loosen'd to the breeze,
6382Thy bugles sounding loud and clear.
6383
6384Away with old romance!
6385Away with novels, plots and plays of foreign courts,
6386Away with love-verses sugar'd in rhyme, the intrigues, amours of idlers,
6387Fitted for only banquets of the night where dancers to late music slide,
6388The unhealthy pleasures, extravagant dissipations of the few,
6389With perfumes, heat and wine, beneath the dazzling chandeliers.
6390
6391To you ye reverent sane sisters,
6392I raise a voice for far superber themes for poets and for art,
6393To exalt the present and the real,
6394To teach the average man the glory of his daily walk and trade,
6395To sing in songs how exercise and chemical life are never to be baffled,
6396To manual work for each and all, to plough, hoe, dig,
6397To plant and tend the tree, the berry, vegetables, flowers,
6398For every man to see to it that he really do something, for every woman too;
6399To use the hammer and the saw, (rip, or cross-cut,)
6400To cultivate a turn for carpentering, plastering, painting,
6401To work as tailor, tailoress, nurse, hostler, porter,
6402To invent a little, something ingenious, to aid the washing, cooking,
6403    cleaning,
6404And hold it no disgrace to take a hand at them themselves.
6405
6406I say I bring thee Muse to-day and here,
6407All occupations, duties broad and close,
6408Toil, healthy toil and sweat, endless, without cessation,
6409The old, old practical burdens, interests, joys,
6410The family, parentage, childhood, husband and wife,
6411The house-comforts, the house itself and all its belongings,
6412Food and its preservation, chemistry applied to it,
6413Whatever forms the average, strong, complete, sweet-blooded man or
6414    woman, the perfect longeve personality,
6415And helps its present life to health and happiness, and shapes its soul,
6416For the eternal real life to come.
6417
6418With latest connections, works, the inter-transportation of the world,
6419Steam-power, the great express lines, gas, petroleum,
6420These triumphs of our time, the Atlantic's delicate cable,
6421The Pacific railroad, the Suez canal, the Mont Cenis and Gothard and
6422    Hoosac tunnels, the Brooklyn bridge,
6423This earth all spann'd with iron rails, with lines of steamships
6424    threading in every sea,
6425Our own rondure, the current globe I bring.
6426
6427
6428And thou America,
6429Thy offspring towering e'er so high, yet higher Thee above all towering,
6430With Victory on thy left, and at thy right hand Law;
6431Thou Union holding all, fusing, absorbing, tolerating all,
6432Thee, ever thee, I sing.
6433
6434Thou, also thou, a World,
6435With all thy wide geographies, manifold, different, distant,
6436Rounded by thee in one--one common orbic language,
6437One common indivisible destiny for All.
6438
6439And by the spells which ye vouchsafe to those your ministers in earnest,
6440I here personify and call my themes, to make them pass before ye.
6441
6442Behold, America! (and thou, ineffable guest and sister!)
6443For thee come trooping up thy waters and thy lands;
6444Behold! thy fields and farms, thy far-off woods and mountains,
6445As in procession coming.
6446
6447Behold, the sea itself,
6448And on its limitless, heaving breast, the ships;
6449See, where their white sails, bellying in the wind, speckle the
6450    green and blue,
6451See, the steamers coming and going, steaming in or out of port,
6452See, dusky and undulating, the long pennants of smoke.
6453
6454Behold, in Oregon, far in the north and west,
6455Or in Maine, far in the north and east, thy cheerful axemen,
6456Wielding all day their axes.
6457
6458Behold, on the lakes, thy pilots at their wheels, thy oarsmen,
6459How the ash writhes under those muscular arms!
6460
6461There by the furnace, and there by the anvil,
6462Behold thy sturdy blacksmiths swinging their sledges,
6463Overhand so steady, overhand they turn and fall with joyous clank,
6464Like a tumult of laughter.
6465
6466Mark the spirit of invention everywhere, thy rapid patents,
6467Thy continual workshops, foundries, risen or rising,
6468See, from their chimneys how the tall flame-fires stream.
6469
6470Mark, thy interminable farms, North, South,
6471Thy wealthy daughter-states, Eastern and Western,
6472The varied products of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia, Texas,
6473    and the rest,
6474Thy limitless crops, grass, wheat, sugar, oil, corn, rice, hemp, hops,
6475Thy barns all fill'd, the endless freight-train and the bulging store-house,
6476The grapes that ripen on thy vines, the apples in thy orchards,
6477Thy incalculable lumber, beef, pork, potatoes, thy coal, thy gold
6478    and silver,
6479The inexhaustible iron in thy mines.
6480
6481All thine O sacred Union!
6482Ships, farms, shops, barns, factories, mines,
6483City and State, North, South, item and aggregate,
6484We dedicate, dread Mother, all to thee!
6485
6486Protectress absolute, thou! bulwark of all!
6487For well we know that while thou givest each and all, (generous as God,)
6488Without thee neither all nor each, nor land, home,
6489Nor ship, nor mine, nor any here this day secure,
6490Nor aught, nor any day secure.
6491
6492
6493And thou, the Emblem waving over all!
6494Delicate beauty, a word to thee, (it may be salutary,)
6495Remember thou hast not always been as here to-day so comfortably
6496    ensovereign'd,
6497In other scenes than these have I observ'd thee flag,
6498Not quite so trim and whole and freshly blooming in folds of
6499    stainless silk,
6500But I have seen thee bunting, to tatters torn upon thy splinter'd staff,
6501Or clutch'd to some young color-bearer's breast with desperate hands,
6502Savagely struggled for, for life or death, fought over long,
6503'Mid cannons' thunder-crash and many a curse and groan and yell, and
6504    rifle-volleys cracking sharp,
6505And moving masses as wild demons surging, and lives as nothing risk'd,
6506For thy mere remnant grimed with dirt and smoke and sopp'd in blood,
6507For sake of that, my beauty, and that thou might'st dally as now
6508    secure up there,
6509Many a good man have I seen go under.
6510
6511Now here and these and hence in peace, all thine O Flag!
6512And here and hence for thee, O universal Muse! and thou for them!
6513And here and hence O Union, all the work and workmen thine!
6514None separate from thee--henceforth One only, we and thou,
6515(For the blood of the children, what is it, only the blood maternal?
6516And lives and works, what are they all at last, except the roads to
6517    faith and death?)
6518
6519While we rehearse our measureless wealth, it is for thee, dear Mother,
6520We own it all and several to-day indissoluble in thee;
6521Think not our chant, our show, merely for products gross or lucre--
6522    it is for thee, the soul in thee, electric, spiritual!
6523Our farms, inventions, crops, we own in thee! cities and States in thee!
6524Our freedom all in thee! our very lives in thee!
6525
6526
6527
6528
6529
6530
6531A California song,
6532A prophecy and indirection, a thought impalpable to breathe as air,
6533A chorus of dryads, fading, departing, or hamadryads departing,
6534A murmuring, fateful, giant voice, out of the earth and sky,
6535Voice of a mighty dying tree in the redwood forest dense.
6536
6537Farewell my brethren,
6538Farewell O earth and sky, farewell ye neighboring waters,
6539My time has ended, my term has come.
6540
6541Along the northern coast,
6542Just back from the rock-bound shore and the caves,
6543In the saline air from the sea in the Mendocino country,
6544With the surge for base and accompaniment low and hoarse,
6545With crackling blows of axes sounding musically driven by strong arms,
6546Riven deep by the sharp tongues of the axes, there in the redwood
6547    forest dense,
6548I heard the might tree its death-chant chanting.
6549
6550The choppers heard not, the camp shanties echoed not,
6551The quick-ear'd teamsters and chain and jack-screw men heard not,
6552As the wood-spirits came from their haunts of a thousand years to
6553    join the refrain,
6554But in my soul I plainly heard.
6555
6556Murmuring out of its myriad leaves,
6557Down from its lofty top rising two hundred feet high,
6558Out of its stalwart trunk and limbs, out of its foot-thick bark,
6559That chant of the seasons and time, chant not of the past only but
6560    the future.
6561
6562You untold life of me,
6563And all you venerable and innocent joys,
6564Perennial hardy life of me with joys 'mid rain and many a summer sun,
6565And the white snows and night and the wild winds;
6566O the great patient rugged joys, my soul's strong joys unreck'd by man,
6567(For know I bear the soul befitting me, I too have consciousness, identity,
6568And all the rocks and mountains have, and all the earth,)
6569Joys of the life befitting me and brothers mine,
6570Our time, our term has come.
6571
6572Nor yield we mournfully majestic brothers,
6573We who have grandly fill'd our time,
6574With Nature's calm content, with tacit huge delight,
6575We welcome what we wrought for through the past,
6576And leave the field for them.
6577
6578For them predicted long,
6579For a superber race, they too to grandly fill their time,
6580For them we abdicate, in them ourselves ye forest kings.'
6581In them these skies and airs, these mountain peaks, Shasta, Nevadas,
6582These huge precipitous cliffs, this amplitude, these valleys, far Yosemite,
6583To be in them absorb'd, assimilated.
6584
6585Then to a loftier strain,
6586Still prouder, more ecstatic rose the chant,
6587As if the heirs, the deities of the West,
6588Joining with master-tongue bore part.
6589
6590Not wan from Asia's fetiches,
6591Nor red from Europe's old dynastic slaughter-house,
6592(Area of murder-plots of thrones, with scent left yet of wars and
6593    scaffolds everywhere,
6594But come from Nature's long and harmless throes, peacefully builded thence,
6595These virgin lands, lands of the Western shore,
6596To the new culminating man, to you, the empire new,
6597You promis'd long, we pledge, we dedicate.
6598
6599You occult deep volitions,
6600You average spiritual manhood, purpose of all, pois'd on yourself,
6601    giving not taking law,
6602You womanhood divine, mistress and source of all, whence life and
6603    love and aught that comes from life and love,
6604You unseen moral essence of all the vast materials of America, age
6605    upon age working in death the same as life,)
6606You that, sometimes known, oftener unknown, really shape and mould
6607    the New World, adjusting it to Time and Space,
6608You hidden national will lying in your abysms, conceal'd but ever alert,
6609You past and present purposes tenaciously pursued, may-be
6610    unconscious of yourselves,
6611Unswerv'd by all the passing errors, perturbations of the surface;
6612You vital, universal, deathless germs, beneath all creeds, arts,
6613    statutes, literatures,
6614Here build your homes for good, establish here, these areas entire,
6615    lands of the Western shore,
6616We pledge, we dedicate to you.
6617
6618For man of you, your characteristic race,
6619Here may he hardy, sweet, gigantic grow, here tower proportionate to Nature,
6620Here climb the vast pure spaces unconfined, uncheck'd by wall or roof,
6621Here laugh with storm or sun, here joy, here patiently inure,
6622Here heed himself, unfold himself, (not others' formulas heed,)
6623here fill his time,
6624To duly fall, to aid, unreck'd at last,
6625To disappear, to serve.
6626
6627Thus on the northern coast,
6628In the echo of teamsters' calls and the clinking chains, and the
6629    music of choppers' axes,
6630The falling trunk and limbs, the crash, the muffled shriek, the groan,
6631Such words combined from the redwood-tree, as of voices ecstatic,
6632    ancient and rustling,
6633The century-lasting, unseen dryads, singing, withdrawing,
6634All their recesses of forests and mountains leaving,
6635From the Cascade range to the Wahsatch, or Idaho far, or Utah,
6636To the deities of the modern henceforth yielding,
6637The chorus and indications, the vistas of coming humanity, the
6638    settlements, features all,
6639In the Mendocino woods I caught.
6640
6641
6642The flashing and golden pageant of California,
6643The sudden and gorgeous drama, the sunny and ample lands,
6644The long and varied stretch from Puget sound to Colorado south,
6645Lands bathed in sweeter, rarer, healthier air, valleys and mountain cliffs,
6646The fields of Nature long prepared and fallow, the silent, cyclic chemistry,
6647The slow and steady ages plodding, the unoccupied surface ripening,
6648    the rich ores forming beneath;
6649At last the New arriving, assuming, taking possession,
6650A swarming and busy race settling and organizing everywhere,
6651Ships coming in from the whole round world, and going out to the
6652    whole world,
6653To India and China and Australia and the thousand island paradises
6654    of the Pacific,
6655Populous cities, the latest inventions, the steamers on the rivers,
6656    the railroads, with many a thrifty farm, with machinery,
6657And wool and wheat and the grape, and diggings of yellow gold.
6658
6659
6660But more in you than these, lands of the Western shore,
6661(These but the means, the implements, the standing-ground,)
6662I see in you, certain to come, the promise of thousands of years,
6663    till now deferr'd,
6664Promis'd to be fulfill'd, our common kind, the race.
6665
6666The new society at last, proportionate to Nature,
6667In man of you, more than your mountain peaks or stalwart trees imperial,
6668In woman more, far more, than all your gold or vines, or even vital air.
6669
6670Fresh come, to a new world indeed, yet long prepared,
6671I see the genius of the modern, child of the real and ideal,
6672Clearing the ground for broad humanity, the true America, heir of
6673    the past so grand,
6674To build a grander future.
6675
6676
6677
6678
6679
6680
6681A song for occupations!
6682In the labor of engines and trades and the labor of fields I find
6683    the developments,
6684And find the eternal meanings.
6685
6686Workmen and Workwomen!
6687Were all educations practical and ornamental well display'd out of
6688    me, what would it amount to?
6689Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor, wise statesman,
6690    what would it amount to?
6691Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that satisfy you?
6692
6693The learn'd, virtuous, benevolent, and the usual terms,
6694A man like me and never the usual terms.
6695
6696Neither a servant nor a master I,
6697I take no sooner a large price than a small price, I will have my
6698    own whoever enjoys me,
6699I will be even with you and you shall be even with me.
6700
6701If you stand at work in a shop I stand as nigh as the nighest in the
6702    same shop,
6703If you bestow gifts on your brother or dearest friend I demand as
6704    good as your brother or dearest friend,
6705If your lover, husband, wife, is welcome by day or night, I must be
6706    personally as welcome,
6707If you become degraded, criminal, ill, then I become so for your sake,
6708If you remember your foolish and outlaw'd deeds, do you think I
6709    cannot remember my own foolish and outlaw'd deeds?
6710If you carouse at the table I carouse at the opposite side of the table,
6711If you meet some stranger in the streets and love him or her, why
6712    I often meet strangers in the street and love them.
6713
6714Why what have you thought of yourself?
6715Is it you then that thought yourself less?
6716Is it you that thought the President greater than you?
6717Or the rich better off than you? or the educated wiser than you?
6718
6719(Because you are greasy or pimpled, or were once drunk, or a thief,
6720Or that you are diseas'd, or rheumatic, or a prostitute,
6721Or from frivolity or impotence, or that you are no scholar and never
6722    saw your name in print,
6723Do you give in that you are any less immortal?)
6724
6725
6726Souls of men and women! it is not you I call unseen, unheard,
6727    untouchable and untouching,
6728It is not you I go argue pro and con about, and to settle whether
6729    you are alive or no,
6730I own publicly who you are, if nobody else owns.
6731
6732Grown, half-grown and babe, of this country and every country,
6733    in-doors and out-doors, one just as much as the other, I see,
6734And all else behind or through them.
6735
6736The wife, and she is not one jot less than the husband,
6737The daughter, and she is just as good as the son,
6738The mother, and she is every bit as much as the father.
6739
6740Offspring of ignorant and poor, boys apprenticed to trades,
6741Young fellows working on farms and old fellows working on farms,
6742Sailor-men, merchant-men, coasters, immigrants,
6743All these I see, but nigher and farther the same I see,
6744None shall escape me and none shall wish to escape me.
6745
6746I bring what you much need yet always have,
6747Not money, amours, dress, eating, erudition, but as good,
6748I send no agent or medium, offer no representative of value, but
6749    offer the value itself.
6750
6751There is something that comes to one now and perpetually,
6752It is not what is printed, preach'd, discussed, it eludes discussion
6753    and print,
6754It is not to be put in a book, it is not in this book,
6755It is for you whoever you are, it is no farther from you than your
6756    hearing and sight are from you,
6757It is hinted by nearest, commonest, readiest, it is ever provoked by them.
6758
6759You may read in many languages, yet read nothing about it,
6760You may read the President's message and read nothing about it there,
6761Nothing in the reports from the State department or Treasury
6762    department, or in the daily papers or weekly papers,
6763Or in the census or revenue returns, prices current, or any accounts
6764    of stock.
6765
6766
6767The sun and stars that float in the open air,
6768The apple-shaped earth and we upon it, surely the drift of them is
6769    something grand,
6770I do not know what it is except that it is grand, and that it is happiness,
6771And that the enclosing purport of us here is not a speculation or
6772    bon-mot or reconnoissance,
6773And that it is not something which by luck may turn out well for us,
6774    and without luck must be a failure for us,
6775And not something which may yet be retracted in a certain contingency.
6776
6777The light and shade, the curious sense of body and identity, the
6778    greed that with perfect complaisance devours all things,
6779The endless pride and outstretching of man, unspeakable joys and sorrows,
6780The wonder every one sees in every one else he sees, and the wonders
6781    that fill each minute of time forever,
6782What have you reckon'd them for, camerado?
6783Have you reckon'd them for your trade or farm-work? or for the
6784    profits of your store?
6785Or to achieve yourself a position? or to fill a gentleman's leisure,
6786    or a lady's leisure?
6787
6788Have you reckon'd that the landscape took substance and form that it
6789    might be painted in a picture?
6790Or men and women that they might be written of, and songs sung?
6791Or the attraction of gravity, and the great laws and harmonious combinations
6792    and the fluids of the air, as subjects for the savans?
6793Or the brown land and the blue sea for maps and charts?
6794Or the stars to be put in constellations and named fancy names?
6795Or that the growth of seeds is for agricultural tables, or
6796    agriculture itself?
6797
6798Old institutions, these arts, libraries, legends, collections, and
6799    the practice handed along in manufactures, will we rate them so high?
6800Will we rate our cash and business high? I have no objection,
6801I rate them as high as the highest--then a child born of a woman and
6802    man I rate beyond all rate.
6803
6804We thought our Union grand, and our Constitution grand,
6805I do not say they are not grand and good, for they are,
6806I am this day just as much in love with them as you,
6807Then I am in love with You, and with all my fellows upon the earth.
6808
6809We consider bibles and religions divine--I do not say they are not divine,
6810I say they have all grown out of you, and may grow out of you still,
6811It is not they who give the life, it is you who give the life,
6812Leaves are not more shed from the trees, or trees from the earth,
6813    than they are shed out of you.
6814
6815
6816The sum of all known reverence I add up in you whoever you are,
6817The President is there in the White House for you, it is not you who
6818    are here for him,
6819The Secretaries act in their bureaus for you, not you here for them,
6820The Congress convenes every Twelfth-month for you,
6821Laws, courts, the forming of States, the charters of cities, the
6822    going and coming of commerce and malls, are all for you.
6823
6824List close my scholars dear,
6825Doctrines, politics and civilization exurge from you,
6826Sculpture and monuments and any thing inscribed anywhere are tallied in you,
6827The gist of histories and statistics as far back as the records
6828    reach is in you this hour, and myths and tales the same,
6829If you were not breathing and walking here, where would they all be?
6830The most renown'd poems would be ashes, orations and plays would
6831    be vacuums.
6832
6833All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it,
6834(Did you think it was in the white or gray stone? or the lines of
6835    the arches and cornices?)
6836
6837All music is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments,
6838It is not the violins and the cornets, it is not the oboe nor the
6839    beating drums, nor the score of the baritone singer singing his
6840    sweet romanza, nor that of the men's chorus, nor that of the
6841    women's chorus,
6842It is nearer and farther than they.
6843
6844
6845Will the whole come back then?
6846Can each see signs of the best by a look in the looking-glass? is
6847    there nothing greater or more?
6848Does all sit there with you, with the mystic unseen soul?
6849
6850Strange and hard that paradox true I give,
6851Objects gross and the unseen soul are one.
6852
6853House-building, measuring, sawing the boards,
6854Blacksmithing, glass-blowing, nail-making, coopering, tin-roofing,
6855    shingle-dressing,
6856Ship-joining, dock-building, fish-curing, flagging of sidewalks by flaggers,
6857The pump, the pile-driver, the great derrick, the coal-kiln and brickkiln,
6858Coal-mines and all that is down there, the lamps in the darkness,
6859    echoes, songs, what meditations, what vast native thoughts
6860    looking through smutch'd faces,
6861Iron-works, forge-fires in the mountains or by river-banks, men
6862    around feeling the melt with huge crowbars, lumps of ore, the
6863    due combining of ore, limestone, coal,
6864The blast-furnace and the puddling-furnace, the loup-lump at the
6865    bottom of the melt at last, the rolling-mill, the stumpy bars
6866    of pig-iron, the strong clean-shaped Trail for railroads,
6867Oil-works, silk-works, white-lead-works, the sugar-house,
6868    steam-saws, the great mills and factories,
6869Stone-cutting, shapely trimmings for facades or window or door-lintels,
6870    the mallet, the tooth-chisel, the jib to protect the thumb,
6871The calking-iron, the kettle of boiling vault-cement, and the fire
6872    under the kettle,
6873The cotton-bale, the stevedore's hook, the saw and buck of the
6874    sawyer, the mould of the moulder, the working-knife of the
6875    butcher, the ice-saw, and all the work with ice,
6876The work and tools of the rigger, grappler, sail-maker, block-maker,
6877Goods of gutta-percha, papier-mache, colors, brushes, brush-making,
6878    glazier's implements,
6879The veneer and glue-pot, the confectioner's ornaments, the decanter
6880    and glasses, the shears and flat-iron,
6881The awl and knee-strap, the pint measure and quart measure, the
6882    counter and stool, the writing-pen of quill or metal, the making
6883    of all sorts of edged tools,
6884The brewery, brewing, the malt, the vats, every thing that is done
6885    by brewers, wine-makers, vinegar-makers,
6886Leather-dressing, coach-making, boiler-making, rope-twisting,
6887    distilling, sign-painting, lime-burning, cotton-picking,
6888    electroplating, electrotyping, stereotyping,
6889Stave-machines, planing-machines, reaping-machines,
6890    ploughing-machines, thrashing-machines, steam wagons,
6891The cart of the carman, the omnibus, the ponderous dray,
6892Pyrotechny, letting off color'd fireworks at night, fancy figures and jets;
6893Beef on the butcher's stall, the slaughter-house of the butcher, the
6894    butcher in his killing-clothes,
6895The pens of live pork, the killing-hammer, the hog-hook, the
6896    scalder's tub, gutting, the cutter's cleaver, the packer's maul,
6897    and the plenteous winterwork of pork-packing,
6898Flour-works, grinding of wheat, rye, maize, rice, the barrels and
6899    the half and quarter barrels, the loaded barges, the high piles
6900    on wharves and levees,
6901The men and the work of the men on ferries, railroads, coasters,
6902    fish-boats, canals;
6903The hourly routine of your own or any man's life, the shop, yard,
6904    store, or factory,
6905These shows all near you by day and night--workman! whoever you
6906    are, your daily life!
6907
6908In that and them the heft of the heaviest--in that and them far more
6909    than you estimated, (and far less also,)
6910In them realities for you and me, in them poems for you and me,
6911In them, not yourself-you and your soul enclose all things,
6912    regardless of estimation,
6913In them the development good--in them all themes, hints, possibilities.
6914
6915I do not affirm that what you see beyond is futile, I do not advise
6916    you to stop,
6917I do not say leadings you thought great are not great,
6918But I say that none lead to greater than these lead to.
6919
6920
6921Will you seek afar off? you surely come back at last,
6922In things best known to you finding the best, or as good as the best,
6923In folks nearest to you finding the sweetest, strongest, lovingest,
6924Happiness, knowledge, not in another place but this place, not for
6925    another hour but this hour,
6926Man in the first you see or touch, always in friend, brother,
6927    nighest neighbor--woman in mother, sister, wife,
6928The popular tastes and employments taking precedence in poems or anywhere,
6929You workwomen and workmen of these States having your own divine
6930    and strong life,
6931And all else giving place to men and women like you.
6932When the psalm sings instead of the singer,
6933
6934When the script preaches instead of the preacher,
6935When the pulpit descends and goes instead of the carver that carved
6936    the supporting desk,
6937When I can touch the body of books by night or by day, and when they
6938    touch my body back again,
6939When a university course convinces like a slumbering woman and child
6940    convince,
6941When the minted gold in the vault smiles like the night-watchman's daughter,
6942When warrantee deeds loafe in chairs opposite and are my friendly
6943    companions,
6944I intend to reach them my hand, and make as much of them as I do
6945    of men and women like you.
6946
6947
6948
6949
6950
6951
6952A song of the rolling earth, and of words according,
6953Were you thinking that those were the words, those upright lines?
6954    those curves, angles, dots?
6955No, those are not the words, the substantial words are in the ground
6956    and sea,
6957They are in the air, they are in you.
6958
6959Were you thinking that those were the words, those delicious sounds
6960    out of your friends' mouths?
6961No, the real words are more delicious than they.
6962
6963Human bodies are words, myriads of words,
6964(In the best poems re-appears the body, man's or woman's,
6965    well-shaped, natural, gay,
6966Every part able, active, receptive, without shame or the need of shame.)
6967
6968Air, soil, water, fire--those are words,
6969I myself am a word with them--my qualities interpenetrate with
6970    theirs--my name is nothing to them,
6971Though it were told in the three thousand languages, what would
6972    air, soil, water, fire, know of my name?
6973
6974A healthy presence, a friendly or commanding gesture, are words,
6975    sayings, meanings,
6976The charms that go with the mere looks of some men and women,
6977    are sayings and meanings also.
6978
6979The workmanship of souls is by those inaudible words of the earth,
6980The masters know the earth's words and use them more than audible words.
6981
6982Amelioration is one of the earth's words,
6983The earth neither lags nor hastens,
6984It has all attributes, growths, effects, latent in itself from the jump,
6985It is not half beautiful only, defects and excrescences show just as
6986    much as perfections show.
6987
6988The earth does not withhold, it is generous enough,
6989The truths of the earth continually wait, they are not so conceal'd either,
6990They are calm, subtle, untransmissible by print,
6991They are imbued through all things conveying themselves willingly,
6992Conveying a sentiment and invitation, I utter and utter,
6993I speak not, yet if you hear me not of what avail am I to you?
6994To bear, to better, lacking these of what avail am I?
6995
6996(Accouche! accouchez!
6997Will you rot your own fruit in yourself there?
6998Will you squat and stifle there?)
6999
7000The earth does not argue,
7001Is not pathetic, has no arrangements,
7002Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise,
7003Makes no discriminations, has no conceivable failures,
7004Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out,
7005Of all the powers, objects, states, it notifies, shuts none out.
7006
7007The earth does not exhibit itself nor refuse to exhibit itself,
7008    possesses still underneath,
7009Underneath the ostensible sounds, the august chorus of heroes, the
7010    wail of slaves,
7011Persuasions of lovers, curses, gasps of the dying, laughter of young
7012    people, accents of bargainers,
7013Underneath these possessing words that never fall.
7014
7015To her children the words of the eloquent dumb great mother never fail,
7016The true words do not fail, for motion does not fail and reflection
7017    does not fall,
7018Also the day and night do not fall, and the voyage we pursue does not fall.
7019
7020Of the interminable sisters,
7021Of the ceaseless cotillons of sisters,
7022Of the centripetal and centrifugal sisters, the elder and younger sisters,
7023The beautiful sister we know dances on with the rest.
7024
7025With her ample back towards every beholder,
7026With the fascinations of youth and the equal fascinations of age,
7027Sits she whom I too love like the rest, sits undisturb'd,
7028Holding up in her hand what has the character of a mirror, while her
7029    eyes glance back from it,
7030Glance as she sits, inviting none, denying none,
7031Holding a mirror day and night tirelessly before her own face.
7032
7033Seen at hand or seen at a distance,
7034Duly the twenty-four appear in public every day,
7035Duly approach and pass with their companions or a companion,
7036Looking from no countenances of their own, but from the countenances
7037    of those who are with them,
7038From the countenances of children or women or the manly countenance,
7039From the open countenances of animals or from inanimate things,
7040From the landscape or waters or from the exquisite apparition of the sky,
7041From our countenances, mine and yours, faithfully returning them,
7042Every day in public appearing without fall, but never twice with the
7043    same companions.
7044
7045Embracing man, embracing all, proceed the three hundred and
7046    sixty-five resistlessly round the sun;
7047Embracing all, soothing, supporting, follow close three hundred and
7048    sixty-five offsets of the first, sure and necessary as they.
7049
7050Tumbling on steadily, nothing dreading,
7051Sunshine, storm, cold, heat, forever withstanding, passing, carrying,
7052The soul's realization and determination still inheriting,
7053The fluid vacuum around and ahead still entering and dividing,
7054No balk retarding, no anchor anchoring, on no rock striking,
7055Swift, glad, content, unbereav'd, nothing losing,
7056Of all able and ready at any time to give strict account,
7057The divine ship sails the divine sea.
7058
7059
7060Whoever you are! motion and reflection are especially for you,
7061The divine ship sails the divine sea for you.
7062
7063Whoever you are! you are he or she for whom the earth is solid and liquid,
7064You are he or she for whom the sun and moon hang in the sky,
7065For none more than you are the present and the past,
7066For none more than you is immortality.
7067
7068Each man to himself and each woman to herself, is the word of the
7069    past and present, and the true word of immortality;
7070No one can acquire for another--not one,
7071Not one can grow for another--not one.
7072
7073The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him,
7074The teaching is to the teacher, and comes back most to him,
7075The murder is to the murderer, and comes back most to him,
7076The theft is to the thief, and comes back most to him,
7077The love is to the lover, and comes back most to him,
7078The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him--it cannot fail,
7079The oration is to the orator, the acting is to the actor and actress
7080    not to the audience,
7081And no man understands any greatness or goodness but his own, or
7082    the indication of his own.
7083
7084
7085I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall
7086    be complete,
7087The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who remains
7088    jagged and broken.
7089
7090I swear there is no greatness or power that does not emulate those
7091    of the earth,
7092There can be no theory of any account unless it corroborate the
7093    theory of the earth,
7094No politics, song, religion, behavior, or what not, is of account,
7095    unless it compare with the amplitude of the earth,
7096Unless it face the exactness, vitality, impartiality, rectitude of
7097    the earth.
7098
7099I swear I begin to see love with sweeter spasms than that which
7100    responds love,
7101It is that which contains itself, which never invites and never refuses.
7102
7103I swear I begin to see little or nothing in audible words,
7104All merges toward the presentation of the unspoken meanings of the earth,
7105Toward him who sings the songs of the body and of the truths of the earth,
7106Toward him who makes the dictionaries of words that print cannot touch.
7107
7108I swear I see what is better than to tell the best,
7109It is always to leave the best untold.
7110
7111When I undertake to tell the best I find I cannot,
7112My tongue is ineffectual on its pivots,
7113My breath will not be obedient to its organs,
7114I become a dumb man.
7115
7116The best of the earth cannot be told anyhow, all or any is best,
7117It is not what you anticipated, it is cheaper, easier, nearer,
7118Things are not dismiss'd from the places they held before,
7119The earth is just as positive and direct as it was before,
7120Facts, religions, improvements, politics, trades, are as real as before,
7121But the soul is also real, it too is positive and direct,
7122No reasoning, no proof has establish'd it,
7123Undeniable growth has establish'd it.
7124
7125
7126These to echo the tones of souls and the phrases of souls,
7127(If they did not echo the phrases of souls what were they then?
7128If they had not reference to you in especial what were they then?)
7129
7130I swear I will never henceforth have to do with the faith that tells
7131    the best,
7132I will have to do only with that faith that leaves the best untold.
7133
7134Say on, sayers! sing on, singers!
7135Delve! mould! pile the words of the earth!
7136Work on, age after age, nothing is to be lost,
7137It may have to wait long, but it will certainly come in use,
7138When the materials are all prepared and ready, the architects shall appear.
7139
7140I swear to you the architects shall appear without fall,
7141I swear to you they will understand you and justify you,
7142The greatest among them shall be he who best knows you, and encloses
7143    all and is faithful to all,
7144He and the rest shall not forget you, they shall perceive that you
7145    are not an iota less than they,
7146You shall be fully glorified in them.
7147
7148
7149
7150
7151Youth, large, lusty, loving--youth full of grace, force, fascination,
7152Do you know that Old Age may come after you with equal grace,
7153    force, fascination?
7154
7155Day full-blown and splendid-day of the immense sun, action,
7156    ambition, laughter,
7157The Night follows close with millions of suns, and sleep and
7158    restoring darkness.
7159
7160
7161
7162
7163
7164
7165Come said the Muse,
7166Sing me a song no poet yet has chanted,
7167Sing me the universal.
7168
7169In this broad earth of ours,
7170Amid the measureless grossness and the slag,
7171Enclosed and safe within its central heart,
7172Nestles the seed perfection.
7173
7174By every life a share or more or less,
7175None born but it is born, conceal'd or unconceal'd the seed is waiting.
7176
7177
7178Lo! keen-eyed towering science,
7179As from tall peaks the modern overlooking,
7180Successive absolute fiats issuing.
7181
7182Yet again, lo! the soul, above all science,
7183For it has history gather'd like husks around the globe,
7184For it the entire star-myriads roll through the sky.
7185
7186In spiral routes by long detours,
7187(As a much-tacking ship upon the sea,)
7188For it the partial to the permanent flowing,
7189For it the real to the ideal tends.
7190
7191For it the mystic evolution,
7192Not the right only justified, what we call evil also justified.
7193
7194Forth from their masks, no matter what,
7195From the huge festering trunk, from craft and guile and tears,
7196Health to emerge and joy, joy universal.
7197
7198Out of the bulk, the morbid and the shallow,
7199Out of the bad majority, the varied countless frauds of men and states,
7200Electric, antiseptic yet, cleaving, suffusing all,
7201Only the good is universal.
7202
7203
7204Over the mountain-growths disease and sorrow,
7205An uncaught bird is ever hovering, hovering,
7206High in the purer, happier air.
7207
7208From imperfection's murkiest cloud,
7209Darts always forth one ray of perfect light,
7210One flash of heaven's glory.
7211
7212To fashion's, custom's discord,
7213To the mad Babel-din, the deafening orgies,
7214Soothing each lull a strain is heard, just heard,
7215From some far shore the final chorus sounding.
7216
7217O the blest eyes, the happy hearts,
7218That see, that know the guiding thread so fine,
7219Along the mighty labyrinth.
7220
7221
7222And thou America,
7223For the scheme's culmination, its thought and its reality,
7224For these (not for thyself) thou hast arrived.
7225
7226Thou too surroundest all,
7227Embracing carrying welcoming all, thou too by pathways broad and new,
7228To the ideal tendest.
7229
7230The measure'd faiths of other lands, the grandeurs of the past,
7231Are not for thee, but grandeurs of thine own,
7232Deific faiths and amplitudes, absorbing, comprehending all,
7233All eligible to all.
7234
7235All, all for immortality,
7236Love like the light silently wrapping all,
7237Nature's amelioration blessing all,
7238The blossoms, fruits of ages, orchards divine and certain,
7239Forms, objects, growths, humanities, to spiritual images ripening.
7240
7241Give me O God to sing that thought,
7242Give me, give him or her I love this quenchless faith,
7243In Thy ensemble, whatever else withheld withhold not from us,
7244Belief in plan of Thee enclosed in Time and Space,
7245Health, peace, salvation universal.
7246
7247Is it a dream?
7248Nay but the lack of it the dream,
7249And failing it life's lore and wealth a dream,
7250And all the world a dream.
7251
7252
7253
7254
7255     Come my tan-faced children,
7256Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
7257Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
7258     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7259
7260     For we cannot tarry here,
7261We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
7262We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
7263     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7264
7265     O you youths, Western youths,
7266So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,
7267Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,
7268     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7269
7270     Have the elder races halted?
7271Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas?
7272We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson,
7273     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7274
7275     All the past we leave behind,
7276We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world,
7277Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march,
7278     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7279
7280     We detachments steady throwing,
7281Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,
7282Conquering, holding, daring, venturing as we go the unknown ways,
7283     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7284
7285     We primeval forests felling,
7286We the rivers stemming, vexing we and piercing deep the mines within,
7287We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving,
7288     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7289
7290     Colorado men are we,
7291From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and the high plateaus,
7292From the mine and from the gully, from the hunting trail we come,
7293     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7294
7295     From Nebraska, from Arkansas,
7296Central inland race are we, from Missouri, with the continental
7297     blood intervein'd,
7298All the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern,
7299     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7300
7301     O resistless restless race!
7302O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love for all!
7303O I mourn and yet exult, I am rapt with love for all,
7304     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7305
7306     Raise the mighty mother mistress,
7307Waving high the delicate mistress, over all the starry mistress,
7308     (bend your heads all,)
7309Raise the fang'd and warlike mistress, stern, impassive, weapon'd mistress,
7310     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7311
7312     See my children, resolute children,
7313By those swarms upon our rear we must never yield or falter,
7314Ages back in ghostly millions frowning there behind us urging,
7315     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7316
7317     On and on the compact ranks,
7318With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly fill'd,
7319Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping,
7320     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7321
7322     O to die advancing on!
7323Are there some of us to droop and die? has the hour come?
7324Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the gap is fill'd.
7325     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7326
7327     All the pulses of the world,
7328Falling in they beat for us, with the Western movement beat,
7329Holding single or together, steady moving to the front, all for us,
7330     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7331
7332     Life's involv'd and varied pageants,
7333All the forms and shows, all the workmen at their work,
7334All the seamen and the landsmen, all the masters with their slaves,
7335     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7336
7337    All the hapless silent lovers,
7338All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked,
7339All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying,
7340     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7341
7342    I too with my soul and body,
7343We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way,
7344Through these shores amid the shadows, with the apparitions pressing,
7345     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7346
7347    Lo, the darting bowling orb!
7348Lo, the brother orbs around, all the clustering suns and planets,
7349All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams,
7350     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7351
7352    These are of us, they are with us,
7353All for primal needed work, while the followers there in embryo wait behind,
7354We to-day's procession heading, we the route for travel clearing,
7355     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7356
7357O you daughters of the West!
7358O you young and elder daughters! O you mothers and you wives!
7359Never must you be divided, in our ranks you move united,
7360     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7361
7362     Minstrels latent on the prairies!
7363(Shrouded bards of other lands, you may rest, you have done your work,)
7364Soon I hear you coming warbling, soon you rise and tramp amid us,
7365     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7366
7367     Not for delectations sweet,
7368Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the studious,
7369Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the tame enjoyment,
7370     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7371
7372     Do the feasters gluttonous feast?
7373Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they lock'd and bolted doors?
7374Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the ground,
7375     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7376
7377     Has the night descended?
7378Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop discouraged nodding
7379     on our way?
7380Yet a passing hour I yield you in your tracks to pause oblivious,
7381     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7382
7383     Till with sound of trumpet,
7384Far, far off the daybreak call--hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind,
7385Swift! to the head of the army!--swift! spring to your places,
7386     Pioneers! O pioneers!
7387
7388
7389
7390
7391Whoever you are, I fear you are walking the walks of dreams,
7392I fear these supposed realities are to melt from under your feet and hands,
7393Even now your features, joys, speech, house, trade, manners,
7394    troubles, follies, costume, crimes, dissipate away from you,
7395Your true soul and body appear before me.
7396They stand forth out of affairs, out of commerce, shops, work,
7397    farms, clothes, the house, buying, selling, eating, drinking,
7398    suffering, dying.
7399
7400Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem,
7401I whisper with my lips close to your ear.
7402I have loved many women and men, but I love none better than you.
7403
7404O I have been dilatory and dumb,
7405I should have made my way straight to you long ago,
7406I should have blabb'd nothing but you, I should have chanted nothing
7407    but you.
7408
7409I will leave all and come and make the hymns of you,
7410None has understood you, but I understand you,
7411None has done justice to you, you have not done justice to yourself,
7412None but has found you imperfect, I only find no imperfection in you,
7413None but would subordinate you, I only am he who will never consent
7414    to subordinate you,
7415I only am he who places over you no master, owner, better, God,
7416    beyond what waits intrinsically in yourself.
7417
7418Painters have painted their swarming groups and the centre-figure of all,
7419From the head of the centre-figure spreading a nimbus of gold-color'd light,
7420But I paint myriads of heads, but paint no head without its nimbus
7421    of gold-color'd light,
7422From my hand from the brain of every man and woman it streams,
7423    effulgently flowing forever.
7424
7425O I could sing such grandeurs and glories about you!
7426You have not known what you are, you have slumber'd upon yourself
7427    all your life,
7428Your eyelids have been the same as closed most of the time,
7429What you have done returns already in mockeries,
7430(Your thrift, knowledge, prayers, if they do not return in
7431    mockeries, what is their return?)
7432
7433The mockeries are not you,
7434Underneath them and within them I see you lurk,
7435I pursue you where none else has pursued you,
7436Silence, the desk, the flippant expression, the night, the
7437    accustom'd routine, if these conceal you from others or from
7438    yourself, they do not conceal you from me,
7439The shaved face, the unsteady eye, the impure complexion, if these
7440    balk others they do not balk me,
7441The pert apparel, the deform'd attitude, drunkenness, greed,
7442    premature death, all these I part aside.
7443
7444There is no endowment in man or woman that is not tallied in you,
7445There is no virtue, no beauty in man or woman, but as good is in you,
7446No pluck, no endurance in others, but as good is in you,
7447No pleasure waiting for others, but an equal pleasure waits for you.
7448
7449As for me, I give nothing to any one except I give the like carefully
7450    to you,
7451I sing the songs of the glory of none, not God, sooner than I sing
7452    the songs of the glory of you.
7453
7454Whoever you are! claim your own at any hazard!
7455These shows of the East and West are tame compared to you,
7456These immense meadows, these interminable rivers, you are immense
7457    and interminable as they,
7458These furies, elements, storms, motions of Nature, throes of apparent
7459    dissolution, you are he or she who is master or mistress over them,
7460Master or mistress in your own right over Nature, elements, pain,
7461    passion, dissolution.
7462
7463The hopples fall from your ankles, you find an unfailing sufficiency,
7464Old or young, male or female, rude, low, rejected by the rest,
7465    whatever you are promulges itself,
7466Through birth, life, death, burial, the means are provided, nothing
7467    is scanted,
7468Through angers, losses, ambition, ignorance, ennui, what you are
7469    picks its way.
7470
7471
7472
7473
7474A great year and place
7475A harsh discordant natal scream out-sounding, to touch the mother's
7476    heart closer than any yet.
7477
7478I walk'd the shores of my Eastern sea,
7479Heard over the waves the little voice,
7480Saw the divine infant where she woke mournfully wailing, amid the
7481    roar of cannon, curses, shouts, crash of falling buildings,
7482Was not so sick from the blood in the gutters running, nor from the single
7483    corpses, nor those in heaps, nor those borne away in the tumbrils,
7484Was not so desperate at the battues of death--was not so shock'd at
7485    the repeated fusillades of the guns.
7486
7487Pale, silent, stern, what could I say to that long-accrued retribution?
7488Could I wish humanity different?
7489Could I wish the people made of wood and stone?
7490Or that there be no justice in destiny or time?
7491
7492O Liberty! O mate for me!
7493Here too the blaze, the grape-shot and the axe, in reserve, to fetch
7494    them out in case of need,
7495Here too, though long represt, can never be destroy'd,
7496Here too could rise at last murdering and ecstatic,
7497Here too demanding full arrears of vengeance.
7498
7499Hence I sign this salute over the sea,
7500And I do not deny that terrible red birth and baptism,
7501But remember the little voice that I heard wailing, and wait with
7502    perfect trust, no matter how long,
7503And from to-day sad and cogent I maintain the bequeath'd cause, as
7504    for all lands,
7505And I send these words to Paris with my love,
7506And I guess some chansonniers there will understand them,
7507For I guess there is latent music yet in France, floods of it,
7508O I hear already the bustle of instruments, they will soon be
7509    drowning all that would interrupt them,
7510O I think the east wind brings a triumphal and free march,
7511It reaches hither, it swells me to Joyful madness,
7512I will run transpose it in words, to justify
7513I will yet sing a song for you ma femme.
7514
7515
7516
7517
7518Myself and mine gymnastic ever,
7519To stand the cold or heat, to take good aim with a gun, to sail a
7520    boat, to manage horses, to beget superb children,
7521To speak readily and clearly, to feel at home among common people,
7522And to hold our own in terrible positions on land and sea.
7523
7524Not for an embroiderer,
7525(There will always be plenty of embroiderers, I welcome them also,)
7526But for the fibre of things and for inherent men and women.
7527
7528Not to chisel ornaments,
7529But to chisel with free stroke the heads and limbs of plenteous
7530    supreme Gods, that the States may realize them walking and talking.
7531
7532Let me have my own way,
7533Let others promulge the laws, I will make no account of the laws,
7534Let others praise eminent men and hold up peace, I hold up agitation
7535    and conflict,
7536I praise no eminent man, I rebuke to his face the one that was
7537    thought most worthy.
7538
7539(Who are you? and what are you secretly guilty of all your life?
7540Will you turn aside all your life? will you grub and chatter all
7541    your life?
7542And who are you, blabbing by rote, years, pages, languages, reminiscences,
7543Unwitting to-day that you do not know how to speak properly a single word?)
7544
7545Let others finish specimens, I never finish specimens,
7546I start them by exhaustless laws as Nature does, fresh and modern
7547    continually.
7548
7549I give nothing as duties,
7550What others give as duties I give as living impulses,
7551(Shall I give the heart's action as a duty?)
7552
7553Let others dispose of questions, I dispose of nothing, I arouse
7554    unanswerable questions,
7555Who are they I see and touch, and what about them?
7556What about these likes of myself that draw me so close by tender
7557    directions and indirections?
7558
7559I call to the world to distrust the accounts of my friends, but
7560    listen to my enemies, as I myself do,
7561I charge you forever reject those who would expound me, for I cannot
7562    expound myself,
7563I charge that there be no theory or school founded out of me,
7564I charge you to leave all free, as I have left all free.
7565
7566After me, vista!
7567O I see life is not short, but immeasurably long,
7568I henceforth tread the world chaste, temperate, an early riser, a
7569    steady grower,
7570Every hour the semen of centuries, and still of centuries.
7571
7572I must follow up these continual lessons of the air, water, earth,
7573I perceive I have no time to lose.
7574
7575
7576
7577
7578Year of meteors! brooding year!
7579I would bind in words retrospective some of your deeds and signs,
7580I would sing your contest for the th Presidentiad,
7581I would sing how an old man, tall, with white hair, mounted the
7582    scaffold in Virginia,
7583(I was at hand, silent I stood with teeth shut close, I watch'd,
7584I stood very near you old man when cool and indifferent, but trembling
7585    with age and your unheal'd wounds you mounted the scaffold;)
7586I would sing in my copious song your census returns of the States,
7587The tables of population and products, I would sing of your ships
7588    and their cargoes,
7589The proud black ships of Manhattan arriving, some fill'd with
7590    immigrants, some from the isthmus with cargoes of gold,
7591Songs thereof would I sing, to all that hitherward comes would welcome give,
7592And you would I sing, fair stripling! welcome to you from me, young
7593    prince of England!
7594(Remember you surging Manhattan's crowds as you pass'd with your
7595    cortege of nobles?
7596There in the crowds stood I, and singled you out with attachment;)
7597Nor forget I to sing of the wonder, the ship as she swam up my bay,
7598Well-shaped and stately the Great Eastern swam up my bay, she was
7599     feet long,
7600Her moving swiftly surrounded by myriads of small craft I forget not
7601    to sing;
7602Nor the comet that came unannounced out of the north flaring in heaven,
7603Nor the strange huge meteor-procession dazzling and clear shooting
7604    over our heads,
7605(A moment, a moment long it sail'd its balls of unearthly light over
7606    our heads,
7607Then departed, dropt in the night, and was gone;)
7608Of such, and fitful as they, I sing--with gleams from them would
7609    gleam and patch these chants,
7610Your chants, O year all mottled with evil and good--year of forebodings!
7611Year of comets and meteors transient and strange--lo! even here one
7612    equally transient and strange!
7613As I flit through you hastily, soon to fall and be gone, what is this chant,
7614What am I myself but one of your meteors?
7615
7616
7617
7618
7619
7620With antecedents,
7621With my fathers and mothers and the accumulations of past ages,
7622With all which, had it not been, I would not now be here, as I am,
7623With Egypt, India, Phenicia, Greece and Rome,
7624With the Kelt, the Scandinavian, the Alb and the Saxon,
7625With antique maritime ventures, laws, artisanship, wars and journeys,
7626With the poet, the skald, the saga, the myth, and the oracle,
7627With the sale of slaves, with enthusiasts, with the troubadour, the
7628    crusader, and the monk,
7629With those old continents whence we have come to this new continent,
7630With the fading kingdoms and kings over there,
7631With the fading religions and priests,
7632With the small shores we look back to from our own large and present shores,
7633With countless years drawing themselves onward and arrived at these years,
7634You and me arrived--America arrived and making this year,
7635This year! sending itself ahead countless years to come.
7636
7637
7638O but it is not the years--it is I, it is You,
7639We touch all laws and tally all antecedents,
7640We are the skald, the oracle, the monk and the knight, we easily
7641    include them and more,
7642We stand amid time beginningless and endless, we stand amid evil and good,
7643All swings around us, there is as much darkness as light,
7644The very sun swings itself and its system of planets around us,
7645Its sun, and its again, all swing around us.
7646
7647As for me, (torn, stormy, amid these vehement days,)
7648I have the idea of all, and am all and believe in all,
7649I believe materialism is true and spiritualism is true, I reject no part.
7650
7651(Have I forgotten any part? any thing in the past?
7652Come to me whoever and whatever, till I give you recognition.)
7653
7654I respect Assyria, China, Teutonia, and the Hebrews,
7655I adopt each theory, myth, god, and demigod,
7656I see that the old accounts, bibles, genealogies, are true, without
7657    exception,
7658I assert that all past days were what they must have been,
7659And that they could no-how have been better than they were,
7660And that to-day is what it must be, and that America is,
7661And that to-day and America could no-how be better than they are.
7662
7663
7664In the name of these States and in your and my name, the Past,
7665And in the name of these States and in your and my name, the Present time.
7666
7667I know that the past was great and the future will be great,
7668And I know that both curiously conjoint in the present time,
7669(For the sake of him I typify, for the common average man's sake,
7670    your sake if you are he,)
7671And that where I am or you are this present day, there is the centre
7672    of all days, all races,
7673And there is the meaning to us of all that has ever come of races
7674    and days, or ever will come.
7675
7676
7677
7678
7679
7680
7681Over the Western sea hither from Niphon come,
7682Courteous, the swart-cheek'd two-sworded envoys,
7683Leaning back in their open barouches, bare-headed, impassive,
7684Ride to-day through Manhattan.
7685
7686Libertad! I do not know whether others behold what I behold,
7687In the procession along with the nobles of Niphon, the errand-bearers,
7688Bringing up the rear, hovering above, around, or in the ranks marching,
7689But I will sing you a song of what I behold Libertad.
7690
7691When million-footed Manhattan unpent descends to her pavements,
7692When the thunder-cracking guns arouse me with the proud roar love,
7693When the round-mouth'd guns out of the smoke and smell I love
7694    spit their salutes,
7695When the fire-flashing guns have fully alerted me, and
7696    heaven-clouds canopy my city with a delicate thin haze,
7697When gorgeous the countless straight stems, the forests at the
7698    wharves, thicken with colors,
7699When every ship richly drest carries her flag at the peak,
7700When pennants trail and street-festoons hang from the windows,
7701When Broadway is entirely given up to foot-passengers and
7702    foot-standers, when the mass is densest,
7703When the facades of the houses are alive with people, when eyes
7704    gaze riveted tens of thousands at a time,
7705When the guests from the islands advance, when the pageant moves
7706    forward visible,
7707When the summons is made, when the answer that waited thousands
7708    of years answers,
7709I too arising, answering, descend to the pavements, merge with the
7710    crowd, and gaze with them.
7711
7712
7713Superb-faced Manhattan!
7714Comrade Americanos! to us, then at last the Orient comes.
7715To us, my city,
7716Where our tall-topt marble and iron beauties range on opposite
7717    sides, to walk in the space between,
7718To-day our Antipodes comes.
7719
7720The Originatress comes,
7721The nest of languages, the bequeather of poems, the race of eld,
7722Florid with blood, pensive, rapt with musings, hot with passion,
7723Sultry with perfume, with ample and flowing garments,
7724With sunburnt visage, with intense soul and glittering eyes,
7725The race of Brahma comes.
7726
7727See my cantabile! these and more are flashing to us from the procession,
7728As it moves changing, a kaleidoscope divine it moves changing before us.
7729
7730
7731For not the envoys nor the tann'd Japanee from his island only,
7732Lithe and silent the Hindoo appears, the Asiatic continent itself
7733    appears, the past, the dead,
7734The murky night-morning of wonder and fable inscrutable,
7735The envelop'd mysteries, the old and unknown hive-bees,
7736The north, the sweltering south, eastern Assyria, the Hebrews, the
7737    ancient of ancients,
7738Vast desolated cities, the gliding present, all of these and more
7739    are in the pageant-procession.
7740
7741Geography, the world, is in it,
7742The Great Sea, the brood of islands, Polynesia, the coast beyond,
7743The coast you henceforth are facing--you Libertad! from your Western
7744    golden shores,
7745The countries there with their populations, the millions en-masse
7746    are curiously here,
7747The swarming market-places, the temples with idols ranged along the
7748    sides or at the end, bonze, brahmin, and llama,
7749Mandarin, farmer, merchant, mechanic, and fisherman,
7750The singing-girl and the dancing-girl, the ecstatic persons, the
7751    secluded emperors,
7752Confucius himself, the great poets and heroes, the warriors, the castes,
7753    all,
7754Trooping up, crowding from all directions, from the Altay mountains,
7755From Thibet, from the four winding and far-flowing rivers of China,
7756From the southern peninsulas and the demi-continental islands, from
7757    Malaysia,
7758These and whatever belongs to them palpable show forth to me, and
7759    are seiz'd by me,
7760And I am seiz'd by them, and friendlily held by them,
7761Till as here them all I chant, Libertad! for themselves and for you.
7762
7763For I too raising my voice join the ranks of this pageant,
7764I am the chanter, I chant aloud over the pageant,
7765I chant the world on my Western sea,
7766I chant copious the islands beyond, thick as stars in the sky,
7767I chant the new empire grander than any before, as in a vision it
7768    comes to me,
7769I chant America the mistress, I chant a greater supremacy,
7770I chant projected a thousand blooming cities yet in time on those
7771    groups of sea-islands,
7772My sail-ships and steam-ships threading the archipelagoes,
7773My stars and stripes fluttering in the wind,
7774Commerce opening, the sleep of ages having done its work, races
7775    reborn, refresh'd,
7776Lives, works resumed--the object I know not--but the old, the Asiatic
7777    renew'd as it must be,
7778Commencing from this day surrounded by the world.
7779
7780
7781And you Libertad of the world!
7782You shall sit in the middle well-pois'd thousands and thousands of years,
7783As to-day from one side the nobles of Asia come to you,
7784As to-morrow from the other side the queen of England sends her
7785    eldest son to you.
7786
7787The sign is reversing, the orb is enclosed,
7788The ring is circled, the journey is done,
7789The box-lid is but perceptibly open'd, nevertheless the perfume
7790    pours copiously out of the whole box.
7791
7792Young Libertad! with the venerable Asia, the all-mother,
7793Be considerate with her now and ever hot Libertad, for you are all,
7794Bend your proud neck to the long-off mother now sending messages
7795    over the archipelagoes to you,
7796Bend your proud neck low for once, young Libertad.
7797
7798Here the children straying westward so long? so wide the tramping?
7799Were the precedent dim ages debouching westward from Paradise so long?
7800Were the centuries steadily footing it that way, all the while
7801    unknown, for you, for reasons?
7802
7803They are justified, they are accomplish'd, they shall now be turn'd
7804    the other way also, to travel toward you thence,
7805They shall now also march obediently eastward for your sake Libertad.
7806
7807
7808
7809
7810
7811Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
7812Out of the mocking-bird's throat, the musical shuttle,
7813Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
7814Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child
7815    leaving his bed wander'd alone, bareheaded, barefoot,
7816Down from the shower'd halo,
7817Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as if they
7818    were alive,
7819Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,
7820From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,
7821From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and fallings I heard,
7822From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as if with tears,
7823From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in the mist,
7824From the thousand responses of my heart never to cease,
7825From the myriad thence-arous'd words,
7826From the word stronger and more delicious than any,
7827From such as now they start the scene revisiting,
7828As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,
7829Borne hither, ere all eludes me, hurriedly,
7830A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,
7831Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,
7832I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,
7833Taking all hints to use them, but swiftly leaping beyond them,
7834A reminiscence sing.
7835
7836Once Paumanok,
7837When the lilac-scent was in the air and Fifth-month grass was growing,
7838Up this seashore in some briers,
7839Two feather'd guests from Alabama, two together,
7840And their nest, and four light-green eggs spotted with brown,
7841And every day the he-bird to and fro near at hand,
7842And every day the she-bird crouch'd on her nest, silent, with bright eyes,
7843And every day I, a curious boy, never too close, never disturbing
7844them,
7845Cautiously peering, absorbing, translating.
7846
7847Shine! shine! shine!
7848Pour down your warmth, great sun.'
7849While we bask, we two together.
7850
7851Two together!
7852Winds blow south, or winds blow north,
7853Day come white, or night come black,
7854Home, or rivers and mountains from home,
7855Singing all time, minding no time,
7856While we two keep together.
7857
7858Till of a sudden,
7859May-be kill'd, unknown to her mate,
7860One forenoon the she-bird crouch'd not on the nest,
7861Nor return'd that afternoon, nor the next,
7862Nor ever appear'd again.
7863
7864And thenceforward all summer in the sound of the sea,
7865And at night under the full of the moon in calmer weather,
7866Over the hoarse surging of the sea,
7867Or flitting from brier to brier by day,
7868I saw, I heard at intervals the remaining one, the he-bird,
7869The solitary guest from Alabama.
7870
7871Blow! blow! blow!
7872Blow up sea-winds along Paumanok's shore;
7873I wait and I wait till you blow my mate to me.
7874
7875Yes, when the stars glisten'd,
7876All night long on the prong of a moss-scallop'd stake,
7877Down almost amid the slapping waves,
7878Sat the lone singer wonderful causing tears.
7879
7880He call'd on his mate,
7881He pour'd forth the meanings which I of all men know.
7882
7883Yes my brother I know,
7884The rest might not, but I have treasur'd every note,
7885For more than once dimly down to the beach gliding,
7886Silent, avoiding the moonbeams, blending myself with the shadows,
7887Recalling now the obscure shapes, the echoes, the sounds and sights
7888    after their sorts,
7889The white arms out in the breakers tirelessly tossing,
7890I, with bare feet, a child, the wind wafting my hair,
7891Listen'd long and long.
7892
7893Listen'd to keep, to sing, now translating the notes,
7894Following you my brother.
7895
7896Soothe! soothe! soothe!
7897Close on its wave soothes the wave behind,
7898And again another behind embracing and lapping, every one close,
7899But my love soothes not me, not me.
7900
7901Low hangs the moon, it rose late,
7902It is lagging--O I think it is heavy with love, with love.
7903
7904O madly the sea pushes upon the land,
7905With love, with love.
7906
7907O night! do I not see my love fluttering out among the breakers?
7908What is that little black thing I see there in the white?
7909
7910Loud! loud! loud!
7911Loud I call to you, my love!
7912High and clear I shoot my voice over the waves,
7913Surely you must know who is here, is here,
7914You must know who I am, my love.
7915
7916Low-hanging moon!
7917What is that dusky spot in your brown yellow?
7918O it is the shape, the shape of my mate.'
7919O moon do not keep her from me any longer.
7920
7921Land! land! O land!
7922Whichever way I turn, O I think you could give me my mate back again
7923    if you only would,
7924For I am almost sure I see her dimly whichever way I look.
7925
7926O rising stars!
7927Perhaps the one I want so much will rise, will rise with some of you.
7928
7929O throat! O trembling throat!
7930Sound clearer through the atmosphere!
7931Pierce the woods, the earth,
7932Somewhere listening to catch you must be the one I want.
7933
7934Shake out carols!
7935Solitary here, the night's carols!
7936Carols of lonesome love! death's carols!
7937Carols under that lagging, yellow, waning moon!
7938O under that moon where she droops almost down into the sea!
7939O reckless despairing carols.
7940
7941But soft! sink low!
7942Soft! let me just murmur,
7943And do you wait a moment you husky-nois'd sea,
7944For somewhere I believe I heard my mate responding to me,
7945So faint, I must be still, be still to listen,
7946But not altogether still, for then she might not come immediately to me.
7947
7948Hither my love!
7949Here I am! here!
7950With this just-sustain'd note I announce myself to you,
7951This gentle call is for you my love, for you.
7952
7953Do not be decoy'd elsewhere,
7954That is the whistle of the wind, it is not my voice,
7955That is the fluttering, the fluttering of the spray,
7956Those are the shadows of leaves.
7957
7958O darkness! O in vain!
7959O I am very sick and sorrowful
7960
7961O brown halo in the sky near the moon, drooping upon the sea!
7962O troubled reflection in the sea!
7963O throat! O throbbing heart!
7964And I singing uselessly, uselessly all the night.
7965
7966O past! O happy life! O songs of joy!
7967In the air, in the woods, over fields,
7968Loved! loved! loved! loved! loved!
7969But my mate no more, no more with me!
7970We two together no more.
7971
7972The aria sinking,
7973All else continuing, the stars shining,
7974The winds blowing, the notes of the bird continuous echoing,
7975With angry moans the fierce old mother incessantly moaning,
7976On the sands of Paumanok's shore gray and rustling,
7977The yellow half-moon enlarged, sagging down, drooping, the face of
7978    the sea almost touching,
7979The boy ecstatic, with his bare feet the waves, with his hair the
7980    atmosphere dallying,
7981The love in the heart long pent, now loose, now at last tumultuously
7982    bursting,
7983The aria's meaning, the ears, the soul, swiftly depositing,
7984The strange tears down the cheeks coursing,
7985The colloquy there, the trio, each uttering,
7986The undertone, the savage old mother incessantly crying,
7987To the boy's soul's questions sullenly timing, some drown'd secret hissing,
7988To the outsetting bard.
7989
7990Demon or bird! (said the boy's soul,)
7991Is it indeed toward your mate you sing? or is it really to me?
7992For I, that was a child, my tongue's use sleeping, now I have heard you,
7993Now in a moment I know what I am for, I awake,
7994And already a thousand singers, a thousand songs, clearer, louder
7995    and more sorrowful than yours,
7996A thousand warbling echoes have started to life within me, never to die.
7997
7998O you singer solitary, singing by yourself, projecting me,
7999O solitary me listening, never more shall I cease perpetuating you,
8000Never more shall I escape, never more the reverberations,
8001Never more the cries of unsatisfied love be absent from me,
8002Never again leave me to be the peaceful child I was before what
8003    there in the night,
8004By the sea under the yellow and sagging moon,
8005The messenger there arous'd, the fire, the sweet hell within,
8006The unknown want, the destiny of me.
8007
8008O give me the clue! (it lurks in the night here somewhere,)
8009O if I am to have so much, let me have more!
8010
8011A word then, (for I will conquer it,)
8012The word final, superior to all,
8013Subtle, sent up--what is it?--I listen;
8014Are you whispering it, and have been all the time, you sea-waves?
8015Is that it from your liquid rims and wet sands?
8016
8017Whereto answering, the sea,
8018Delaying not, hurrying not,
8019Whisper'd me through the night, and very plainly before daybreak,
8020Lisp'd to me the low and delicious word death,
8021And again death, death, death, death
8022Hissing melodious, neither like the bird nor like my arous'd child's heart,
8023But edging near as privately for me rustling at my feet,
8024Creeping thence steadily up to my ears and laving me softly all over,
8025Death, death, death, death, death.
8026
8027Which I do not forget.
8028But fuse the song of my dusky demon and brother,
8029That he sang to me in the moonlight on Paumanok's gray beach,
8030With the thousand responsive songs at random,
8031My own songs awaked from that hour,
8032And with them the key, the word up from the waves,
8033The word of the sweetest song and all songs,
8034That strong and delicious word which, creeping to my feet,
8035(Or like some old crone rocking the cradle, swathed in sweet
8036    garments, bending aside,)
8037The sea whisper'd me.
8038
8039
8040
8041
8042
8043As I ebb'd with the ocean of life,
8044As I wended the shores I know,
8045As I walk'd where the ripples continually wash you Paumanok,
8046Where they rustle up hoarse and sibilant,
8047Where the fierce old mother endlessly cries for her castaways,
8048I musing late in the autumn day, gazing off southward,
8049Held by this electric self out of the pride of which I utter poems,
8050Was seiz'd by the spirit that trails in the lines underfoot,
8051The rim, the sediment that stands for all the water and all the land
8052    of the globe.
8053
8054Fascinated, my eyes reverting from the south, dropt, to follow those
8055    slender windrows,
8056Chaff, straw, splinters of wood, weeds, and the sea-gluten,
8057Scum, scales from shining rocks, leaves of salt-lettuce, left by the tide,
8058Miles walking, the sound of breaking waves the other side of me,
8059Paumanok there and then as I thought the old thought of likenesses,
8060These you presented to me you fish-shaped island,
8061As I wended the shores I know,
8062As I walk'd with that electric self seeking types.
8063
8064
8065As I wend to the shores I know not,
8066As I list to the dirge, the voices of men and women wreck'd,
8067As I inhale the impalpable breezes that set in upon me,
8068As the ocean so mysterious rolls toward me closer and closer,
8069I too but signify at the utmost a little wash'd-up drift,
8070A few sands and dead leaves to gather,
8071Gather, and merge myself as part of the sands and drift.
8072
8073O baffled, balk'd, bent to the very earth,
8074Oppress'd with myself that I have dared to open my mouth,
8075Aware now that amid all that blab whose echoes recoil upon me I have
8076    not once had the least idea who or what I am,
8077But that before all my arrogant poems the real Me stands yet
8078    untouch'd, untold, altogether unreach'd,
8079Withdrawn far, mocking me with mock-congratulatory signs and bows,
8080With peals of distant ironical laughter at every word I have written,
8081Pointing in silence to these songs, and then to the sand beneath.
8082
8083I perceive I have not really understood any thing, not a single
8084    object, and that no man ever can,
8085Nature here in sight of the sea taking advantage of me to dart upon
8086    me and sting me,
8087Because I have dared to open my mouth to sing at all.
8088
8089
8090You oceans both, I close with you,
8091We murmur alike reproachfully rolling sands and drift, knowing not why,
8092These little shreds indeed standing for you and me and all.
8093
8094You friable shore with trails of debris,
8095You fish-shaped island, I take what is underfoot,
8096What is yours is mine my father.
8097
8098I too Paumanok,
8099I too have bubbled up, floated the measureless float, and been
8100    wash'd on your shores,
8101I too am but a trail of drift and debris,
8102I too leave little wrecks upon you, you fish-shaped island.
8103
8104I throw myself upon your breast my father,
8105I cling to you so that you cannot unloose me,
8106I hold you so firm till you answer me something.
8107
8108Kiss me my father,
8109Touch me with your lips as I touch those I love,
8110Breathe to me while I hold you close the secret of the murmuring I envy.
8111
8112
8113Ebb, ocean of life, (the flow will return,)
8114Cease not your moaning you fierce old mother,
8115Endlessly cry for your castaways, but fear not, deny not me,
8116Rustle not up so hoarse and angry against my feet as I touch you or
8117    gather from you.
8118
8119I mean tenderly by you and all,
8120I gather for myself and for this phantom looking down where we lead,
8121    and following me and mine.
8122
8123Me and mine, loose windrows, little corpses,
8124Froth, snowy white, and bubbles,
8125(See, from my dead lips the ooze exuding at last,
8126See, the prismatic colors glistening and rolling,)
8127Tufts of straw, sands, fragments,
8128Buoy'd hither from many moods, one contradicting another,
8129From the storm, the long calm, the darkness, the swell,
8130Musing, pondering, a breath, a briny tear, a dab of liquid or soil,
8131Up just as much out of fathomless workings fermented and thrown,
8132A limp blossom or two, torn, just as much over waves floating,
8133    drifted at random,
8134Just as much for us that sobbing dirge of Nature,
8135Just as much whence we come that blare of the cloud-trumpets,
8136We, capricious, brought hither we know not whence, spread out before you,
8137You up there walking or sitting,
8138Whoever you are, we too lie in drifts at your feet.
8139
8140
8141
8142
8143Tears! tears! tears!
8144In the night, in solitude, tears,
8145On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck'd in by the sand,
8146Tears, not a star shining, all dark and desolate,
8147Moist tears from the eyes of a muffled head;
8148O who is that ghost? that form in the dark, with tears?
8149What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouch'd there on the sand?
8150Streaming tears, sobbing tears, throes, choked with wild cries;
8151O storm, embodied, rising, careering with swift steps along the beach!
8152O wild and dismal night storm, with wind--O belching and desperate!
8153O shade so sedate and decorous by day, with calm countenance and
8154    regulated pace,
8155But away at night as you fly, none looking--O then the unloosen'd ocean,
8156Of tears! tears! tears!
8157
8158
8159
8160
8161Thou who hast slept all night upon the storm,
8162Waking renew'd on thy prodigious pinions,
8163(Burst the wild storm? above it thou ascended'st,
8164And rested on the sky, thy slave that cradled thee,)
8165Now a blue point, far, far in heaven floating,
8166As to the light emerging here on deck I watch thee,
8167(Myself a speck, a point on the world's floating vast.)
8168
8169Far, far at sea,
8170After the night's fierce drifts have strewn the shore with wrecks,
8171With re-appearing day as now so happy and serene,
8172The rosy and elastic dawn, the flashing sun,
8173The limpid spread of air cerulean,
8174Thou also re-appearest.
8175
8176Thou born to match the gale, (thou art all wings,)
8177To cope with heaven and earth and sea and hurricane,
8178Thou ship of air that never furl'st thy sails,
8179Days, even weeks untired and onward, through spaces, realms gyrating,
8180At dusk that lookist on Senegal, at morn America,
8181That sport'st amid the lightning-flash and thunder-cloud,
8182In them, in thy experiences, had'st thou my soul,
8183What joys! what joys were thine!
8184
8185
8186
8187
8188Aboard at a ship's helm,
8189A young steersman steering with care.
8190
8191Through fog on a sea-coast dolefully ringing,
8192An ocean-bell--O a warning bell, rock'd by the waves.
8193
8194O you give good notice indeed, you bell by the sea-reefs ringing,
8195Ringing, ringing, to warn the ship from its wreck-place.
8196
8197For as on the alert O steersman, you mind the loud admonition,
8198The bows turn, the freighted ship tacking speeds away under her gray sails,
8199The beautiful and noble ship with all her precious wealth speeds
8200    away gayly and safe.
8201
8202But O the ship, the immortal ship! O ship aboard the ship!
8203Ship of the body, ship of the soul, voyaging, voyaging, voyaging.
8204
8205
8206
8207
8208On the beach at night,
8209Stands a child with her father,
8210Watching the east, the autumn sky.
8211
8212Up through the darkness,
8213While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading,
8214Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky,
8215Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,
8216Ascends large and calm the lord-star Jupiter,
8217And nigh at hand, only a very little above,
8218Swim the delicate sisters the Pleiades.
8219
8220From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
8221Those burial-clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
8222Watching, silently weeps.
8223
8224Weep not, child,
8225Weep not, my darling,
8226With these kisses let me remove your tears,
8227The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious,
8228They shall not long possess the sky, they devour the stars only in
8229    apparition,
8230Jupiter shall emerge, be patient, watch again another night, the
8231    Pleiades shall emerge,
8232They are immortal, all those stars both silvery and golden shall
8233    shine out again,
8234The great stars and the little ones shall shine out again, they endure,
8235The vast immortal suns and the long-enduring pensive moons shall
8236    again shine.
8237
8238Then dearest child mournest thou only for jupiter?
8239Considerest thou alone the burial of the stars?
8240
8241Something there is,
8242(With my lips soothing thee, adding I whisper,
8243I give thee the first suggestion, the problem and indirection,)
8244Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
8245(Many the burials, many the days and nights, passing away,)
8246Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter
8247Longer than sun or any revolving satellite,
8248Or the radiant sisters the Pleiades.
8249
8250
8251
8252
8253The world below the brine,
8254Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves,
8255Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick
8256    tangle openings, and pink turf,
8257Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold, the
8258    play of light through the water,
8259Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass, rushes,
8260    and the aliment of the swimmers,
8261Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling
8262    close to the bottom,
8263The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, or disporting
8264    with his flukes,
8265The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy
8266    sea-leopard, and the sting-ray,
8267Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths,
8268    breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do,
8269The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed
8270    by beings like us who walk this sphere,
8271The change onward from ours to that of beings who walk other spheres.
8272
8273
8274
8275
8276On the beach at night alone,
8277As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,
8278As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef
8279    of the universes and of the future.
8280
8281A vast similitude interlocks all,
8282All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
8283All distances of place however wide,
8284All distances of time, all inanimate forms,
8285All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, or in
8286    different worlds,
8287All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes,
8288All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages,
8289All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe,
8290All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,
8291This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd,
8292And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them.
8293
8294
8295
8296
8297
8298To-day a rude brief recitative,
8299Of ships sailing the seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal,
8300Of unnamed heroes in the ships--of waves spreading and spreading
8301    far as the eye can reach,
8302Of dashing spray, and the winds piping and blowing,
8303And out of these a chant for the sailors of all nations,
8304Fitful, like a surge.
8305
8306Of sea-captains young or old, and the mates, and of all intrepid sailors,
8307Of the few, very choice, taciturn, whom fate can never surprise nor
8308    death dismay.
8309Pick'd sparingly without noise by thee old ocean, chosen by thee,
8310Thou sea that pickest and cullest the race in time, and unitest nations,
8311Suckled by thee, old husky nurse, embodying thee,
8312Indomitable, untamed as thee.
8313
8314(Ever the heroes on water or on land, by ones or twos appearing,
8315Ever the stock preserv'd and never lost, though rare, enough for
8316    seed preserv'd.)
8317
8318
8319Flaunt out O sea your separate flags of nations!
8320Flaunt out visible as ever the various ship-signals!
8321But do you reserve especially for yourself and for the soul of man
8322    one flag above all the rest,
8323A spiritual woven signal for all nations, emblem of man elate above death,
8324Token of all brave captains and all intrepid sailors and mates,
8325And all that went down doing their duty,
8326Reminiscent of them, twined from all intrepid captains young or old,
8327A pennant universal, subtly waving all time, o'er all brave sailors,
8328All seas, all ships.
8329
8330
8331
8332
8333Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running,
8334Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
8335Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
8336Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
8337Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
8338On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
8339Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
8340Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
8341(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
8342Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
8343Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
8344Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
8345A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
8346That savage trinity warily watching.
8347
8348
8349
8350
8351After the sea-ship, after the whistling winds,
8352After the white-gray sails taut to their spars and ropes,
8353Below, a myriad myriad waves hastening, lifting up their necks,
8354Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship,
8355Waves of the ocean bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying,
8356Waves, undulating waves, liquid, uneven, emulous waves,
8357Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with curves,
8358Where the great vessel sailing and tacking displaced the surface,
8359Larger and smaller waves in the spread of the ocean yearnfully flowing,
8360The wake of the sea-ship after she passes, flashing and frolicsome
8361    under the sun,
8362A motley procession with many a fleck of foam and many fragments,
8363Following the stately and rapid ship, in the wake following.
8364
8365
8366
8367
8368
8369To get betimes in Boston town I rose this morning early,
8370Here's a good place at the corner, I must stand and see the show.
8371
8372Clear the way there Jonathan!
8373Way for the President's marshal--way for the government cannon!
8374Way for the Federal foot and dragoons, (and the apparitions
8375    copiously tumbling.)
8376
8377I love to look on the Stars and Stripes, I hope the fifes will play
8378    Yankee Doodle.
8379How bright shine the cutlasses of the foremost troops!
8380Every man holds his revolver, marching stiff through Boston town.
8381
8382A fog follows, antiques of the same come limping,
8383Some appear wooden-legged, and some appear bandaged and bloodless.
8384
8385Why this is indeed a show--it has called the dead out of the earth!
8386The old graveyards of the hills have hurried to see!
8387Phantoms! phantoms countless by flank and rear!
8388Cock'd hats of mothy mould--crutches made of mist!
8389Arms in slings--old men leaning on young men's shoulders.
8390
8391What troubles you Yankee phantoms? what is all this chattering of
8392    bare gums?
8393Does the ague convulse your limbs? do you mistake your crutches for
8394    firelocks and level them?
8395
8396If you blind your eyes with tears you will not see the President's marshal,
8397If you groan such groans you might balk the government cannon.
8398
8399For shame old maniacs--bring down those toss'd arms, and let your
8400    white hair be,
8401Here gape your great grandsons, their wives gaze at them from the windows,
8402See how well dress'd, see how orderly they conduct themselves.
8403
8404Worse and worse--can't you stand it? are you retreating?
8405Is this hour with the living too dead for you?
8406
8407Retreat then--pell-mell!
8408To your graves--back--back to the hills old limpers!
8409I do not think you belong here anyhow.
8410
8411But there is one thing that belongs here--shall I tell you what it
8412    is, gentlemen of Boston?
8413
8414I will whisper it to the Mayor, he shall send a committee to England,
8415They shall get a grant from the Parliament, go with a cart to the
8416    royal vault,
8417Dig out King George's coffin, unwrap him quick from the
8418    graveclothes, box up his bones for a journey,
8419Find a swift Yankee clipper--here is freight for you, black-bellied clipper,
8420Up with your anchor--shake out your sails--steer straight toward
8421    Boston bay.
8422
8423Now call for the President's marshal again, bring out the government cannon,
8424Fetch home the roarers from Congress, make another procession,
8425    guard it with foot and dragoons.
8426
8427This centre-piece for them;
8428Look, all orderly citizens--look from the windows, women!
8429
8430The committee open the box, set up the regal ribs, glue those that
8431    will not stay,
8432Clap the skull on top of the ribs, and clap a crown on top of the skull.
8433You have got your revenge, old buster--the crown is come to its own,
8434    and more than its own.
8435
8436Stick your hands in your pockets, Jonathan--you are a made man from
8437    this day,
8438You are mighty cute--and here is one of your bargains.
8439
8440
8441
8442
8443Suddenly out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves,
8444Like lightning it le'pt forth half startled at itself,
8445Its feet upon the ashes and the rags, its hands tight to the throats
8446    of kings.
8447
8448O hope and faith!
8449O aching close of exiled patriots' lives!
8450O many a sicken'd heart!
8451Turn back unto this day and make yourselves afresh.
8452
8453And you, paid to defile the People--you liars, mark!
8454Not for numberless agonies, murders, lusts,
8455For court thieving in its manifold mean forms, worming from his
8456    simplicity the poor man's wages,
8457For many a promise sworn by royal lips and broken and laugh'd at in
8458    the breaking,
8459
8460Then in their power not for all these did the blows strike revenge,
8461    or the heads of the nobles fall;
8462The People scorn'd the ferocity of kings.
8463
8464But the sweetness of mercy brew'd bitter destruction, and the
8465    frighten'd monarchs come back,
8466Each comes in state with his train, hangman, priest, tax-gatherer,
8467Soldier, lawyer, lord, jailer, and sycophant.
8468
8469Yet behind all lowering stealing, lo, a shape,
8470Vague as the night, draped interminably, head, front and form, in
8471    scarlet folds,
8472Whose face and eyes none may see,
8473Out of its robes only this, the red robes lifted by the arm,
8474One finger crook'd pointed high over the top, like the head of a
8475    snake appears.
8476
8477Meanwhile corpses lie in new-made graves, bloody corpses of young men,
8478The rope of the gibbet hangs heavily, the bullets of princes are
8479    flying, the creatures of power laugh aloud,
8480And all these things bear fruits, and they are good.
8481
8482Those corpses of young men,
8483Those martyrs that hang from the gibbets, those hearts pierc'd by
8484    the gray lead,
8485Cold and motionless as they seem live elsewhere with unslaughter'd vitality.
8486
8487They live in other young men O kings!
8488They live in brothers again ready to defy you,
8489They were purified by death, they were taught and exalted.
8490
8491Not a grave of the murder'd for freedom but grows seed for freedom,
8492    in its turn to bear seed,
8493Which the winds carry afar and re-sow, and the rains and the snows nourish.
8494
8495Not a disembodied spirit can the weapons of tyrants let loose,
8496But it stalks invisibly over the earth, whispering, counseling, cautioning.
8497Liberty, let others despair of you--I never despair of you.
8498
8499Is the house shut? is the master away?
8500Nevertheless, be ready, be not weary of watching,
8501He will soon return, his messengers come anon.
8502
8503
8504
8505
8506Hold it up sternly--see this it sends back, (who is it? is it you?)
8507Outside fair costume, within ashes and filth,
8508No more a flashing eye, no more a sonorous voice or springy step,
8509Now some slave's eye, voice, hands, step,
8510A drunkard's breath, unwholesome eater's face, venerealee's flesh,
8511Lungs rotting away piecemeal, stomach sour and cankerous,
8512Joints rheumatic, bowels clogged with abomination,
8513Blood circulating dark and poisonous streams,
8514Words babble, hearing and touch callous,
8515No brain, no heart left, no magnetism of sex;
8516Such from one look in this looking-glass ere you go hence,
8517Such a result so soon--and from such a beginning!
8518
8519
8520
8521
8522Lover divine and perfect Comrade,
8523Waiting content, invisible yet, but certain,
8524Be thou my God.
8525
8526Thou, thou, the Ideal Man,
8527Fair, able, beautiful, content, and loving,
8528Complete in body and dilate in spirit,
8529Be thou my God.
8530
8531O Death, (for Life has served its turn,)
8532Opener and usher to the heavenly mansion,
8533Be thou my God.
8534
8535Aught, aught of mightiest, best I see, conceive, or know,
8536(To break the stagnant tie--thee, thee to free, O soul,)
8537Be thou my God.
8538
8539All great ideas, the races' aspirations,
8540All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts,
8541Be ye my Gods.
8542
8543Or Time and Space,
8544Or shape of Earth divine and wondrous,
8545Or some fair shape I viewing, worship,
8546Or lustrous orb of sun or star by night,
8547Be ye my Gods.
8548
8549
8550
8551
8552Forms, qualities, lives, humanity, language, thoughts,
8553The ones known, and the ones unknown, the ones on the stars,
8554The stars themselves, some shaped, others unshaped,
8555Wonders as of those countries, the soil, trees, cities, inhabitants,
8556    whatever they may be,
8557Splendid suns, the moons and rings, the countless combinations and effects,
8558Such-like, and as good as such-like, visible here or anywhere, stand
8559    provided for a handful of space, which I extend my arm and
8560    half enclose with my hand,
8561That containing the start of each and all, the virtue, the germs of all.
8562
8563
8564
8565
8566Of ownership--as if one fit to own things could not at pleasure enter
8567    upon all, and incorporate them into himself or herself;
8568Of vista--suppose some sight in arriere through the formative chaos,
8569    presuming the growth, fulness, life, now attain'd on the journey,
8570(But I see the road continued, and the journey ever continued;)
8571Of what was once lacking on earth, and in due time has become
8572    supplied--and of what will yet be supplied,
8573Because all I see and know I believe to have its main purport in
8574    what will yet be supplied.
8575
8576
8577
8578When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
8579When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
8580When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
8581When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
8582    applause in the lecture-room,
8583How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
8584Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
8585In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
8586Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
8587
8588
8589
8590
8591Only themselves understand themselves and the like of themselves,
8592As souls only understand souls.
8593
8594
8595
8596
8597O me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,
8598Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,
8599Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I,
8600    and who more faithless?)
8601Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the
8602    struggle ever renew'd,
8603Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see
8604    around me,
8605Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
8606The question, O me! so sad, recurring--What good amid these, O me, O life?
8607
8608     Answer.
8609That you are here--that life exists and identity,
8610That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
8611
8612
8613
8614
8615All you are doing and saying is to America dangled mirages,
8616You have not learn'd of Nature--of the politics of Nature you have
8617    not learn'd the great amplitude, rectitude, impartiality,
8618You have not seen that only such as they are for these States,
8619And that what is less than they must sooner or later lift off from
8620    these States.
8621
8622
8623
8624
8625I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all
8626    oppression and shame,
8627I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men at anguish with
8628    themselves, remorseful after deeds done,
8629I see in low life the mother misused by her children, dying,
8630    neglected, gaunt, desperate,
8631I see the wife misused by her husband, I see the treacherous seducer
8632    of young women,
8633I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love attempted to be
8634    hid, I see these sights on the earth,
8635I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny, I see martyrs and
8636    prisoners,
8637I observe a famine at sea, I observe the sailors casting lots who
8638    shall be kill'd to preserve the lives of the rest,
8639I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon
8640    laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
8641All these--all the meanness and agony without end I sitting look out upon,
8642See, hear, and am silent.
8643
8644
8645
8646
8647What you give me I cheerfully accept,
8648A little sustenance, a hut and garden, a little money, as I
8649    rendezvous with my poems,
8650A traveler's lodging and breakfast as journey through the States,--
8651    why should I be ashamed to own such gifts? why to advertise for them?
8652For I myself am not one who bestows nothing upon man and woman,
8653For I bestow upon any man or woman the entrance to all the gifts of
8654    the universe.
8655
8656
8657
8658
8659Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)
8660Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,
8661The rushing amorous contact high in space together,
8662The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,
8663Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,
8664In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,
8665Till o'er the river pois'd, the twain yet one, a moment's lull,
8666A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,
8667Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,
8668She hers, he his, pursuing.
8669
8670
8671
8672
8673Roaming in thought over the Universe, I saw the little that is Good
8674    steadily hastening towards immortality,
8675And the vast all that is call'd Evil I saw hastening to merge itself
8676    and become lost and dead.
8677
8678
8679
8680
8681Through the ample open door of the peaceful country barn,
8682A sunlit pasture field with cattle and horses feeding,
8683And haze and vista, and the far horizon fading away.
8684
8685
8686
8687
8688Silent and amazed even when a little boy,
8689I remember I heard the preacher every Sunday put God in his statements,
8690As contending against some being or influence.
8691
8692
8693
8694
8695On a flat road runs the well-train'd runner,
8696He is lean and sinewy with muscular legs,
8697He is thinly clothed, he leans forward as he runs,
8698With lightly closed fists and arms partially rais'd.
8699
8700
8701
8702
8703Women sit or move to and fro, some old, some young,
8704The young are beautiful--but the old are more beautiful than the young.
8705
8706
8707
8708
8709I see the sleeping babe nestling the breast of its mother,
8710The sleeping mother and babe--hush'd, I study them long and long.
8711
8712
8713
8714
8715Of obedience, faith, adhesiveness;
8716As I stand aloof and look there is to me something profoundly
8717    affecting in large masses of men following the lead of those who
8718    do not believe in men.
8719
8720
8721
8722
8723A mask, a perpetual natural disguiser of herself,
8724Concealing her face, concealing her form,
8725Changes and transformations every hour, every moment,
8726Falling upon her even when she sleeps.
8727
8728
8729
8730
8731Of justice--as If could be any thing but the same ample law,
8732    expounded by natural judges and saviors,
8733As if it might be this thing or that thing, according to decisions.
8734
8735
8736
8737
8738Gliding o'er all, through all,
8739Through Nature, Time, and Space,
8740As a ship on the waters advancing,
8741The voyage of the soul--not life alone,
8742Death, many deaths I'll sing.
8743
8744
8745
8746
8747Hast never come to thee an hour,
8748A sudden gleam divine, precipitating, bursting all these bubbles,
8749    fashions, wealth?
8750These eager business aims--books, politics, art, amours,
8751To utter nothingness?
8752
8753
8754
8755
8756Of Equality--as if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and
8757    rights as myself--as if it were not indispensable to my own
8758    rights that others possess the same.
8759
8760
8761
8762
8763I see in you the estuary that enlarges and spreads itself grandly as
8764    it pours in the great sea.
8765
8766
8767
8768
8769Locations and times--what is it in me that meets them all, whenever
8770    and wherever, and makes me at home?
8771Forms, colors, densities, odors--what is it in me that corresponds
8772    with them?
8773
8774
8775
8776
8777A thousand perfect men and women appear,
8778Around each gathers a cluster of friends, and gay children and
8779    youths, with offerings.
8780
8781
8782
8783
8784Why reclining, interrogating? why myself and all drowsing?
8785What deepening twilight-scum floating atop of the waters,
8786Who are they as bats and night-dogs askant in the capitol?
8787What a filthy Presidentiad! (O South, your torrid suns! O North,
8788    your arctic freezings!)
8789Are those really Congressmen? are those the great Judges? is that
8790    the President?
8791Then I will sleep awhile yet, for I see that these States sleep, for
8792    reasons;
8793(With gathering murk, with muttering thunder and lambent shoots we
8794    all duly awake,
8795South, North, East, West, inland and seaboard, we will surely awake.)
8796
8797
8798
8799
8800
8801First O songs for a prelude,
8802Lightly strike on the stretch'd tympanum pride and joy in my city,
8803How she led the rest to arms, how she gave the cue,
8804How at once with lithe limbs unwaiting a moment she sprang,
8805(O superb! O Manhattan, my own, my peerless!
8806O strongest you in the hour of danger, in crisis! O truer than steel!)
8807How you sprang--how you threw off the costumes of peace with
8808    indifferent hand,
8809How your soft opera-music changed, and the drum and fife were heard
8810    in their stead,
8811How you led to the war, (that shall serve for our prelude, songs of
8812    soldiers,)
8813How Manhattan drum-taps led.
8814
8815Forty years had I in my city seen soldiers parading,
8816Forty years as a pageant, till unawares the lady of this teeming and
8817    turbulent city,
8818Sleepless amid her ships, her houses, her incalculable wealth,
8819With her million children around her, suddenly,
8820At dead of night, at news from the south,
8821Incens'd struck with clinch'd hand the pavement.
8822
8823A shock electric, the night sustain'd it,
8824Till with ominous hum our hive at daybreak pour'd out its myriads.
8825
8826From the houses then and the workshops, and through all the doorways,
8827Leapt they tumultuous, and lo! Manhattan arming.
8828
8829To the drum-taps prompt,
8830The young men falling in and arming,
8831The mechanics arming, (the trowel, the jack-plane, the blacksmith's
8832    hammer, tost aside with precipitation,)
8833The lawyer leaving his office and arming, the judge leaving the court,
8834The driver deserting his wagon in the street, jumping down, throwing
8835    the reins abruptly down on the horses' backs,
8836The salesman leaving the store, the boss, book-keeper, porter, all leaving;
8837Squads gather everywhere by common consent and arm,
8838The new recruits, even boys, the old men show them how to wear their
8839    accoutrements, they buckle the straps carefully,
8840Outdoors arming, indoors arming, the flash of the musket-barrels,
8841The white tents cluster in camps, the arm'd sentries around, the
8842    sunrise cannon and again at sunset,
8843Arm'd regiments arrive every day, pass through the city, and embark
8844    from the wharves,
8845(How good they look as they tramp down to the river, sweaty, with
8846    their guns on their shoulders!
8847How I love them! how I could hug them, with their brown faces and
8848    their clothes and knapsacks cover'd with dust!)
8849The blood of the city up-arm'd! arm'd! the cry everywhere,
8850The flags flung out from the steeples of churches and from all the
8851    public buildings and stores,
8852The tearful parting, the mother kisses her son, the son kisses his mother,
8853(Loth is the mother to part, yet not a word does she speak to detain him,)
8854The tumultuous escort, the ranks of policemen preceding, clearing the way,
8855The unpent enthusiasm, the wild cheers of the crowd for their favorites,
8856The artillery, the silent cannons bright as gold, drawn along,
8857    rumble lightly over the stones,
8858(Silent cannons, soon to cease your silence,
8859Soon unlimber'd to begin the red business;)
8860All the mutter of preparation, all the determin'd arming,
8861The hospital service, the lint, bandages and medicines,
8862The women volunteering for nurses, the work begun for in earnest, no
8863    mere parade now;
8864War! an arm'd race is advancing! the welcome for battle, no turning away!
8865War! be it weeks, months, or years, an arm'd race is advancing to
8866    welcome it.
8867
8868Mannahatta a-march--and it's O to sing it well!
8869It's O for a manly life in the camp.
8870
8871And the sturdy artillery,
8872The guns bright as gold, the work for giants, to serve well the guns,
8873Unlimber them! (no more as the past forty years for salutes for
8874    courtesies merely,
8875Put in something now besides powder and wadding.)
8876
8877And you lady of ships, you Mannahatta,
8878Old matron of this proud, friendly, turbulent city,
8879Often in peace and wealth you were pensive or covertly frown'd amid
8880    all your children,
8881But now you smile with joy exulting old Mannahatta.
8882
8883
8884
8885
8886Arm'd year--year of the struggle,
8887No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you terrible year,
8888Not you as some pale poetling seated at a desk lisping cadenzas piano,
8889But as a strong man erect, clothed in blue clothes, advancing,
8890    carrying rifle on your shoulder,
8891With well-gristled body and sunburnt face and hands, with a knife in
8892    the belt at your side,
8893As I heard you shouting loud, your sonorous voice ringing across the
8894    continent,
8895Your masculine voice O year, as rising amid the great cities,
8896Amid the men of Manhattan I saw you as one of the workmen, the
8897    dwellers in Manhattan,
8898Or with large steps crossing the prairies out of Illinois and Indiana,
8899Rapidly crossing the West with springy gait and descending the Allghanies,
8900Or down from the great lakes or in Pennsylvania, or on deck along
8901    the Ohio river,
8902Or southward along the Tennessee or Cumberland rivers, or at
8903    Chattanooga on the mountain top,
8904Saw I your gait and saw I your sinewy limbs clothed in blue, bearing
8905    weapons, robust year,
8906Heard your determin'd voice launch'd forth again and again,
8907Year that suddenly sang by the mouths of the round-lipp'd cannon,
8908I repeat you, hurrying, crashing, sad, distracted year.
8909
8910
8911
8912
8913Beat! beat! drums!--blow! bugles! blow!
8914Through the windows--through doors--burst like a ruthless force,
8915Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,
8916Into the school where the scholar is studying;
8917Leave not the bridegroom quiet--no happiness must he have now with
8918    his bride,
8919Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering
8920    his grain,
8921So fierce you whirr and pound you drums--so shrill you bugles blow.
8922
8923Beat! beat! drums!--blow! bugles! blow!
8924Over the traffic of cities--over the rumble of wheels in the streets;
8925Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers
8926    must sleep in those beds,
8927No bargainers' bargains by day--no brokers or speculators--would
8928    they continue?
8929Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
8930Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?
8931Then rattle quicker, heavier drums--you bugles wilder blow.
8932
8933Beat! beat! drums!--blow! bugles! blow!
8934Make no parley--stop for no expostulation,
8935Mind not the timid--mind not the weeper or prayer,
8936Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,
8937Let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties,
8938Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the
8939    hearses,
8940So strong you thump O terrible drums--so loud you bugles blow.
8941
8942
8943
8944
8945From Paumanok starting I fly like a bird,
8946Around and around to soar to sing the idea of all,
8947To the north betaking myself to sing there arctic songs,
8948To Kanada till I absorb Kanada in myself, to Michigan then,
8949To Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, to sing their songs, (they are inimitable;)
8950Then to Ohio and Indiana to sing theirs, to Missouri and Kansas and
8951    Arkansas to sing theirs,
8952To Tennessee and Kentucky, to the Carolinas and Georgia to sing theirs,
8953To Texas and so along up toward California, to roam accepted everywhere;
8954To sing first, (to the tap of the war-drum if need be,)
8955The idea of all, of the Western world one and inseparable,
8956And then the song of each member of these States.
8957
8958
8959
8960
8961     Poet:
8962O A new song, a free song,
8963Flapping, flapping, flapping, flapping, by sounds, by voices clearer,
8964By the wind's voice and that of the drum,
8965By the banner's voice and child's voice and sea's voice and father's voice,
8966Low on the ground and high in the air,
8967On the ground where father and child stand,
8968In the upward air where their eyes turn,
8969Where the banner at daybreak is flapping.
8970
8971Words! book-words! what are you?
8972Words no more, for hearken and see,
8973My song is there in the open air, and I must sing,
8974With the banner and pennant a-flapping.
8975
8976I'll weave the chord and twine in,
8977Man's desire and babe's desire, I'll twine them in, I'll put in life,
8978I'll put the bayonet's flashing point, I'll let bullets and slugs whizz,
8979(As one carrying a symbol and menace far into the future,
8980Crying with trumpet voice, Arouse and beware! Beware and arouse!)
8981I'll pour the verse with streams of blood, full of volition, full of joy,
8982Then loosen, launch forth, to go and compete,
8983With the banner and pennant a-flapping.
8984
8985     Pennant:
8986Come up here, bard, bard,
8987Come up here, soul, soul,
8988Come up here, dear little child,
8989To fly in the clouds and winds with me, and play with the measureless light.
8990
8991     Child:
8992Father what is that in the sky beckoning to me with long finger?
8993And what does it say to me all the while?
8994
8995     Father:
8996Nothing my babe you see in the sky,
8997And nothing at all to you it says--but look you my babe,
8998Look at these dazzling things in the houses, and see you the money-
8999    shops opening,
9000And see you the vehicles preparing to crawl along the streets with goods;
9001These, ah these, how valued and toil'd for these!
9002How envied by all the earth.
9003
9004     Poet:
9005Fresh and rosy red the sun is mounting high,
9006On floats the sea in distant blue careering through its channels,
9007On floats the wind over the breast of the sea setting in toward land,
9008The great steady wind from west or west-by-south,
9009Floating so buoyant with milk-white foam on the waters.
9010
9011But I am not the sea nor the red sun,
9012I am not the wind with girlish laughter,
9013Not the immense wind which strengthens, not the wind which lashes,
9014Not the spirit that ever lashes its own body to terror and death,
9015But I am that which unseen comes and sings, sings, sings,
9016Which babbles in brooks and scoots in showers on the land,
9017Which the birds know in the woods mornings and evenings,
9018And the shore-sands know and the hissing wave, and that banner and pennant,
9019Aloft there flapping and flapping.
9020
9021     Child:
9022O father it is alive--it is full of people--it has children,
9023O now it seems to me it is talking to its children,
9024I hear it--it talks to me--O it is wonderful!
9025O it stretches--it spreads and runs so fast--O my father,
9026It is so broad it covers the whole sky.
9027
9028     Father:
9029Cease, cease, my foolish babe,
9030What you are saying is sorrowful to me, much 't displeases me;
9031Behold with the rest again I say, behold not banners and pennants aloft,
9032But the well-prepared pavements behold, and mark the solid-wall'd houses.
9033
9034     Banner and Pennant:
9035Speak to the child O bard out of Manhattan,
9036To our children all, or north or south of Manhattan,
9037Point this day, leaving all the rest, to us over all--and yet we know
9038    not why,
9039For what are we, mere strips of cloth profiting nothing,
9040Only flapping in the wind?
9041
9042
9043    Poet:
9044I hear and see not strips of cloth alone,
9045I hear the tramp of armies, I hear the challenging sentry,
9046I hear the jubilant shouts of millions of men, I hear Liberty!
9047I hear the drums beat and the trumpets blowing,
9048I myself move abroad swift-rising flying then,
9049I use the wings of the land-bird and use the wings of the sea-bird,
9050    and look down as from a height,
9051I do not deny the precious results of peace, I see populous cities
9052    with wealth incalculable,
9053I see numberless farms, I see the farmers working in their fields or barns,
9054I see mechanics working, I see buildings everywhere founded, going
9055    up, or finish'd,
9056I see trains of cars swiftly speeding along railroad tracks drawn by
9057    the locomotives,
9058I see the stores, depots, of Boston, Baltimore, Charleston, New Orleans,
9059I see far in the West the immense area of grain, I dwell awhile hovering,
9060I pass to the lumber forests of the North, and again to the Southern
9061    plantation, and again to California;
9062Sweeping the whole I see the countless profit, the busy gatherings,
9063    earn'd wages,
9064See the Identity formed out of thirty-eight spacious and haughty
9065    States, (and many more to come,)
9066See forts on the shores of harbors, see ships sailing in and out;
9067Then over all, (aye! aye!) my little and lengthen'd pennant shaped
9068    like a sword,
9069Runs swiftly up indicating war and defiance--and now the halyards
9070    have rais'd it,
9071Side of my banner broad and blue, side of my starry banner,
9072Discarding peace over all the sea and land.
9073
9074     Banner and Pennant:
9075Yet louder, higher, stronger, bard! yet farther, wider cleave!
9076No longer let our children deem us riches and peace alone,
9077We may be terror and carnage, and are so now,
9078Not now are we any one of these spacious and haughty States, (nor
9079    any five, nor ten,)
9080Nor market nor depot we, nor money-bank in the city,
9081But these and all, and the brown and spreading land, and the mines
9082    below, are ours,
9083And the shores of the sea are ours, and the rivers great and small,
9084And the fields they moisten, and the crops and the fruits are ours,
9085Bays and channels and ships sailing in and out are ours--while we over all,
9086Over the area spread below, the three or four millions of square
9087    miles, the capitals,
9088The forty millions of people,--O bard! in life and death supreme,
9089We, even we, henceforth flaunt out masterful, high up above,
9090Not for the present alone, for a thousand years chanting through you,
9091This song to the soul of one poor little child.
9092
9093     Child:
9094O my father I like not the houses,
9095They will never to me be any thing, nor do I like money,
9096But to mount up there I would like, O father dear, that banner I like,
9097That pennant I would be and must be.
9098
9099     Father:
9100Child of mine you fill me with anguish,
9101To be that pennant would be too fearful,
9102Little you know what it is this day, and after this day, forever,
9103It is to gain nothing, but risk and defy every thing,
9104Forward to stand in front of wars--and O, such wars!--what have you
9105    to do with them?
9106With passions of demons, slaughter, premature death?
9107
9108     Banner:
9109Demons and death then I sing,
9110Put in all, aye all will I, sword-shaped pennant for war,
9111And a pleasure new and ecstatic, and the prattled yearning of children,
9112Blent with the sounds of the peaceful land and the liquid wash of the sea,
9113And the black ships fighting on the sea envelop'd in smoke,
9114And the icy cool of the far, far north, with rustling cedars and pines,
9115And the whirr of drums and the sound of soldiers marching, and the
9116    hot sun shining south,
9117And the beach-waves combing over the beach on my Eastern shore,
9118    and my Western shore the same,
9119And all between those shores, and my ever running Mississippi with
9120    bends and chutes,
9121And my Illinois fields, and my Kansas fields, and my fields of Missouri,
9122The Continent, devoting the whole identity without reserving an atom,
9123Pour in! whelm that which asks, which sings, with all and the yield of all,
9124Fusing and holding, claiming, devouring the whole,
9125No more with tender lip, nor musical labial sound,
9126But out of the night emerging for good, our voice persuasive no more,
9127Croaking like crows here in the wind.
9128
9129     Poet:
9130My limbs, my veins dilate, my theme is clear at last,
9131Banner so broad advancing out of the night, I sing you haughty and resolute,
9132I burst through where I waited long, too long, deafen'd and blinded,
9133My hearing and tongue are come to me, (a little child taught me,)
9134I hear from above O pennant of war your ironical call and demand,
9135Insensate! insensate! (yet I at any rate chant you,) O banner!
9136Not houses of peace indeed are you, nor any nor all their
9137    prosperity, (if need be, you shall again have every one of those
9138    houses to destroy them,
9139You thought not to destroy those valuable houses, standing fast,
9140    full of comfort, built with money,
9141May they stand fast, then? not an hour except you above them and all
9142    stand fast;)
9143O banner, not money so precious are you, not farm produce you, nor
9144    the material good nutriment,
9145Nor excellent stores, nor landed on wharves from the ships,
9146Not the superb ships with sail-power or steam-power, fetching and
9147    carrying cargoes,
9148Nor machinery, vehicles, trade, nor revenues--but you as henceforth
9149    I see you,
9150Running up out of the night, bringing your cluster of stars,
9151    (ever-enlarging stars,)
9152Divider of daybreak you, cutting the air, touch'd by the sun,
9153    measuring the sky,
9154(Passionately seen and yearn'd for by one poor little child,
9155While others remain busy or smartly talking, forever teaching
9156    thrift, thrift;)
9157O you up there! O pennant! where you undulate like a snake hissing
9158    so curious,
9159Out of reach, an idea only, yet furiously fought for, risking bloody
9160    death, loved by me,
9161So loved--O you banner leading the day with stars brought from the night!
9162Valueless, object of eyes, over all and demanding all--(absolute
9163    owner of all)--O banner and pennant!
9164I too leave the rest--great as it is, it is nothing--houses, machines
9165    are nothing--I see them not,
9166I see but you, O warlike pennant! O banner so broad, with stripes,
9167    sing you only,
9168Flapping up there in the wind.
9169
9170
9171
9172
9173
9174Rise O days from your fathomless deeps, till you loftier, fiercer sweep,
9175Long for my soul hungering gymnastic I devour'd what the earth gave me,
9176Long I roam'd amid the woods of the north, long I watch'd Niagara pouring,
9177I travel'd the prairies over and slept on their breast, I cross'd
9178    the Nevadas, I cross'd the plateaus,
9179I ascended the towering rocks along the Pacific, I sail'd out to sea,
9180I sail'd through the storm, I was refresh'd by the storm,
9181I watch'd with joy the threatening maws of the waves,
9182
9183I mark'd the white combs where they career'd so high, curling over,
9184I heard the wind piping, I saw the black clouds,
9185Saw from below what arose and mounted, (O superb! O wild as my
9186    heart, and powerful!)
9187Heard the continuous thunder as it bellow'd after the lightning,
9188Noted the slender and jagged threads of lightning as sudden and
9189    fast amid the din they chased each other across the sky;
9190These, and such as these, I, elate, saw--saw with wonder, yet pensive
9191    and masterful,
9192All the menacing might of the globe uprisen around me,
9193Yet there with my soul I fed, I fed content, supercilious.
9194
9195
9196'Twas well, O soul--'twas a good preparation you gave me,
9197Now we advance our latent and ampler hunger to fill,
9198Now we go forth to receive what the earth and the sea never gave us,
9199Not through the mighty woods we go, but through the mightier cities,
9200Something for us is pouring now more than Niagara pouring,
9201Torrents of men, (sources and rills of the Northwest are you indeed
9202    inexhaustible?)
9203What, to pavements and homesteads here, what were those storms of
9204    the mountains and sea?
9205What, to passions I witness around me to-day? was the sea risen?
9206Was the wind piping the pipe of death under the black clouds?
9207Lo! from deeps more unfathomable, something more deadly and savage,
9208Manhattan rising, advancing with menacing front--Cincinnati, Chicago,
9209    unchain'd;
9210What was that swell I saw on the ocean? behold what comes here,
9211How it climbs with daring feet and hands--how it dashes!
9212How the true thunder bellows after the lightning--how bright the
9213    flashes of lightning!
9214How Democracy with desperate vengeful port strides on, shown
9215    through the dark by those flashes of lightning!
9216(Yet a mournful wall and low sob I fancied I heard through the dark,
9217In a lull of the deafening confusion.)
9218
9219
9220Thunder on! stride on, Democracy! strike with vengeful stroke!
9221And do you rise higher than ever yet O days, O cities!
9222Crash heavier, heavier yet O storms! you have done me good,
9223My soul prepared in the mountains absorbs your immortal strong nutriment,
9224Long had I walk'd my cities, my country roads through farms, only
9225    half satisfied,
9226One doubt nauseous undulating like a snake, crawl'd on the ground before me,
9227Continually preceding my steps, turning upon me oft, ironically hissing low;
9228The cities I loved so well I abandon'd and left, I sped to the
9229    certainties suitable to me,
9230Hungering, hungering, hungering, for primal energies and Nature's
9231    dauntlessness,
9232I refresh'd myself with it only, I could relish it only,
9233I waited the bursting forth of the pent fire--on the water and air
9234    waited long;
9235But now I no longer wait, I am fully satisfied, I am glutted,
9236I have witness'd the true lightning, I have witness'd my cities electric,
9237I have lived to behold man burst forth and warlike America rise,
9238Hence I will seek no more the food of the northern solitary wilds,
9239No more the mountains roam or sail the stormy sea.
9240
9241
9242
9243
9244The noble sire fallen on evil days,
9245I saw with hand uplifted, menacing, brandishing,
9246(Memories of old in abeyance, love and faith in abeyance,)
9247The insane knife toward the Mother of All.
9248
9249The noble son on sinewy feet advancing,
9250I saw, out of the land of prairies, land of Ohio's waters and of Indiana,
9251To the rescue the stalwart giant hurry his plenteous offspring,
9252Drest in blue, bearing their trusty rifles on their shoulders.
9253
9254Then the Mother of All with calm voice speaking,
9255As to you Rebellious, (I seemed to hear her say,) why strive against
9256    me, and why seek my life?
9257When you yourself forever provide to defend me?
9258For you provided me Washington--and now these also.
9259
9260
9261
9262
9263City of ships!
9264(O the black ships! O the fierce ships!
9265O the beautiful sharp-bow'd steam-ships and sail-ships!)
9266City of the world! (for all races are here,
9267All the lands of the earth make contributions here;)
9268City of the sea! city of hurried and glittering tides!
9269City whose gleeful tides continually rush or recede, whirling in and
9270    out with eddies and foam!
9271City of wharves and stores--city of tall facades of marble and iron!
9272Proud and passionate city--mettlesome, mad, extravagant city!
9273Spring up O city--not for peace alone, but be indeed yourself, warlike!
9274Fear not--submit to no models but your own O city!
9275Behold me--incarnate me as I have incarnated you!
9276I have rejected nothing you offer'd me--whom you adopted I have adopted,
9277Good or bad I never question you--I love all--I do not condemn any thing,
9278I chant and celebrate all that is yours--yet peace no more,
9279In peace I chanted peace, but now the drum of war is mine,
9280War, red war is my song through your streets, O city!
9281
9282
9283
9284
9285     the Centenarian.]
9286Give me your hand old Revolutionary,
9287The hill-top is nigh, but a few steps, (make room gentlemen,)
9288Up the path you have follow'd me well, spite of your hundred and
9289    extra years,
9290You can walk old man, though your eyes are almost done,
9291Your faculties serve you, and presently I must have them serve me.
9292
9293Rest, while I tell what the crowd around us means,
9294On the plain below recruits are drilling and exercising,
9295There is the camp, one regiment departs to-morrow,
9296Do you hear the officers giving their orders?
9297Do you hear the clank of the muskets?
9298Why what comes over you now old man?
9299Why do you tremble and clutch my hand so convulsively?
9300The troops are but drilling, they are yet surrounded with smiles,
9301Around them at hand the well-drest friends and the women,
9302While splendid and warm the afternoon sun shines down,
9303Green the midsummer verdure and fresh blows the dallying breeze,
9304O'er proud and peaceful cities and arm of the sea between.
9305
9306But drill and parade are over, they march back to quarters,
9307Only hear that approval of hands! hear what a clapping!
9308
9309As wending the crowds now part and disperse--but we old man,
9310Not for nothing have I brought you hither--we must remain,
9311You to speak in your turn, and I to listen and tell.
9312
9313When I clutch'd your hand it was not with terror,
9314But suddenly pouring about me here on every side,
9315And below there where the boys were drilling, and up the slopes they ran,
9316And where tents are pitch'd, and wherever you see south and south-
9317    east and south-west,
9318Over hills, across lowlands, and in the skirts of woods,
9319And along the shores, in mire (now fill'd over) came again and
9320    suddenly raged,
9321As eighty-five years agone no mere parade receiv'd with applause of friends,
9322But a battle which I took part in myself--aye, long ago as it is, I
9323    took part in it,
9324Walking then this hilltop, this same ground.
9325
9326Aye, this is the ground,
9327My blind eyes even as I speak behold it re-peopled from graves,
9328The years recede, pavements and stately houses disappear,
9329Rude forts appear again, the old hoop'd guns are mounted,
9330I see the lines of rais'd earth stretching from river to bay,
9331I mark the vista of waters, I mark the uplands and slopes;
9332Here we lay encamp'd, it was this time in summer also.
9333
9334As I talk I remember all, I remember the Declaration,
9335It was read here, the whole army paraded, it was read to us here,
9336By his staff surrounded the General stood in the middle, he held up
9337    his unsheath'd sword,
9338It glitter'd in the sun in full sight of the army.
9339
9340Twas a bold act then--the English war-ships had just arrived,
9341We could watch down the lower bay where they lay at anchor,
9342And the transports swarming with soldiers.
9343
9344A few days more and they landed, and then the battle.
9345
9346Twenty thousand were brought against us,
9347A veteran force furnish'd with good artillery.
9348
9349I tell not now the whole of the battle,
9350But one brigade early in the forenoon order'd forward to engage the
9351    red-coats,
9352Of that brigade I tell, and how steadily it march'd,
9353And how long and well it stood confronting death.
9354
9355Who do you think that was marching steadily sternly confronting death?
9356It was the brigade of the youngest men, two thousand strong,
9357Rais'd in Virginia and Maryland, and most of them known personally
9358    to the General.
9359
9360Jauntily forward they went with quick step toward Gowanus' waters,
9361Till of a sudden unlook'd for by defiles through the woods, gain'd at night,
9362The British advancing, rounding in from the east, fiercely playing
9363    their guns,
9364That brigade of the youngest was cut off and at the enemy's mercy.
9365
9366The General watch'd them from this hill,
9367They made repeated desperate attempts to burst their environment,
9368Then drew close together, very compact, their flag flying in the middle,
9369But O from the hills how the cannon were thinning and thinning them!
9370
9371It sickens me yet, that slaughter!
9372I saw the moisture gather in drops on the face of the General.
9373I saw how he wrung his hands in anguish.
9374
9375Meanwhile the British manoeuvr'd to draw us out for a pitch'd battle,
9376But we dared not trust the chances of a pitch'd battle.
9377
9378We fought the fight in detachments,
9379Sallying forth we fought at several points, but in each the luck was
9380    against us,
9381Our foe advancing, steadily getting the best of it, push'd us back
9382    to the works on this hill,
9383Till we turn'd menacing here, and then he left us.
9384
9385That was the going out of the brigade of the youngest men, two thousand
9386    strong,
9387Few return'd, nearly all remain in Brooklyn.
9388
9389That and here my General's first battle,
9390No women looking on nor sunshine to bask in, it did not conclude
9391    with applause,
9392Nobody clapp'd hands here then.
9393
9394But in darkness in mist on the ground under a chill rain,
9395Wearied that night we lay foil'd and sullen,
9396While scornfully laugh'd many an arrogant lord off against us encamp'd,
9397Quite within hearing, feasting, clinking wineglasses together over
9398    their victory.
9399
9400So dull and damp and another day,
9401But the night of that, mist lifting, rain ceasing,
9402Silent as a ghost while they thought they were sure of him, my
9403    General retreated.
9404
9405I saw him at the river-side,
9406Down by the ferry lit by torches, hastening the embarcation;
9407My General waited till the soldiers and wounded were all pass'd over,
9408And then, (it was just ere sunrise,) these eyes rested on him for
9409    the last time.
9410
9411Every one else seem'd fill'd with gloom,
9412Many no doubt thought of capitulation.
9413
9414But when my General pass'd me,
9415As he stood in his boat and look'd toward the coming sun,
9416I saw something different from capitulation.
9417
9418Enough, the Centenarian's story ends,
9419The two, the past and present, have interchanged,
9420I myself as connecter, as chansonnier of a great future, am now speaking.
9421
9422And is this the ground Washington trod?
9423And these waters I listlessly daily cross, are these the waters he cross'd,
9424As resolute in defeat as other generals in their proudest triumphs?
9425
9426I must copy the story, and send it eastward and westward,
9427I must preserve that look as it beam'd on you rivers of Brooklyn.
9428
9429See--as the annual round returns the phantoms return,
9430It is the th of August and the British have landed,
9431The battle begins and goes against us, behold through the smoke
9432    Washington's face,
9433The brigade of Virginia and Maryland have march'd forth to intercept
9434    the enemy,
9435They are cut off, murderous artillery from the hills plays upon them,
9436Rank after rank falls, while over them silently droops the flag,
9437Baptized that day in many a young man's bloody wounds.
9438In death, defeat, and sisters', mothers' tears.
9439
9440Ah, hills and slopes of Brooklyn! I perceive you are more valuable
9441    than your owners supposed;
9442In the midst of you stands an encampment very old,
9443Stands forever the camp of that dead brigade.
9444
9445
9446
9447
9448A line in long array where they wind betwixt green islands,
9449They take a serpentine course, their arms flash in the sun--hark to
9450    the musical clank,
9451Behold the silvery river, in it the splashing horses loitering stop
9452    to drink,
9453Behold the brown-faced men, each group, each person a picture, the
9454    negligent rest on the saddles,
9455Some emerge on the opposite bank, others are just entering the ford--while,
9456Scarlet and blue and snowy white,
9457The guidon flags flutter gayly in the wind.
9458
9459
9460
9461
9462I see before me now a traveling army halting,
9463Below a fertile valley spread, with barns and the orchards of summer,
9464Behind, the terraced sides of a mountain, abrupt, in places rising high,
9465Broken, with rocks, with clinging cedars, with tall shapes dingily seen,
9466The numerous camp-fires scatter'd near and far, some away up on the
9467    mountain,
9468The shadowy forms of men and horses, looming, large-sized, flickering,
9469And over all the sky--the sky! far, far out of reach, studded,
9470    breaking out, the eternal stars.
9471
9472
9473
9474
9475With its cloud of skirmishers in advance,
9476With now the sound of a single shot snapping like a whip, and now an
9477    irregular volley,
9478The swarming ranks press on and on, the dense brigades press on,
9479Glittering dimly, toiling under the sun--the dust-cover'd men,
9480In columns rise and fall to the undulations of the ground,
9481With artillery interspers'd--the wheels rumble, the horses sweat,
9482As the army corps advances.
9483
9484
9485
9486
9487By the bivouac's fitful flame,
9488A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow--but
9489    first I note,
9490The tents of the sleeping army, the fields' and woods' dim outline,
9491The darkness lit by spots of kindled fire, the silence,
9492Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving,
9493The shrubs and trees, (as I lift my eyes they seem to be stealthily
9494    watching me,)
9495While wind in procession thoughts, O tender and wondrous thoughts,
9496Of life and death, of home and the past and loved, and of those that
9497    are far away;
9498A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground,
9499By the bivouac's fitful flame.
9500
9501
9502
9503
9504Come up from the fields father, here's a letter from our Pete,
9505And come to the front door mother, here's a letter from thy dear son.
9506
9507Lo, 'tis autumn,
9508Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,
9509Cool and sweeten Ohio's villages with leaves fluttering in the
9510    moderate wind,
9511Where apples ripe in the orchards hang and grapes on the trellis'd vines,
9512(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
9513Smell you the buckwheat where the bees were lately buzzing?)
9514
9515Above all, lo, the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain, and
9516    with wondrous clouds,
9517Below too, all calm, all vital and beautiful, and the farm prospers well.
9518
9519Down in the fields all prospers well,
9520But now from the fields come father, come at the daughter's call.
9521And come to the entry mother, to the front door come right away.
9522
9523Fast as she can she hurries, something ominous, her steps trembling,
9524She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor adjust her cap.
9525
9526Open the envelope quickly,
9527O this is not our son's writing, yet his name is sign'd,
9528O a strange hand writes for our dear son, O stricken mother's soul!
9529All swims before her eyes, flashes with black, she catches the main
9530    words only,
9531Sentences broken, gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish,
9532    taken to hospital,
9533At present low, but will soon be better.
9534
9535Ah now the single figure to me,
9536Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio with all its cities and farms,
9537Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,
9538By the jamb of a door leans.
9539
9540Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through
9541    her sobs,
9542The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay'd,)
9543See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.
9544
9545Alas poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be
9546    better, that brave and simple soul,)
9547While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,
9548The only son is dead.
9549
9550But the mother needs to be better,
9551She with thin form presently drest in black,
9552By day her meals untouch'd, then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,
9553In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,
9554O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape and withdraw,
9555To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.
9556
9557
9558
9559
9560Vigil strange I kept on the field one night;
9561When you my son and my comrade dropt at my side that day,
9562One look I but gave which your dear eyes return'd with a look I
9563    shall never forget,
9564One touch of your hand to mine O boy, reach'd up as you lay on the ground,
9565Then onward I sped in the battle, the even-contested battle,
9566Till late in the night reliev'd to the place at last again I made my way,
9567Found you in death so cold dear comrade, found your body son of
9568    responding kisses, (never again on earth responding,)
9569Bared your face in the starlight, curious the scene, cool blew the
9570    moderate night-wind,
9571Long there and then in vigil I stood, dimly around me the
9572    battlefield spreading,
9573Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet there in the fragrant silent night,
9574But not a tear fell, not even a long-drawn sigh, long, long I gazed,
9575Then on the earth partially reclining sat by your side leaning my
9576    chin in my hands,
9577Passing sweet hours, immortal and mystic hours with you dearest
9578    comrade--not a tear, not a word,
9579Vigil of silence, love and death, vigil for you my son and my soldier,
9580As onward silently stars aloft, eastward new ones upward stole,
9581Vigil final for you brave boy, (I could not save you, swift was your death,
9582I faithfully loved you and cared for you living, I think we shall
9583    surely meet again,)
9584Till at latest lingering of the night, indeed just as the dawn appear'd,
9585My comrade I wrapt in his blanket, envelop'd well his form,
9586Folded the blanket well, tucking it carefully over head and
9587    carefully under feet,
9588And there and then and bathed by the rising sun, my son in his
9589    grave, in his rude-dug grave I deposited,
9590Ending my vigil strange with that, vigil of night and battle-field dim,
9591Vigil for boy of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding,)
9592Vigil for comrade swiftly slain, vigil I never forget, how as day
9593    brighten'd,
9594I rose from the chill ground and folded my soldier well in his blanket,
9595And buried him where he fell.
9596
9597
9598
9599
9600A march in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown,
9601A route through a heavy wood with muffled steps in the darkness,
9602Our army foil'd with loss severe, and the sullen remnant retreating,
9603Till after midnight glimmer upon us the lights of a dim-lighted building,
9604We come to an open space in the woods, and halt by the dim-lighted building,
9605'Tis a large old church at the crossing roads, now an impromptu hospital,
9606Entering but for a minute I see a sight beyond all the pictures and
9607    poems ever made,
9608Shadows of deepest, deepest black, just lit by moving candles and lamps,
9609And by one great pitchy torch stationary with wild red flame and
9610    clouds of smoke,
9611By these, crowds, groups of forms vaguely I see on the floor, some
9612    in the pews laid down,
9613At my feet more distinctly a soldier, a mere lad, in danger of
9614    bleeding to death, (he is shot in the abdomen,)
9615I stanch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily,)
9616Then before I depart I sweep my eyes o'er the scene fain to absorb it all,
9617Faces, varieties, postures beyond description, most in obscurity,
9618    some of them dead,
9619Surgeons operating, attendants holding lights, the smell of ether,
9620    odor of blood,
9621The crowd, O the crowd of the bloody forms, the yard outside also fill'd,
9622Some on the bare ground, some on planks or stretchers, some in the
9623    death-spasm sweating,
9624An occasional scream or cry, the doctor's shouted orders or calls,
9625The glisten of the little steel instruments catching the glint of
9626    the torches,
9627These I resume as I chant, I see again the forms, I smell the odor,
9628Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my men, fall in;
9629But first I bend to the dying lad, his eyes open, a half-smile gives he me,
9630Then the eyes close, calmly close, and I speed forth to the darkness,
9631Resuming, marching, ever in darkness marching, on in the ranks,
9632The unknown road still marching.
9633
9634
9635
9636
9637A sight in camp in the daybreak gray and dim,
9638As from my tent I emerge so early sleepless,
9639As slow I walk in the cool fresh air the path near by the hospital tent,
9640Three forms I see on stretchers lying, brought out there untended lying,
9641Over each the blanket spread, ample brownish woolen blanket,
9642Gray and heavy blanket, folding, covering all.
9643
9644Curious I halt and silent stand,
9645Then with light fingers I from the face of the nearest the first
9646    just lift the blanket;
9647Who are you elderly man so gaunt and grim, with well-gray'd hair,
9648    and flesh all sunken about the eyes?
9649Who are you my dear comrade?
9650Then to the second I step--and who are you my child and darling?
9651Who are you sweet boy with cheeks yet blooming?
9652Then to the third--a face nor child nor old, very calm, as of
9653    beautiful yellow-white ivory;
9654Young man I think I know you--I think this face is the face of the
9655    Christ himself,
9656Dead and divine and brother of all, and here again he lies.
9657
9658
9659
9660
9661As toilsome I wander'd Virginia's woods,
9662To the music of rustling leaves kick'd by my feet, (for 'twas autumn,)
9663I mark'd at the foot of a tree the grave of a soldier;
9664Mortally wounded he and buried on the retreat, (easily all could
9665    understand,)
9666The halt of a mid-day hour, when up! no time to lose--yet this sign left,
9667On a tablet scrawl'd and nail'd on the tree by the grave,
9668Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade.
9669
9670Long, long I muse, then on my way go wandering,
9671Many a changeful season to follow, and many a scene of life,
9672Yet at times through changeful season and scene, abrupt, alone, or
9673    in the crowded street,
9674Comes before me the unknown soldier's grave, comes the inscription
9675    rude in Virginia's woods,
9676Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade.
9677
9678
9679
9680
9681Not the pilot has charged himself to bring his ship into port,
9682    though beaten back and many times baffled;
9683Not the pathfinder penetrating inland weary and long,
9684By deserts parch'd, snows chill'd, rivers wet, perseveres till he
9685    reaches his destination,
9686More than I have charged myself, heeded or unheeded, to compose
9687    march for these States,
9688For a battle-call, rousing to arms if need be, years, centuries hence.
9689
9690
9691
9692
9693Year that trembled and reel'd beneath me!
9694Your summer wind was warm enough, yet the air I breathed froze me,
9695A thick gloom fell through the sunshine and darken'd me,
9696Must I change my triumphant songs? said I to myself,
9697Must I indeed learn to chant the cold dirges of the baffled?
9698And sullen hymns of defeat?
9699
9700
9701
9702
9703
9704An old man bending I come among new faces,
9705Years looking backward resuming in answer to children,
9706Come tell us old man, as from young men and maidens that love me,
9707(Arous'd and angry, I'd thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war,
9708But soon my fingers fail'd me, my face droop'd and I resign'd myself,
9709To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead;)
9710Years hence of these scenes, of these furious passions, these chances,
9711Of unsurpass'd heroes, (was one side so brave? the other was equally brave;)
9712Now be witness again, paint the mightiest armies of earth,
9713Of those armies so rapid so wondrous what saw you to tell us?
9714What stays with you latest and deepest? of curious panics,
9715Of hard-fought engagements or sieges tremendous what deepest remains?
9716
9717
9718O maidens and young men I love and that love me,
9719What you ask of my days those the strangest and sudden your talking recalls,
9720Soldier alert I arrive after a long march cover'd with sweat and dust,
9721In the nick of time I come, plunge in the fight, loudly shout in the
9722    rush of successful charge,
9723Enter the captur'd works--yet lo, like a swift-running river they fade,
9724Pass and are gone they fade--I dwell not on soldiers' perils or
9725    soldiers' joys,
9726(Both I remember well--many the hardships, few the joys, yet I was content.)
9727
9728But in silence, in dreams' projections,
9729While the world of gain and appearance and mirth goes on,
9730So soon what is over forgotten, and waves wash the imprints off the sand,
9731With hinged knees returning I enter the doors, (while for you up there,
9732Whoever you are, follow without noise and be of strong heart.)
9733
9734Bearing the bandages, water and sponge,
9735Straight and swift to my wounded I go,
9736Where they lie on the ground after the battle brought in,
9737Where their priceless blood reddens the grass the ground,
9738Or to the rows of the hospital tent, or under the roof'd hospital,
9739To the long rows of cots up and down each side I return,
9740To each and all one after another I draw near, not one do I miss,
9741An attendant follows holding a tray, he carries a refuse pail,
9742Soon to be fill'd with clotted rags and blood, emptied, and fill'd again.
9743
9744I onward go, I stop,
9745With hinged knees and steady hand to dress wounds,
9746I am firm with each, the pangs are sharp yet unavoidable,
9747One turns to me his appealing eyes--poor boy! I never knew you,
9748Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that
9749    would save you.
9750
9751
9752On, on I go, (open doors of time! open hospital doors!)
9753The crush'd head I dress, (poor crazed hand tear not the bandage away,)
9754The neck of the cavalry-man with the bullet through and through examine,
9755Hard the breathing rattles, quite glazed already the eye, yet life
9756    struggles hard,
9757(Come sweet death! be persuaded O beautiful death!
9758In mercy come quickly.)
9759
9760From the stump of the arm, the amputated hand,
9761I undo the clotted lint, remove the slough, wash off the matter and blood,
9762Back on his pillow the soldier bends with curv'd neck and side falling head,
9763His eyes are closed, his face is pale, he dares not look on the
9764    bloody stump,
9765And has not yet look'd on it.
9766
9767I dress a wound in the side, deep, deep,
9768But a day or two more, for see the frame all wasted and sinking,
9769And the yellow-blue countenance see.
9770
9771I dress the perforated shoulder, the foot with the bullet-wound,
9772Cleanse the one with a gnawing and putrid gangrene, so sickening,
9773    so offensive,
9774While the attendant stands behind aside me holding the tray and pail.
9775
9776I am faithful, I do not give out,
9777The fractur'd thigh, the knee, the wound in the abdomen,
9778These and more I dress with impassive hand, (yet deep in my breast
9779    a fire, a burning flame.)
9780
9781
9782Thus in silence in dreams' projections,
9783Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals,
9784The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
9785I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young,
9786Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad,
9787(Many a soldier's loving arms about this neck have cross'd and rested,
9788Many a soldier's kiss dwells on these bearded lips.)
9789
9790
9791
9792
9793Long, too long America,
9794Traveling roads all even and peaceful you learn'd from joys and
9795    prosperity only,
9796But now, ah now, to learn from crises of anguish, advancing,
9797    grappling with direst fate and recoiling not,
9798And now to conceive and show to the world what your children
9799    en-masse really are,
9800(For who except myself has yet conceiv'd what your children en-masse
9801    really are?)
9802
9803
9804
9805
9806
9807Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling,
9808Give me autumnal fruit ripe and red from the orchard,
9809Give me a field where the unmow'd grass grows,
9810Give me an arbor, give me the trellis'd grape,
9811Give me fresh corn and wheat, give me serene-moving animals teaching
9812    content,
9813Give me nights perfectly quiet as on high plateaus west of the
9814    Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars,
9815Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can
9816    walk undisturb'd,
9817Give me for marriage a sweet-breath'd woman of whom I should never tire,
9818Give me a perfect child, give me away aside from the noise of the
9819    world a rural domestic life,
9820Give me to warble spontaneous songs recluse by myself, for my own ears only,
9821Give me solitude, give me Nature, give me again O Nature your primal
9822    sanities!
9823
9824These demanding to have them, (tired with ceaseless excitement, and
9825    rack'd by the war-strife,)
9826These to procure incessantly asking, rising in cries from my heart,
9827While yet incessantly asking still I adhere to my city,
9828Day upon day and year upon year O city, walking your streets,
9829Where you hold me enchain'd a certain time refusing to give me up,
9830Yet giving to make me glutted, enrich'd of soul, you give me forever faces;
9831(O I see what I sought to escape, confronting, reversing my cries,
9832see my own soul trampling down what it ask'd for.)
9833
9834
9835Keep your splendid silent sun,
9836Keep your woods O Nature, and the quiet places by the woods,
9837Keep your fields of clover and timothy, and your corn-fields and orchards,
9838Keep the blossoming buckwheat fields where the Ninth-month bees hum;
9839Give me faces and streets--give me these phantoms incessant and
9840    endless along the trottoirs!
9841Give me interminable eyes--give me women--give me comrades and
9842    lovers by the thousand!
9843Let me see new ones every day--let me hold new ones by the hand every day!
9844Give me such shows--give me the streets of Manhattan!
9845Give me Broadway, with the soldiers marching--give me the sound of
9846    the trumpets and drums!
9847(The soldiers in companies or regiments--some starting away, flush'd
9848    and reckless,
9849Some, their time up, returning with thinn'd ranks, young, yet very
9850    old, worn, marching, noticing nothing;)
9851Give me the shores and wharves heavy-fringed with black ships!
9852O such for me! O an intense life, full to repletion and varied!
9853The life of the theatre, bar-room, huge hotel, for me!
9854The saloon of the steamer! the crowded excursion for me! the
9855    torchlight procession!
9856The dense brigade bound for the war, with high piled military wagons
9857    following;
9858People, endless, streaming, with strong voices, passions, pageants,
9859Manhattan streets with their powerful throbs, with beating drums as now,
9860The endless and noisy chorus, the rustle and clank of muskets, (even
9861    the sight of the wounded,)
9862Manhattan crowds, with their turbulent musical chorus!
9863Manhattan faces and eyes forever for me.
9864
9865
9866
9867
9868     The last sunbeam
9869Lightly falls from the finish'd Sabbath,
9870On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
9871     Down a new-made double grave.
9872
9873     Lo, the moon ascending,
9874Up from the east the silvery round moon,
9875Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
9876     Immense and silent moon.
9877
9878     I see a sad procession,
9879And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,
9880All the channels of the city streets they're flooding,
9881     As with voices and with tears.
9882
9883     I hear the great drums pounding,
9884And the small drums steady whirring,
9885And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
9886     Strikes me through and through.
9887
9888     For the son is brought with the father,
9889(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
9890Two veterans son and father dropt together,
9891     And the double grave awaits them.)
9892
9893     Now nearer blow the bugles,
9894And the drums strike more convulsive,
9895And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,
9896     And the strong dead-march enwraps me.
9897
9898     In the eastern sky up-buoying,
9899The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin'd,
9900('Tis some mother's large transparent face,
9901     In heaven brighter growing.)
9902
9903     O strong dead-march you please me!
9904O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
9905O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
9906     What I have I also give you.
9907
9908     The moon gives you light,
9909And the bugles and the drums give you music,
9910And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
9911     My heart gives you love.
9912
9913
9914
9915
9916Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice,
9917Be not dishearten'd, affection shall solve the problems of freedom yet,
9918Those who love each other shall become invincible,
9919They shall yet make Columbia victorious.
9920
9921Sons of the Mother of All, you shall yet be victorious,
9922You shall yet laugh to scorn the attacks of all the remainder of the earth.
9923
9924No danger shall balk Columbia's lovers,
9925If need be a thousand shall sternly immolate themselves for one.
9926
9927One from Massachusetts shall be a Missourian's comrade,
9928From Maine and from hot Carolina, and another an Oregonese, shall
9929    be friends triune,
9930More precious to each other than all the riches of the earth.
9931
9932To Michigan, Florida perfumes shall tenderly come,
9933Not the perfumes of flowers, but sweeter, and wafted beyond death.
9934
9935It shall be customary in the houses and streets to see manly affection,
9936The most dauntless and rude shall touch face to face lightly,
9937The dependence of Liberty shall be lovers,
9938The continuance of Equality shall be comrades.
9939
9940These shall tie you and band you stronger than hoops of iron,
9941I, ecstatic, O partners! O lands! with the love of lovers tie you.
9942
9943(Were you looking to be held together by lawyers?
9944Or by an agreement on a paper? or by arms?
9945Nay, nor the world, nor any living thing, will so cohere.)
9946
9947
9948
9949
9950I saw old General at bay,
9951(Old as he was, his gray eyes yet shone out in battle like stars,)
9952His small force was now completely hemm'd in, in his works,
9953He call'd for volunteers to run the enemy's lines, a desperate emergency,
9954I saw a hundred and more step forth from the ranks, but two or three
9955    were selected,
9956I saw them receive their orders aside, they listen'd with care, the
9957    adjutant was very grave,
9958I saw them depart with cheerfulness, freely risking their lives.
9959
9960
9961
9962
9963While my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long,
9964And my head on the pillow rests at home, and the vacant midnight passes,
9965And through the stillness, through the dark, I hear, just hear, the
9966    breath of my infant,
9967There in the room as I wake from sleep this vision presses upon me;
9968The engagement opens there and then in fantasy unreal,
9969The skirmishers begin, they crawl cautiously ahead, I hear the
9970    irregular snap! snap!
9971I hear the sounds of the different missiles, the short t-h-t! t-h-t!
9972    of the rifle-balls,
9973I see the shells exploding leaving small white clouds, I hear the
9974    great shells shrieking as they pass,
9975The grape like the hum and whirr of wind through the trees,
9976    (tumultuous now the contest rages,)
9977All the scenes at the batteries rise in detail before me again,
9978The crashing and smoking, the pride of the men in their pieces,
9979The chief-gunner ranges and sights his piece and selects a fuse of
9980    the right time,
9981After firing I see him lean aside and look eagerly off to note the effect;
9982Elsewhere I hear the cry of a regiment charging, (the young colonel
9983    leads himself this time with brandish'd sword,)
9984I see the gaps cut by the enemy's volleys, (quickly fill'd up, no delay,)
9985I breathe the suffocating smoke, then the flat clouds hover low
9986    concealing all;
9987Now a strange lull for a few seconds, not a shot fired on either side,
9988Then resumed the chaos louder than ever, with eager calls and
9989    orders of officers,
9990While from some distant part of the field the wind wafts to my ears
9991    a shout of applause, (some special success,)
9992And ever the sound of the cannon far or near, (rousing even in
9993    dreams a devilish exultation and all the old mad joy in the
9994    depths of my soul,)
9995And ever the hastening of infantry shifting positions, batteries,
9996    cavalry, moving hither and thither,
9997(The falling, dying, I heed not, the wounded dripping and red
9998    heed not, some to the rear are hobbling,)
9999Grime, heat, rush, aide-de-camps galloping by or on a full run,
10000With the patter of small arms, the warning s-s-t of the rifles,
10001    (these in my vision I hear or see,)
10002And bombs bursting in air, and at night the vari-color'd rockets.
10003
10004
10005
10006
10007Who are you dusky woman, so ancient hardly human,
10008With your woolly-white and turban'd head, and bare bony feet?
10009Why rising by the roadside here, do you the colors greet?
10010
10011('Tis while our army lines Carolina's sands and pines,
10012Forth from thy hovel door thou Ethiopia comist to me,
10013As under doughty Sherman I march toward the sea.)
10014
10015Me master years a hundred since from my parents sunder'd,
10016A little child, they caught me as the savage beast is caught,
10017Then hither me across the sea the cruel slaver brought.
10018
10019No further does she say, but lingering all the day,
10020Her high-borne turban'd head she wags, and rolls her darkling eye,
10021And courtesies to the regiments, the guidons moving by.
10022
10023What is it fateful woman, so blear, hardly human?
10024Why wag your head with turban bound, yellow, red and green?
10025Are the things so strange and marvelous you see or have seen?
10026
10027
10028
10029
10030Not youth pertains to me,
10031Nor delicatesse, I cannot beguile the time with talk,
10032Awkward in the parlor, neither a dancer nor elegant,
10033In the learn'd coterie sitting constrain'd and still, for learning
10034    inures not to me,
10035Beauty, knowledge, inure not to me--yet there are two or three things
10036    inure to me,
10037I have nourish'd the wounded and sooth'd many a dying soldier,
10038And at intervals waiting or in the midst of camp,
10039Composed these songs.
10040
10041
10042
10043
10044Race of veterans--race of victors!
10045Race of the soil, ready for conflict--race of the conquering march!
10046(No more credulity's race, abiding-temper'd race,)
10047Race henceforth owning no law but the law of itself,
10048Race of passion and the storm.
10049
10050
10051
10052
10053World take good notice, silver stars fading,
10054Milky hue ript, wet of white detaching,
10055Coals thirty-eight, baleful and burning,
10056Scarlet, significant, hands off warning,
10057Now and henceforth flaunt from these shores.
10058
10059
10060
10061
10062O tan-faced prairie-boy,
10063Before you came to camp came many a welcome gift,
10064Praises and presents came and nourishing food, till at last among
10065    the recruits,
10066You came, taciturn, with nothing to give--we but look'd on each other,
10067When lo! more than all the gifts of the world you gave me.
10068
10069
10070
10071
10072Look down fair moon and bathe this scene,
10073Pour softly down night's nimbus floods on faces ghastly, swollen, purple,
10074On the dead on their backs with arms toss'd wide,
10075Pour down your unstinted nimbus sacred moon.
10076
10077
10078
10079
10080Word over all, beautiful as the sky,
10081Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be
10082    utterly lost,
10083That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly
10084    wash again, and ever again, this solid world;
10085For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead,
10086I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin--I draw near,
10087Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.
10088
10089
10090
10091
10092How solemn as one by one,
10093As the ranks returning worn and sweaty, as the men file by where stand,
10094As the faces the masks appear, as I glance at the faces studying the masks,
10095(As I glance upward out of this page studying you, dear friend,
10096    whoever you are,)
10097How solemn the thought of my whispering soul to each in the ranks,
10098    and to you,
10099I see behind each mask that wonder a kindred soul,
10100O the bullet could never kill what you really are, dear friend,
10101Nor the bayonet stab what you really are;
10102The soul! yourself I see, great as any, good as the best,
10103Waiting secure and content, which the bullet could never kill,
10104Nor the bayonet stab O friend.
10105
10106
10107
10108
10109As I lay with my head in your lap camerado,
10110The confession I made I resume, what I said to you and the open air
10111    I resume,
10112I know I am restless and make others so,
10113I know my words are weapons full of danger, full of death,
10114For I confront peace, security, and all the settled laws, to
10115    unsettle them,
10116I am more resolute because all have denied me than I could ever have
10117    been had all accepted me,
10118I heed not and have never heeded either experience, cautions,
10119    majorities, nor ridicule,
10120And the threat of what is call'd hell is little or nothing to me,
10121And the lure of what is call'd heaven is little or nothing to me;
10122Dear camerado! I confess I have urged you onward with me, and still
10123    urge you, without the least idea what is our destination,
10124Or whether we shall be victorious, or utterly quell'd and defeated.
10125
10126
10127
10128
10129Delicate cluster! flag of teeming life!
10130Covering all my lands--all my seashores lining!
10131Flag of death! (how I watch'd you through the smoke of battle pressing!
10132How I heard you flap and rustle, cloth defiant!)
10133Flag cerulean--sunny flag, with the orbs of night dappled!
10134Ah my silvery beauty--ah my woolly white and crimson!
10135Ah to sing the song of you, my matron mighty!
10136My sacred one, my mother.
10137
10138
10139
10140
10141Did you ask dulcet rhymes from me?
10142Did you seek the civilian's peaceful and languishing rhymes?
10143Did you find what I sang erewhile so hard to follow?
10144Why I was not singing erewhile for you to follow, to understand--nor
10145    am I now;
10146(I have been born of the same as the war was born,
10147The drum-corps' rattle is ever to me sweet music, I love well the
10148    martial dirge,
10149With slow wail and convulsive throb leading the officer's funeral;)
10150What to such as you anyhow such a poet as I? therefore leave my works,
10151And go lull yourself with what you can understand, and with piano-tunes,
10152For I lull nobody, and you will never understand me.
10153
10154
10155
10156
10157Lo, Victress on the peaks,
10158Where thou with mighty brow regarding the world,
10159(The world O Libertad, that vainly conspired against thee,)
10160Out of its countless beleaguering toils, after thwarting them all,
10161Dominant, with the dazzling sun around thee,
10162Flauntest now unharm'd in immortal soundness and bloom--lo, in
10163    these hours supreme,
10164No poem proud, I chanting bring to thee, nor mastery's rapturous verse,
10165But a cluster containing night's darkness and blood-dripping wounds,
10166And psalms of the dead.
10167
10168
10169
10170
10171Spirit whose work is done--spirit of dreadful hours!
10172Ere departing fade from my eyes your forests of bayonets;
10173Spirit of gloomiest fears and doubts, (yet onward ever unfaltering
10174    pressing,)
10175Spirit of many a solemn day and many a savage scene--electric spirit,
10176That with muttering voice through the war now closed, like a
10177    tireless phantom flitted,
10178Rousing the land with breath of flame, while you beat and beat the drum,
10179Now as the sound of the drum, hollow and harsh to the last,
10180    reverberates round me,
10181As your ranks, your immortal ranks, return, return from the battles,
10182As the muskets of the young men yet lean over their shoulders,
10183As I look on the bayonets bristling over their shoulders,
10184As those slanted bayonets, whole forests of them appearing in the
10185    distance, approach and pass on, returning homeward,
10186Moving with steady motion, swaying to and fro to the right and left,
10187Evenly lightly rising and falling while the steps keep time;
10188Spirit of hours I knew, all hectic red one day, but pale as death next day,
10189Touch my mouth ere you depart, press my lips close,
10190Leave me your pulses of rage--bequeath them to me--fill me with
10191    currents convulsive,
10192Let them scorch and blister out of my chants when you are gone,
10193Let them identify you to the future in these songs.
10194
10195
10196
10197
10198Adieu O soldier,
10199You of the rude campaigning, (which we shared,)
10200The rapid march, the life of the camp,
10201The hot contention of opposing fronts, the long manoeuvre,
10202Red battles with their slaughter, the stimulus, the strong terrific game,
10203Spell of all brave and manly hearts, the trains of time through you
10204    and like of you all fill'd,
10205With war and war's expression.
10206
10207Adieu dear comrade,
10208Your mission is fulfill'd--but I, more warlike,
10209Myself and this contentious soul of mine,
10210Still on our own campaigning bound,
10211Through untried roads with ambushes opponents lined,
10212Through many a sharp defeat and many a crisis, often baffled,
10213Here marching, ever marching on, a war fight out--aye here,
10214To fiercer, weightier battles give expression.
10215
10216
10217
10218
10219Turn O Libertad, for the war is over,
10220From it and all henceforth expanding, doubting no more, resolute,
10221    sweeping the world,
10222Turn from lands retrospective recording proofs of the past,
10223From the singers that sing the trailing glories of the past,
10224From the chants of the feudal world, the triumphs of kings, slavery, caste,
10225Turn to the world, the triumphs reserv'd and to come--give up that
10226    backward world,
10227Leave to the singers of hitherto, give them the trailing past,
10228But what remains remains for singers for you--wars to come are for you,
10229(Lo, how the wars of the past have duly inured to you, and the wars
10230    of the present also inure;)
10231Then turn, and be not alarm'd O Libertad--turn your undying face,
10232To where the future, greater than all the past,
10233Is swiftly, surely preparing for you.
10234
10235
10236
10237
10238To the leaven'd soil they trod calling I sing for the last,
10239(Forth from my tent emerging for good, loosing, untying the tent-ropes,)
10240In the freshness the forenoon air, in the far-stretching circuits
10241    and vistas again to peace restored,
10242To the fiery fields emanative and the endless vistas beyond, to the
10243    South and the North,
10244To the leaven'd soil of the general Western world to attest my songs,
10245To the Alleghanian hills and the tireless Mississippi,
10246To the rocks I calling sing, and all the trees in the woods,
10247To the plains of the poems of heroes, to the prairies spreading wide,
10248To the far-off sea and the unseen winds, and the sane impalpable air;
10249And responding they answer all, (but not in words,)
10250The average earth, the witness of war and peace, acknowledges mutely,
10251The prairie draws me close, as the father to bosom broad the son,
10252The Northern ice and rain that began me nourish me to the end,
10253But the hot sun of the South is to fully ripen my songs.
10254
10255
10256
10257
10258
10259
10260When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd,
10261And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night,
10262I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
10263
10264Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
10265Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,
10266And thought of him I love.
10267
10268
10269O powerful western fallen star!
10270O shades of night--O moody, tearful night!
10271O great star disappear'd--O the black murk that hides the star!
10272O cruel hands that hold me powerless--O helpless soul of me!
10273O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul.
10274
10275
10276
10277In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash'd palings,
10278Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
10279With many a pointed blossom rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love,
10280With every leaf a miracle--and from this bush in the dooryard,
10281With delicate-color'd blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
10282A sprig with its flower I break.
10283
10284
10285In the swamp in secluded recesses,
10286A shy and hidden bird is warbling a song.
10287
10288Solitary the thrush,
10289The hermit withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements,
10290Sings by himself a song.
10291
10292Song of the bleeding throat,
10293Death's outlet song of life, (for well dear brother I know,
10294If thou wast not granted to sing thou wouldist surely die.)
10295
10296
10297Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities,
10298Amid lanes and through old woods, where lately the violets peep'd
10299    from the ground, spotting the gray debris,
10300Amid the grass in the fields each side of the lanes, passing the
10301    endless grass,
10302Passing the yellow-spear'd wheat, every grain from its shroud in the
10303    dark-brown fields uprisen,
10304Passing the apple-tree blows of white and pink in the orchards,
10305Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave,
10306Night and day journeys a coffin.
10307
10308
10309Coffin that passes through lanes and streets,
10310Through day and night with the great cloud darkening the land,
10311With the pomp of the inloop'd flags with the cities draped in black,
10312With the show of the States themselves as of crape-veil'd women standing,
10313With processions long and winding and the flambeaus of the night,
10314With the countless torches lit, with the silent sea of faces and the
10315    unbared heads,
10316With the waiting depot, the arriving coffin, and the sombre faces,
10317With dirges through the night, with the thousand voices rising strong
10318    and solemn,
10319With all the mournful voices of the dirges pour'd around the coffin,
10320The dim-lit churches and the shuddering organs--where amid these
10321    you journey,
10322With the tolling tolling bells' perpetual clang,
10323Here, coffin that slowly passes,
10324I give you my sprig of lilac.
10325
10326
10327(Nor for you, for one alone,
10328Blossoms and branches green to coffins all I bring,
10329For fresh as the morning, thus would I chant a song for you O sane
10330    and sacred death.
10331
10332All over bouquets of roses,
10333O death, I cover you over with roses and early lilies,
10334But mostly and now the lilac that blooms the first,
10335Copious I break, I break the sprigs from the bushes,
10336With loaded arms I come, pouring for you,
10337For you and the coffins all of you O death.)
10338
10339
10340O western orb sailing the heaven,
10341Now I know what you must have meant as a month since I walk'd,
10342As I walk'd in silence the transparent shadowy night,
10343As I saw you had something to tell as you bent to me night after night,
10344As you droop'd from the sky low down as if to my side, (while the
10345    other stars all look'd on,)
10346As we wander'd together the solemn night, (for something I know not
10347    what kept me from sleep,)
10348As the night advanced, and I saw on the rim of the west how full you
10349    were of woe,
10350As I stood on the rising ground in the breeze in the cool transparent night,
10351As I watch'd where you pass'd and was lost in the netherward black
10352    of the night,
10353As my soul in its trouble dissatisfied sank, as where you sad orb,
10354Concluded, dropt in the night, and was gone.
10355
10356
10357Sing on there in the swamp,
10358O singer bashful and tender, I hear your notes, I hear your call,
10359I hear, I come presently, I understand you,
10360But a moment I linger, for the lustrous star has detain'd me,
10361The star my departing comrade holds and detains me.
10362
10363
10364O how shall I warble myself for the dead one there I loved?
10365And how shall I deck my song for the large sweet soul that has gone?
10366And what shall my perfume be for the grave of him I love?
10367
10368Sea-winds blown from east and west,
10369Blown from the Eastern sea and blown from the Western sea, till
10370    there on the prairies meeting,
10371These and with these and the breath of my chant,
10372I'll perfume the grave of him I love.
10373
10374
10375O what shall I hang on the chamber walls?
10376And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls,
10377To adorn the burial-house of him I love?
10378Pictures of growing spring and farms and homes,
10379With the Fourth-month eve at sundown, and the gray smoke lucid and bright,
10380With floods of the yellow gold of the gorgeous, indolent, sinking
10381    sun, burning, expanding the air,
10382With the fresh sweet herbage under foot, and the pale green leaves
10383    of the trees prolific,
10384In the distance the flowing glaze, the breast of the river, with a
10385    wind-dapple here and there,
10386With ranging hills on the banks, with many a line against the sky,
10387    and shadows,
10388And the city at hand with dwellings so dense, and stacks of chimneys,
10389And all the scenes of life and the workshops, and the workmen
10390    homeward returning.
10391
10392
10393Lo, body and soul--this land,
10394My own Manhattan with spires, and the sparkling and hurrying tides,
10395    and the ships,
10396The varied and ample land, the South and the North in the light,
10397    Ohio's shores and flashing Missouri,
10398And ever the far-spreading prairies cover'd with grass and corn.
10399
10400Lo, the most excellent sun so calm and haughty,
10401The violet and purple morn with just-felt breezes,
10402The gentle soft-born measureless light,
10403The miracle spreading bathing all, the fulfill'd noon,
10404The coming eve delicious, the welcome night and the stars,
10405Over my cities shining all, enveloping man and land.
10406
10407
10408Sing on, sing on you gray-brown bird,
10409Sing from the swamps, the recesses, pour your chant from the bushes,
10410Limitless out of the dusk, out of the cedars and pines.
10411
10412Sing on dearest brother, warble your reedy song,
10413Loud human song, with voice of uttermost woe.
10414
10415O liquid and free and tender!
10416O wild and loose to my soul--O wondrous singer!
10417You only I hear--yet the star holds me, (but will soon depart,)
10418Yet the lilac with mastering odor holds me.
10419
10420
10421Now while I sat in the day and look'd forth,
10422In the close of the day with its light and the fields of spring, and
10423    the farmers preparing their crops,
10424In the large unconscious scenery of my land with its lakes and forests,
10425In the heavenly aerial beauty, (after the perturb'd winds and the storms,)
10426Under the arching heavens of the afternoon swift passing, and the
10427    voices of children and women,
10428The many-moving sea-tides, and I saw the ships how they sail'd,
10429And the summer approaching with richness, and the fields all busy
10430    with labor,
10431And the infinite separate houses, how they all went on, each with
10432    its meals and minutia of daily usages,
10433And the streets how their throbbings throbb'd, and the cities pent--
10434    lo, then and there,
10435Falling upon them all and among them all, enveloping me with the rest,
10436Appear'd the cloud, appear'd the long black trail,
10437And I knew death, its thought, and the sacred knowledge of death.
10438
10439Then with the knowledge of death as walking one side of me,
10440And the thought of death close-walking the other side of me,
10441And I in the middle as with companions, and as holding the hands of
10442    companions,
10443I fled forth to the hiding receiving night that talks not,
10444Down to the shores of the water, the path by the swamp in the dimness,
10445To the solemn shadowy cedars and ghostly pines so still.
10446
10447And the singer so shy to the rest receiv'd me,
10448The gray-brown bird I know receiv'd us comrades three,
10449And he sang the carol of death, and a verse for him I love.
10450
10451From deep secluded recesses,
10452From the fragrant cedars and the ghostly pines so still,
10453Came the carol of the bird.
10454
10455And the charm of the carol rapt me,
10456As I held as if by their hands my comrades in the night,
10457And the voice of my spirit tallied the song of the bird.
10458
10459Come lovely and soothing death,
10460Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving,
10461In the day, in the night, to all, to each,
10462Sooner or later delicate death.
10463
10464Prais'd be the fathomless universe,
10465For life and joy, and for objects and knowledge curious,
10466And for love, sweet love--but praise! praise! praise!
10467For the sure-enwinding arms of cool-enfolding death.
10468
10469Dark mother always gliding near with soft feet,
10470Have none chanted for thee a chant of fullest welcome?
10471Then I chant it for thee, I glorify thee above all,
10472I bring thee a song that when thou must indeed come, come unfalteringly.
10473
10474Approach strong deliveress,
10475When it is so, when thou hast taken them I joyously sing the dead,
10476Lost in the loving floating ocean of thee,
10477Laved in the flood of thy bliss O death.
10478
10479From me to thee glad serenades,
10480Dances for thee I propose saluting thee, adornments and feastings for thee,
10481And the sights of the open landscape and the high-spread shy are fitting,
10482And life and the fields, and the huge and thoughtful night.
10483
10484The night in silence under many a star,
10485The ocean shore and the husky whispering wave whose voice I know,
10486And the soul turning to thee O vast and well-veil'd death,
10487And the body gratefully nestling close to thee.
10488
10489Over the tree-tops I float thee a song,
10490Over the rising and sinking waves, over the myriad fields and the
10491    prairies wide,
10492Over the dense-pack'd cities all and the teeming wharves and ways,
10493I float this carol with joy, with joy to thee O death.
10494
10495
10496To the tally of my soul,
10497Loud and strong kept up the gray-brown bird,
10498With pure deliberate notes spreading filling the night.
10499
10500Loud in the pines and cedars dim,
10501Clear in the freshness moist and the swamp-perfume,
10502And I with my comrades there in the night.
10503
10504While my sight that was bound in my eyes unclosed,
10505As to long panoramas of visions.
10506
10507And I saw askant the armies,
10508I saw as in noiseless dreams hundreds of battle-flags,
10509Borne through the smoke of the battles and pierc'd with missiles I saw them,
10510And carried hither and yon through the smoke, and torn and bloody,
10511And at last but a few shreds left on the staffs, (and all in silence,)
10512And the staffs all splinter'd and broken.
10513
10514I saw battle-corpses, myriads of them,
10515And the white skeletons of young men, I saw them,
10516I saw the debris and debris of all the slain soldiers of the war,
10517But I saw they were not as was thought,
10518They themselves were fully at rest, they suffer'd not,
10519The living remain'd and suffer'd, the mother suffer'd,
10520And the wife and the child and the musing comrade suffer'd,
10521And the armies that remain'd suffer'd.
10522
10523
10524Passing the visions, passing the night,
10525Passing, unloosing the hold of my comrades' hands,
10526Passing the song of the hermit bird and the tallying song of my soul,
10527Victorious song, death's outlet song, yet varying ever-altering song,
10528As low and wailing, yet clear the notes, rising and falling,
10529    flooding the night,
10530Sadly sinking and fainting, as warning and warning, and yet again
10531    bursting with joy,
10532Covering the earth and filling the spread of the heaven,
10533As that powerful psalm in the night I heard from recesses,
10534Passing, I leave thee lilac with heart-shaped leaves,
10535I leave thee there in the door-yard, blooming, returning with spring.
10536
10537I cease from my song for thee,
10538From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, communing with thee,
10539O comrade lustrous with silver face in the night.
10540
10541Yet each to keep and all, retrievements out of the night,
10542The song, the wondrous chant of the gray-brown bird,
10543And the tallying chant, the echo arous'd in my soul,
10544With the lustrous and drooping star with the countenance full of woe,
10545With the holders holding my hand nearing the call of the bird,
10546Comrades mine and I in the midst, and their memory ever to keep, for
10547    the dead I loved so well,
10548For the sweetest, wisest soul of all my days and lands--and this for
10549    his dear sake,
10550Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul,
10551There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim.
10552
10553
10554
10555
10556O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
10557The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
10558The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
10559While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
10560    But O heart! heart! heart!
10561     O the bleeding drops of red,
10562       Where on the deck my Captain lies,
10563         Fallen cold and dead.
10564
10565O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
10566Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills,
10567For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding,
10568For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
10569    Here Captain! dear father!
10570     This arm beneath your head!
10571       It is some dream that on the deck,
10572         You've fallen cold and dead.
10573
10574My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
10575My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
10576The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
10577From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
10578     Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
10579       But I with mournful tread,
10580         Walk the deck my Captain lies,
10581           Fallen cold and dead.
10582
10583
10584
10585
10586Hush'd be the camps to-day,
10587And soldiers let us drape our war-worn weapons,
10588And each with musing soul retire to celebrate,
10589Our dear commander's death.
10590
10591No more for him life's stormy conflicts,
10592Nor victory, nor defeat--no more time's dark events,
10593Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky.
10594But sing poet in our name,
10595
10596Sing of the love we bore him--because you, dweller in camps, know it truly.
10597
10598As they invault the coffin there,
10599Sing--as they close the doors of earth upon him--one verse,
10600For the heavy hearts of soldiers.
10601
10602
10603
10604
10605This dust was once the man,
10606Gentle, plain, just and resolute, under whose cautious hand,
10607Against the foulest crime in history known in any land or age,
10608Was saved the Union of these States.
10609
10610
10611
10612
10613
10614By blue Ontario's shore,
10615As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return'd, and the
10616    dead that return no more,
10617A Phantom gigantic superb, with stern visage accosted me,
10618Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America,
10619    chant me the carol of victory,
10620And strike up the marches of Libertad, marches more powerful yet,
10621And sing me before you go the song of the throes of Democracy.
10622
10623(Democracy, the destin'd conqueror, yet treacherous lip-smiles everywhere,
10624And death and infidelity at every step.)
10625
10626
10627A Nation announcing itself,
10628I myself make the only growth by which I can be appreciated,
10629I reject none, accept all, then reproduce all in my own forms.
10630
10631A breed whose proof is in time and deeds,
10632What we are we are, nativity is answer enough to objections,
10633We wield ourselves as a weapon is wielded,
10634We are powerful and tremendous in ourselves,
10635We are executive in ourselves, we are sufficient in the variety of
10636    ourselves,
10637We are the most beautiful to ourselves and in ourselves,
10638We stand self-pois'd in the middle, branching thence over the world,
10639From Missouri, Nebraska, or Kansas, laughing attacks to scorn.
10640
10641Nothing is sinful to us outside of ourselves,
10642Whatever appears, whatever does not appear, we are beautiful or
10643    sinful in ourselves only.
10644
10645(O Mother--O Sisters dear!
10646If we are lost, no victor else has destroy'd us,
10647It is by ourselves we go down to eternal night.)
10648
10649
10650Have you thought there could be but a single supreme?
10651There can be any number of supremes--one does not countervail
10652    another any more than one eyesight countervails another, or
10653    one life countervails another.
10654
10655All is eligible to all,
10656All is for individuals, all is for you,
10657No condition is prohibited, not God's or any.
10658
10659All comes by the body, only health puts you rapport with the universe.
10660
10661Produce great Persons, the rest follows.
10662
10663
10664Piety and conformity to them that like,
10665Peace, obesity, allegiance, to them that like,
10666I am he who tauntingly compels men, women, nations,
10667Crying, Leap from your seats and contend for your lives!
10668
10669I am he who walks the States with a barb'd tongue, questioning every
10670    one I meet,
10671Who are you that wanted only to be told what you knew before?
10672Who are you that wanted only a book to join you in your nonsense?
10673
10674(With pangs and cries as thine own O bearer of many children,
10675These clamors wild to a race of pride I give.)
10676
10677O lands, would you be freer than all that has ever been before?
10678If you would be freer than all that has been before, come listen to me.
10679
10680Fear grace, elegance, civilization, delicatesse,
10681Fear the mellow sweet, the sucking of honey--juice,
10682Beware the advancing mortal ripening of Nature,
10683Beware what precedes the decay of the ruggedness of states and men.
10684
10685
10686Ages, precedents, have long been accumulating undirected materials,
10687America brings builders, and brings its own styles.
10688
10689The immortal poets of Asia and Europe have done their work and
10690    pass'd to other spheres,
10691A work remains, the work of surpassing all they have done.
10692
10693America, curious toward foreign characters, stands by its own at all
10694    hazards,
10695Stands removed, spacious, composite, sound, initiates the true use
10696    of precedents,
10697Does not repel them or the past or what they have produced under
10698    their forms,
10699Takes the lesson with calmness, perceives the corpse slowly borne
10700    from the house,
10701Perceives that it waits a little while in the door, that it was
10702    fittest for its days,
10703That its life has descended to the stalwart and well-shaped heir who
10704    approaches,
10705And that he shall be fittest for his days.
10706
10707Any period one nation must lead,
10708One land must be the promise and reliance of the future.
10709
10710These States are the amplest poem,
10711Here is not merely a nation but a teeming Nation of nations,
10712Here the doings of men correspond with the broadcast doings of the
10713    day and night,
10714Here is what moves in magnificent masses careless of particulars,
10715Here are the roughs, beards, friendliness, combativeness, the soul loves,
10716Here the flowing trains, here the crowds, equality, diversity, the
10717    soul loves.
10718
10719
10720Land of lands and bards to corroborate!
10721Of them standing among them, one lifts to the light a west-bred face,
10722To him the hereditary countenance bequeath'd both mother's and father's,
10723His first parts substances, earth, water, animals, trees,
10724Built of the common stock, having room for far and near,
10725Used to dispense with other lands, incarnating this land,
10726Attracting it body and soul to himself, hanging on its neck with
10727    incomparable love,
10728Plunging his seminal muscle into its merits and demerits,
10729Making its cities, beginnings, events, diversities, wars, vocal in him,
10730Making its rivers, lakes, bays, embouchure in him,
10731Mississippi with yearly freshets and changing chutes, Columbia,
10732    Niagara, Hudson, spending themselves lovingly in him,
10733If the Atlantic coast stretch or the Pacific coast stretch, he
10734    stretching with them North or South,
10735Spanning between them East and West, and touching whatever is between them,
10736Growths growing from him to offset the growths of pine, cedar, hemlock,
10737    live-oak, locust, chestnut, hickory, cottonwood, orange, magnolia,
10738Tangles as tangled in him as any canebrake or swamp,
10739He likening sides and peaks of mountains, forests coated with
10740    northern transparent ice,
10741Off him pasturage sweet and natural as savanna, upland, prairie,
10742Through him flights, whirls, screams, answering those of the
10743    fish-hawk, mocking-bird, night-heron, and eagle,
10744His spirit surrounding his country's spirit, unclosed to good and evil,
10745Surrounding the essences of real things, old times and present times,
10746Surrounding just found shores, islands, tribes of red aborigines,
10747Weather-beaten vessels, landings, settlements, embryo stature and muscle,
10748The haughty defiance of the Year One, war, peace, the formation of
10749    the Constitution,
10750The separate States, the simple elastic scheme, the immigrants,
10751The Union always swarming with blatherers and always sure and impregnable,
10752The unsurvey'd interior, log-houses, clearings, wild animals,
10753    hunters, trappers,
10754Surrounding the multiform agriculture, mines, temperature, the
10755    gestation of new States,
10756Congress convening every Twelfth-month, the members duly coming
10757    up from the uttermost parts,
10758Surrounding the noble character of mechanics and farmers, especially
10759    the young men,
10760Responding their manners, speech, dress, friendships, the gait they
10761    have of persons who never knew how it felt to stand in the
10762    presence of superiors,
10763The freshness and candor of their physiognomy, the copiousness and
10764    decision of their phrenology,
10765The picturesque looseness of their carriage, their fierceness when wrong'd,
10766The fluency of their speech, their delight in music, their curiosity,
10767    good temper and open-handedness, the whole composite make,
10768The prevailing ardor and enterprise, the large amativeness,
10769The perfect equality of the female with the male, the fluid movement
10770    of the population,
10771The superior marine, free commerce, fisheries, whaling, gold-digging,
10772Wharf-hemm'd cities, railroad and steamboat lines intersecting all points,
10773Factories, mercantile life, labor-saving machinery, the Northeast,
10774    Northwest, Southwest,
10775Manhattan firemen, the Yankee swap, southern plantation life,
10776Slavery--the murderous, treacherous conspiracy to raise it upon the
10777    ruins of all the rest,
10778On and on to the grapple with it--Assassin! then your life or ours
10779    be the stake, and respite no more.
10780
10781
10782(Lo, high toward heaven, this day,
10783Libertad, from the conqueress' field return'd,
10784I mark the new aureola around your head,
10785No more of soft astral, but dazzling and fierce,
10786With war's flames and the lambent lightnings playing,
10787And your port immovable where you stand,
10788With still the inextinguishable glance and the clinch'd and lifted fist,
10789And your foot on the neck of the menacing one, the scorner utterly
10790    crush'd beneath you,
10791The menacing arrogant one that strode and advanced with his
10792    senseless scorn, bearing the murderous knife,
10793The wide-swelling one, the braggart that would yesterday do so much,
10794To-day a carrion dead and damn'd, the despised of all the earth,
10795An offal rank, to the dunghill maggots spurn'd.)
10796
10797
10798Others take finish, but the Republic is ever constructive and ever
10799    keeps vista,
10800Others adorn the past, but you O days of the present, I adorn you,
10801O days of the future I believe in you--I isolate myself for your sake,
10802O America because you build for mankind I build for you,
10803O well-beloved stone-cutters, I lead them who plan with decision
10804    and science,
10805Lead the present with friendly hand toward the future.
10806(Bravas to all impulses sending sane children to the next age!
10807But damn that which spends itself with no thought of the stain,
10808    pains, dismay, feebleness, it is bequeathing.)
10809
10810
10811I listened to the Phantom by Ontario's shore,
10812I heard the voice arising demanding bards,
10813By them all native and grand, by them alone can these States be
10814    fused into the compact organism of a Nation.
10815
10816To hold men together by paper and seal or by compulsion is no account,
10817That only holds men together which aggregates all in a living principle,
10818    as the hold of the limbs of the body or the fibres of plants.
10819
10820Of all races and eras these States with veins full of poetical stuff most
10821    need poets, and are to have the greatest, and use them the greatest,
10822Their Presidents shall not be their common referee so much as their
10823    poets shall.
10824
10825(Soul of love and tongue of fire!
10826Eye to pierce the deepest deeps and sweep the world!
10827Ah Mother, prolific and full in all besides, yet how long barren, barren?)
10828
10829
10830Of these States the poet is the equable man,
10831Not in him but off from him things are grotesque, eccentric, fail of
10832    their full returns,
10833Nothing out of its place is good, nothing in its place is bad,
10834He bestows on every object or quality its fit proportion, neither
10835    more nor less,
10836He is the arbiter of the diverse, he is the key,
10837He is the equalizer of his age and land,
10838He supplies what wants supplying, he checks what wants checking,
10839In peace out of him speaks the spirit of peace, large, rich,
10840    thrifty, building populous towns, encouraging agriculture, arts,
10841    commerce, lighting the study of man, the soul, health,
10842    immortality, government,
10843In war he is the best backer of the war, he fetches artillery as
10844    good as the engineer's, he can make every word he speaks draw blood,
10845The years straying toward infidelity he withholds by his steady faith,
10846He is no arguer, he is judgment, (Nature accepts him absolutely,)
10847He judges not as the judge judges but as the sun failing round
10848    helpless thing,
10849As he sees the farthest he has the most faith,
10850His thoughts are the hymns of the praise of things,
10851In the dispute on God and eternity he is silent,
10852He sees eternity less like a play with a prologue and denouement,
10853He sees eternity in men and women, he does not see men and women
10854    as dreams or dots.
10855
10856For the great Idea, the idea of perfect and free individuals,
10857For that, the bard walks in advance, leader of leaders,
10858The attitude of him cheers up slaves and horrifies foreign despots.
10859
10860Without extinction is Liberty, without retrograde is Equality,
10861They live in the feelings of young men and the best women,
10862(Not for nothing have the indomitable heads of the earth been always
10863    ready to fall for Liberty.)
10864
10865
10866For the great Idea,
10867That, O my brethren, that is the mission of poets.
10868
10869Songs of stern defiance ever ready,
10870Songs of the rapid arming and the march,
10871The flag of peace quick-folded, and instead the flag we know,
10872Warlike flag of the great Idea.
10873
10874(Angry cloth I saw there leaping!
10875I stand again in leaden rain your flapping folds saluting,
10876I sing you over all, flying beckoning through the fight--O the
10877    hard-contested fight!
10878The cannons ope their rosy-flashing muzzles--the hurtled balls scream,
10879The battle-front forms amid the smoke--the volleys pour incessant
10880    from the line,
10881Hark, the ringing word Charge!--now the tussle and the furious
10882    maddening yells,
10883Now the corpses tumble curl'd upon the ground,
10884Cold, cold in death, for precious life of you,
10885Angry cloth I saw there leaping.)
10886
10887
10888Are you he who would assume a place to teach or be a poet here in
10889    the States?
10890The place is august, the terms obdurate.
10891
10892Who would assume to teach here may well prepare himself body and mind,
10893He may well survey, ponder, arm, fortify, harden, make lithe himself,
10894He shall surely be question'd beforehand by me with many and stern questions.
10895
10896Who are you indeed who would talk or sing to America?
10897Have you studied out the land, its idioms and men?
10898Have you learn'd the physiology, phrenology, politics, geography,
10899    pride, freedom, friendship of the land? its substratums and objects?
10900Have you consider'd the organic compact of the first day of the
10901    first year of Independence, sign'd by the Commissioners, ratified
10902    by the States, and read by Washington at the head of the army?
10903Have you possess'd yourself of the Federal Constitution?
10904Do you see who have left all feudal processes and poems behind them,
10905    and assumed the poems and processes of Democracy?
10906Are you faithful to things? do you teach what the land and sea, the
10907    bodies of men, womanhood, amativeness, heroic angers, teach?
10908Have you sped through fleeting customs, popularities?
10909Can you hold your hand against all seductions, follies, whirls,
10910    fierce contentions? are you very strong? are you really of the
10911    whole People?
10912Are you not of some coterie? some school or mere religion?
10913Are you done with reviews and criticisms of life? animating now to
10914    life itself?
10915Have you vivified yourself from the maternity of these States?
10916Have you too the old ever-fresh forbearance and impartiality?
10917Do you hold the like love for those hardening to maturity? for the
10918    last-born? little and big? and for the errant?
10919
10920What is this you bring my America?
10921Is it uniform with my country?
10922Is it not something that has been better told or done before?
10923Have you not imported this or the spirit of it in some ship?
10924Is it not a mere tale? a rhyme? a prettiness?--Is the good old cause in it?
10925Has it not dangled long at the heels of the poets, politicians,
10926    literats, of enemies' lands?
10927Does it not assume that what is notoriously gone is still here?
10928Does it answer universal needs? will it improve manners?
10929Does it sound with trumpet-voice the proud victory of the Union in
10930    that secession war?
10931Can your performance face the open fields and the seaside?
10932Will it absorb into me as I absorb food, air, to appear again in my
10933    strength, gait, face?
10934Have real employments contributed to it? original makers, not mere
10935    amanuenses?
10936Does it meet modern discoveries, calibres, facts, face to face?
10937What does it mean to American persons, progresses, cities? Chicago,
10938    Kanada, Arkansas?
10939Does it see behind the apparent custodians the real custodians
10940    standing, menacing, silent, the mechanics, Manhattanese, Western
10941    men, Southerners, significant alike in their apathy, and in the
10942    promptness of their love?
10943Does it see what finally befalls, and has always finally befallen,
10944    each temporizer, patcher, outsider, partialist, alarmist,
10945    infidel, who has ever ask'd any thing of America?
10946What mocking and scornful negligence?
10947The track strew'd with the dust of skeletons,
10948By the roadside others disdainfully toss'd.
10949
10950
10951Rhymes and rhymers pass away, poems distill'd from poems pass away,
10952The swarms of reflectors and the polite pass, and leave ashes,
10953Admirers, importers, obedient persons, make but the soil of literature,
10954America justifies itself, give it time, no disguise can deceive it
10955    or conceal from it, it is impassive enough,
10956Only toward the likes of itself will it advance to meet them,
10957If its poets appear it will in due time advance to meet them, there
10958    is no fear of mistake,
10959(The proof of a poet shall be sternly deferr'd till his country
10960    absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorb'd it.)
10961
10962He masters whose spirit masters, he tastes sweetest who results
10963    sweetest in the long run,
10964The blood of the brawn beloved of time is unconstraint;
10965In the need of songs, philosophy, an appropriate native grand-opera,
10966    shipcraft, any craft,
10967He or she is greatest who contributes the greatest original
10968    practical example.
10969
10970Already a nonchalant breed, silently emerging, appears on the streets,
10971People's lips salute only doers, lovers, satisfiers, positive knowers,
10972There will shortly be no more priests, I say their work is done,
10973Death is without emergencies here, but life is perpetual emergencies here,
10974Are your body, days, manners, superb? after death you shall be superb,
10975Justice, health, self-esteem, clear the way with irresistible power;
10976How dare you place any thing before a man?
10977
10978
10979Fall behind me States!
10980A man before all--myself, typical, before all.
10981
10982Give me the pay I have served for,
10983Give me to sing the songs of the great Idea, take all the rest,
10984I have loved the earth, sun, animals, I have despised riches,
10985I have given aims to every one that ask'd, stood up for the stupid
10986    and crazy, devoted my income and labor to others,
10987Hated tyrants, argued not concerning God, had patience and indulgence
10988    toward the people, taken off my hat to nothing known or unknown,
10989Gone freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young,
10990    and with the mothers of families,
10991Read these leaves to myself in the open air, tried them by trees,
10992    stars, rivers,
10993Dismiss'd whatever insulted my own soul or defiled my body,
10994Claim'd nothing to myself which I have not carefully claim'd for
10995    others on the same terms,
10996Sped to the camps, and comrades found and accepted from every State,
10997(Upon this breast has many a dying soldier lean'd to breathe his last,
10998This arm, this hand, this voice, have nourish'd, rais'd, restored,
10999To life recalling many a prostrate form;)
11000I am willing to wait to be understood by the growth of the taste of myself,
11001Rejecting none, permitting all.
11002
11003(Say O Mother, have I not to your thought been faithful?
11004Have I not through life kept you and yours before me?)
11005
11006
11007I swear I begin to see the meaning of these things,
11008It is not the earth, it is not America who is so great,
11009It is I who am great or to be great, it is You up there, or any one,
11010It is to walk rapidly through civilizations, governments, theories,
11011Through poems, pageants, shows, to form individuals.
11012
11013Underneath all, individuals,
11014I swear nothing is good to me now that ignores individuals,
11015The American compact is altogether with individuals,
11016The only government is that which makes minute of individuals,
11017The whole theory of the universe is directed unerringly to one
11018    single individual--namely to You.
11019
11020(Mother! with subtle sense severe, with the naked sword in your hand,
11021I saw you at last refuse to treat but directly with individuals.)
11022
11023
11024Underneath all, Nativity,
11025I swear I will stand by my own nativity, pious or impious so be it;
11026I swear I am charm'd with nothing except nativity,
11027Men, women, cities, nations, are only beautiful from nativity.
11028
11029Underneath all is the Expression of love for men and women,
11030(I swear I have seen enough of mean and impotent modes of expressing
11031    love for men and women,
11032After this day I take my own modes of expressing love for men and
11033    women.) in myself,
11034
11035I swear I will have each quality of my race in myself,
11036(Talk as you like, he only suits these States whose manners favor
11037    the audacity and sublime turbulence of the States.)
11038
11039Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments,
11040    ownerships, I swear I perceive other lessons,
11041Underneath all to me is myself, to you yourself, (the same
11042    monotonous old song.)
11043
11044
11045O I see flashing that this America is only you and me,
11046Its power, weapons, testimony, are you and me,
11047Its crimes, lies, thefts, defections, are you and me,
11048Its Congress is you and me, the officers, capitols, armies, ships,
11049    are you and me,
11050Its endless gestations of new States are you and me,
11051The war, (that war so bloody and grim, the war I will henceforth
11052    forget), was you and me,
11053Natural and artificial are you and me,
11054Freedom, language, poems, employments, are you and me,
11055Past, present, future, are you and me.
11056
11057I dare not shirk any part of myself,
11058Not any part of America good or bad,
11059Not to build for that which builds for mankind,
11060Not to balance ranks, complexions, creeds, and the sexes,
11061Not to justify science nor the march of equality,
11062Nor to feed the arrogant blood of the brawn belov'd of time.
11063
11064I am for those that have never been master'd,
11065For men and women whose tempers have never been master'd,
11066For those whom laws, theories, conventions, can never master.
11067
11068I am for those who walk abreast with the whole earth,
11069Who inaugurate one to inaugurate all.
11070
11071I will not be outfaced by irrational things,
11072I will penetrate what it is in them that is sarcastic upon me,
11073I will make cities and civilizations defer to me,
11074This is what I have learnt from America--it is the amount, and it I
11075    teach again.
11076
11077(Democracy, while weapons were everywhere aim'd at your breast,
11078I saw you serenely give birth to immortal children, saw in dreams
11079    your dilating form,
11080Saw you with spreading mantle covering the world.)
11081
11082
11083I will confront these shows of the day and night,
11084I will know if I am to be less than they,
11085I will see if I am not as majestic as they,
11086I will see if I am not as subtle and real as they,
11087I will see if I am to be less generous than they,
11088I will see if I have no meaning, while the houses and ships have meaning,
11089I will see if the fishes and birds are to be enough for themselves,
11090    and I am not to be enough for myself.
11091
11092I match my spirit against yours you orbs, growths, mountains, brutes,
11093Copious as you are I absorb you all in myself, and become the master myself,
11094America isolated yet embodying all, what is it finally except myself?
11095These States, what are they except myself?
11096
11097I know now why the earth is gross, tantalizing, wicked, it is for my sake,
11098I take you specially to be mine, you terrible, rude forms.
11099
11100
11101(Mother, bend down, bend close to me your face,
11102I know not what these plots and wars and deferments are for,
11103I know not fruition's success, but I know that through war and crime
11104    your work goes on, and must yet go on.)
11105
11106
11107Thus by blue Ontario's shore,
11108While the winds fann'd me and the waves came trooping toward me,
11109I thrill'd with the power's pulsations, and the charm of my theme
11110    was upon me,
11111Till the tissues that held me parted their ties upon me.
11112
11113And I saw the free souls of poets,
11114The loftiest bards of past ages strode before me,
11115Strange large men, long unwaked, undisclosed, were disclosed to me.
11116
11117
11118O my rapt verse, my call, mock me not!
11119Not for the bards of the past, not to invoke them have I launch'd
11120    you forth,
11121Not to call even those lofty bards here by Ontario's shores,
11122Have I sung so capricious and loud my savage song.
11123
11124Bards for my own land only I invoke,
11125(For the war the war is over, the field is clear'd,)
11126Till they strike up marches henceforth triumphant and onward,
11127To cheer O Mother your boundless expectant soul.
11128
11129Bards of the great Idea! bards of the peaceful inventions! (for the
11130    war, the war is over!)
11131Yet bards of latent armies, a million soldiers waiting ever-ready,
11132Bards with songs as from burning coals or the lightning's fork'd stripes!
11133Ample Ohio's, Kanada's bards--bards of California! inland bards--
11134    bards of the war!
11135You by my charm I invoke.
11136
11137
11138
11139
11140Let that which stood in front go behind,
11141Let that which was behind advance to the front,
11142Let bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions,
11143Let the old propositions be postponed,
11144Let a man seek pleasure everywhere except in himself,
11145Let a woman seek happiness everywhere except in herself
11146
11147
11148
11149
11150
11151As consequent from store of summer rains,
11152Or wayward rivulets in autumn flowing,
11153Or many a herb-lined brook's reticulations,
11154Or subterranean sea-rills making for the sea,
11155Songs of continued years I sing.
11156
11157Life's ever-modern rapids first, (soon, soon to blend,
11158With the old streams of death.)
11159
11160Some threading Ohio's farm-fields or the woods,
11161Some down Colorado's canons from sources of perpetual snow,
11162Some half-hid in Oregon, or away southward in Texas,
11163Some in the north finding their way to Erie, Niagara, Ottawa,
11164Some to Atlantica's bays, and so to the great salt brine.
11165
11166In you whoe'er you are my book perusing,
11167In I myself, in all the world, these currents flowing,
11168All, all toward the mystic ocean tending.
11169
11170Currents for starting a continent new,
11171Overtures sent to the solid out of the liquid,
11172Fusion of ocean and land, tender and pensive waves,
11173(Not safe and peaceful only, waves rous'd and ominous too,
11174Out of the depths the storm's abysmic waves, who knows whence?
11175Raging over the vast, with many a broken spar and tatter'd sail.)
11176
11177Or from the sea of Time, collecting vasting all, I bring,
11178A windrow-drift of weeds and shells.
11179
11180O little shells, so curious-convolute, so limpid-cold and voiceless,
11181Will you not little shells to the tympans of temples held,
11182Murmurs and echoes still call up, eternity's music faint and far,
11183Wafted inland, sent from Atlantica's rim, strains for the soul of
11184    the prairies,
11185Whisper'd reverberations, chords for the ear of the West joyously sounding,
11186Your tidings old, yet ever new and untranslatable,
11187Infinitesimals out of my life, and many a life,
11188(For not my life and years alone I give--all, all I give,)
11189These waifs from the deep, cast high and dry,
11190Wash'd on America's shores?
11191
11192
11193
11194
11195
11196For the lands and for these passionate days and for myself,
11197Now I awhile retire to thee O soil of autumn fields,
11198Reclining on thy breast, giving myself to thee,
11199Answering the pulses of thy sane and equable heart,
11200Turning a verse for thee.
11201
11202O earth that hast no voice, confide to me a voice,
11203O harvest of my lands--O boundless summer growths,
11204O lavish brown parturient earth--O infinite teeming womb,
11205A song to narrate thee.
11206
11207
11208Ever upon this stage,
11209Is acted God's calm annual drama,
11210Gorgeous processions, songs of birds,
11211Sunrise that fullest feeds and freshens most the soul,
11212The heaving sea, the waves upon the shore, the musical, strong waves,
11213The woods, the stalwart trees, the slender, tapering trees,
11214The liliput countless armies of the grass,
11215The heat, the showers, the measureless pasturages,
11216The scenery of the snows, the winds' free orchestra,
11217The stretching light-hung roof of clouds, the clear cerulean and the
11218    silvery fringes,
11219The high-dilating stars, the placid beckoning stars,
11220The moving flocks and herds, the plains and emerald meadows,
11221The shows of all the varied lands and all the growths and products.
11222
11223
11224Fecund America--today,
11225Thou art all over set in births and joys!
11226Thou groan'st with riches, thy wealth clothes thee as a swathing-garment,
11227Thou laughest loud with ache of great possessions,
11228A myriad-twining life like interlacing vines binds all thy vast demesne,
11229As some huge ship freighted to water's edge thou ridest into port,
11230As rain falls from the heaven and vapors rise from earth, so have
11231    the precious values fallen upon thee and risen out of thee;
11232Thou envy of the globe! thou miracle!
11233Thou, bathed, choked, swimming in plenty,
11234Thou lucky Mistress of the tranquil barns,
11235Thou Prairie Dame that sittest in the middle and lookest out upon
11236    thy world, and lookest East and lookest West,
11237Dispensatress, that by a word givest a thousand miles, a million
11238    farms, and missest nothing,
11239Thou all-acceptress--thou hospitable, (thou only art hospitable as
11240    God is hospitable.)
11241
11242
11243When late I sang sad was my voice,
11244Sad were the shows around me with deafening noises of hatred and
11245    smoke of war;
11246In the midst of the conflict, the heroes, I stood,
11247Or pass'd with slow step through the wounded and dying.
11248
11249But now I sing not war,
11250Nor the measur'd march of soldiers, nor the tents of camps,
11251Nor the regiments hastily coming up deploying in line of battle;
11252No more the sad, unnatural shows of war.
11253
11254Ask'd room those flush'd immortal ranks, the first forth-stepping armies?
11255Ask room alas the ghastly ranks, the armies dread that follow'd.
11256
11257(Pass, pass, ye proud brigades, with your tramping sinewy legs,
11258With your shoulders young and strong, with your knapsacks and your muskets;
11259How elate I stood and watch'd you, where starting off you march'd.
11260
11261Pass--then rattle drums again,
11262For an army heaves in sight, O another gathering army,
11263Swarming, trailing on the rear, O you dread accruing army,
11264O you regiments so piteous, with your mortal diarrhoea, with your fever,
11265O my land's maim'd darlings, with the plenteous bloody bandage and
11266    the crutch,
11267Lo, your pallid army follows.)
11268
11269
11270But on these days of brightness,
11271On the far-stretching beauteous landscape, the roads and lanes the
11272    high-piled farm-wagons, and the fruits and barns,
11273Should the dead intrude?
11274
11275Ah the dead to me mar not, they fit well in Nature,
11276They fit very well in the landscape under the trees and grass,
11277And along the edge of the sky in the horizon's far margin.
11278
11279Nor do I forget you Departed,
11280Nor in winter or summer my lost ones,
11281But most in the open air as now when my soul is rapt and at peace,
11282    like pleasing phantoms,
11283Your memories rising glide silently by me.
11284
11285
11286I saw the day the return of the heroes,
11287(Yet the heroes never surpass'd shall never return,
11288Them that day I saw not.)
11289
11290I saw the interminable corps, I saw the processions of armies,
11291I saw them approaching, defiling by with divisions,
11292Streaming northward, their work done, camping awhile in clusters of
11293    mighty camps.
11294
11295No holiday soldiers--youthful, yet veterans,
11296Worn, swart, handsome, strong, of the stock of homestead and workshop,
11297Harden'd of many a long campaign and sweaty march,
11298Inured on many a hard-fought bloody field.
11299
11300A pause--the armies wait,
11301A million flush'd embattled conquerors wait,
11302The world too waits, then soft as breaking night and sure as dawn,
11303They melt, they disappear.
11304
11305Exult O lands! victorious lands!
11306Not there your victory on those red shuddering fields,
11307But here and hence your victory.
11308
11309Melt, melt away ye armies--disperse ye blue-clad soldiers,
11310Resolve ye back again, give up for good your deadly arms,
11311Other the arms the fields henceforth for you, or South or North,
11312With saner wars, sweet wars, life-giving wars.
11313
11314
11315Loud O my throat, and clear O soul!
11316The season of thanks and the voice of full-yielding,
11317The chant of joy and power for boundless fertility.
11318
11319All till'd and untill'd fields expand before me,
11320I see the true arenas of my race, or first or last,
11321Man's innocent and strong arenas.
11322
11323I see the heroes at other toils,
11324I see well-wielded in their hands the better weapons.
11325
11326I see where the Mother of All,
11327With full-spanning eye gazes forth, dwells long,
11328And counts the varied gathering of the products.
11329
11330Busy the far, the sunlit panorama,
11331Prairie, orchard, and yellow grain of the North,
11332Cotton and rice of the South and Louisianian cane,
11333Open unseeded fallows, rich fields of clover and timothy,
11334Kine and horses feeding, and droves of sheep and swine,
11335And many a stately river flowing and many a jocund brook,
11336And healthy uplands with herby-perfumed breezes,
11337And the good green grass, that delicate miracle the ever-recurring grass.
11338
11339
11340Toil on heroes! harvest the products!
11341Not alone on those warlike fields the Mother of All,
11342With dilated form and lambent eyes watch'd you.
11343
11344Toil on heroes! toil well! handle the weapons well!
11345The Mother of All, yet here as ever she watches you.
11346
11347Well-pleased America thou beholdest,
11348Over the fields of the West those crawling monsters,
11349The human-divine inventions, the labor-saving implements;
11350Beholdest moving in every direction imbued as with life the
11351    revolving hay-rakes,
11352The steam-power reaping-machines and the horse-power machines
11353The engines, thrashers of grain and cleaners of grain, well
11354    separating the straw, the nimble work of the patent pitchfork,
11355Beholdest the newer saw-mill, the southern cotton-gin, and the
11356    rice-cleanser.
11357
11358Beneath thy look O Maternal,
11359With these and else and with their own strong hands the heroes harvest.
11360
11361All gather and all harvest,
11362Yet but for thee O Powerful, not a scythe might swing as now in security,
11363Not a maize-stalk dangle as now its silken tassels in peace.
11364
11365Under thee only they harvest, even but a wisp of hay under thy great
11366    face only,
11367Harvest the wheat of Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, every barbed spear
11368    under thee,
11369Harvest the maize of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, each ear in its
11370    light-green sheath,
11371Gather the hay to its myriad mows in the odorous tranquil barns,
11372Oats to their bins, the white potato, the buckwheat of Michigan, to theirs;
11373Gather the cotton in Mississippi or Alabama, dig and hoard the
11374    golden the sweet potato of Georgia and the Carolinas,
11375Clip the wool of California or Pennsylvania,
11376Cut the flax in the Middle States, or hemp or tobacco in the Borders,
11377Pick the pea and the bean, or pull apples from the trees or bunches
11378    of grapes from the vines,
11379Or aught that ripens in all these States or North or South,
11380Under the beaming sun and under thee.
11381
11382
11383
11384
11385There was a child went forth every day,
11386And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became,
11387And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,
11388Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.
11389
11390The early lilacs became part of this child,
11391And grass and white and red morning-glories, and white and red
11392    clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird,
11393And the Third-month lambs and the sow's pink-faint litter, and the
11394    mare's foal and the cow's calf,
11395And the noisy brood of the barnyard or by the mire of the pond-side,
11396And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there, and the
11397    beautiful curious liquid,
11398And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads, all became part of him.
11399
11400The field-sprouts of Fourth-month and Fifth-month became part of him,
11401Winter-grain sprouts and those of the light-yellow corn, and the
11402    esculent roots of the garden,
11403And the apple-trees cover'd with blossoms and the fruit afterward,
11404    and wood-berries, and the commonest weeds by the road,
11405And the old drunkard staggering home from the outhouse of the
11406    tavern whence he had lately risen,
11407And the schoolmistress that pass'd on her way to the school,
11408And the friendly boys that pass'd, and the quarrelsome boys,
11409And the tidy and fresh-cheek'd girls, and the barefoot negro boy and girl,
11410And all the changes of city and country wherever he went.
11411
11412His own parents, he that had father'd him and she that had conceiv'd
11413    him in her womb and birth'd him,
11414They gave this child more of themselves than that,
11415They gave him afterward every day, they became part of him.
11416
11417The mother at home quietly placing the dishes on the supper-table,
11418The mother with mild words, clean her cap and gown, a wholesome
11419    odor falling off her person and clothes as she walks by,
11420The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, anger'd, unjust,
11421The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,
11422The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture, the
11423    yearning and swelling heart,
11424Affection that will not be gainsay'd, the sense of what is real, the
11425    thought if after all it should prove unreal,
11426The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night-time, the curious
11427    whether and how,
11428Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks?
11429Men and women crowding fast in the streets, if they are not flashes
11430    and specks what are they?
11431The streets themselves and the facades of houses, and goods in the windows,
11432Vehicles, teams, the heavy-plank'd wharves, the huge crossing at
11433    the ferries,
11434The village on the highland seen from afar at sunset, the river between,
11435Shadows, aureola and mist, the light falling on roofs and gables of
11436    white or brown two miles off,
11437The schooner near by sleepily dropping down the tide, the little
11438    boat slack-tow'd astern,
11439The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests, slapping,
11440The strata of color'd clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint away
11441    solitary by itself, the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
11442The horizon's edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh
11443    and shore mud,
11444These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who
11445    now goes, and will always go forth every day.
11446
11447
11448
11449
11450Far hence amid an isle of wondrous beauty,
11451Crouching over a grave an ancient sorrowful mother,
11452Once a queen, now lean and tatter'd seated on the ground,
11453Her old white hair drooping dishevel'd round her shoulders,
11454At her feet fallen an unused royal harp,
11455Long silent, she too long silent, mourning her shrouded hope and heir,
11456Of all the earth her heart most full of sorrow because most full of love.
11457
11458Yet a word ancient mother,
11459You need crouch there no longer on the cold ground with forehead
11460    between your knees,
11461O you need not sit there veil'd in your old white hair so dishevel'd,
11462For know you the one you mourn is not in that grave,
11463It was an illusion, the son you love was not really dead,
11464The Lord is not dead, he is risen again young and strong in another country,
11465Even while you wept there by your fallen harp by the grave,
11466What you wept for was translated, pass'd from the grave,
11467The winds favor'd and the sea sail'd it,
11468And now with rosy and new blood,
11469Moves to-day in a new country.
11470
11471
11472
11473
11474By the city dead-house by the gate,
11475As idly sauntering wending my way from the clangor,
11476I curious pause, for lo, an outcast form, a poor dead prostitute brought,
11477Her corpse they deposit unclaim'd, it lies on the damp brick pavement,
11478The divine woman, her body, I see the body, I look on it alone,
11479That house once full of passion and beauty, all else I notice not,
11480Nor stillness so cold, nor running water from faucet, nor odors
11481    morbific impress me,
11482But the house alone--that wondrous house--that delicate fair house
11483    --that ruin!
11484That immortal house more than all the rows of dwellings ever built!
11485Or white-domed capitol with majestic figure surmounted, or all the
11486    old high-spired cathedrals,
11487That little house alone more than them all--poor, desperate house!
11488Fair, fearful wreck--tenement of a soul--itself a soul,
11489Unclaim'd, avoided house--take one breath from my tremulous lips,
11490Take one tear dropt aside as I go for thought of you,
11491Dead house of love--house of madness and sin, crumbled, crush'd,
11492House of life, erewhile talking and laughing--but ah, poor house,
11493    dead even then,
11494Months, years, an echoing, garnish'd house--but dead, dead, dead.
11495
11496
11497
11498
11499
11500Something startles me where I thought I was safest,
11501I withdraw from the still woods I loved,
11502I will not go now on the pastures to walk,
11503I will not strip the clothes from my body to meet my lover the sea,
11504I will not touch my flesh to the earth as to other flesh to renew me.
11505
11506O how can it be that the ground itself does not sicken?
11507How can you be alive you growths of spring?
11508How can you furnish health you blood of herbs, roots, orchards, grain?
11509Are they not continually putting distemper'd corpses within you?
11510Is not every continent work'd over and over with sour dead?
11511
11512Where have you disposed of their carcasses?
11513Those drunkards and gluttons of so many generations?
11514Where have you drawn off all the foul liquid and meat?
11515I do not see any of it upon you to-day, or perhaps I am deceiv'd,
11516I will run a furrow with my plough, I will press my spade through
11517    the sod and turn it up underneath,
11518I am sure I shall expose some of the foul meat.
11519
11520
11521Behold this compost! behold it well!
11522Perhaps every mite has once form'd part of a sick person--yet behold!
11523The grass of spring covers the prairies,
11524The bean bursts noiselessly through the mould in the garden,
11525The delicate spear of the onion pierces upward,
11526The apple-buds cluster together on the apple-branches,
11527The resurrection of the wheat appears with pale visage out of its graves,
11528The tinge awakes over the willow-tree and the mulberry-tree,
11529The he-birds carol mornings and evenings while the she-birds sit on
11530    their nests,
11531The young of poultry break through the hatch'd eggs,
11532The new-born of animals appear, the calf is dropt from the cow, the
11533    colt from the mare,
11534Out of its little hill faithfully rise the potato's dark green leaves,
11535Out of its hill rises the yellow maize-stalk, the lilacs bloom in
11536    the dooryards,
11537The summer growth is innocent and disdainful above all those strata
11538    of sour dead.
11539
11540What chemistry!
11541That the winds are really not infectious,
11542That this is no cheat, this transparent green-wash of the sea which
11543    is so amorous after me,
11544That it is safe to allow it to lick my naked body all over with its tongues,
11545That it will not endanger me with the fevers that have deposited
11546    themselves in it,
11547That all is clean forever and forever,
11548That the cool drink from the well tastes so good,
11549That blackberries are so flavorous and juicy,
11550That the fruits of the apple-orchard and the orange-orchard, that
11551    melons, grapes, peaches, plums, will none of them poison me,
11552That when I recline on the grass I do not catch any disease,
11553Though probably every spear of grass rises out of what was once
11554    catching disease.
11555
11556Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and patient,
11557It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions,
11558It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless
11559    successions of diseas'd corpses,
11560It distills such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor,
11561It renews with such unwitting looks its prodigal, annual, sumptuous crops,
11562It gives such divine materials to men, and accepts such leavings
11563    from them at last.
11564
11565
11566
11567
11568Courage yet, my brother or my sister!
11569Keep on--Liberty is to be subserv'd whatever occurs;
11570That is nothing that is quell'd by one or two failures, or any
11571    number of failures,
11572Or by the indifference or ingratitude of the people, or by any
11573    unfaithfulness,
11574Or the show of the tushes of power, soldiers, cannon, penal statutes.
11575
11576What we believe in waits latent forever through all the continents,
11577Invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is
11578    positive and composed, knows no discouragement,
11579Waiting patiently, waiting its time.
11580
11581(Not songs of loyalty alone are these,
11582But songs of insurrection also,
11583For I am the sworn poet of every dauntless rebel the world over,
11584And he going with me leaves peace and routine behind him,
11585And stakes his life to be lost at any moment.)
11586
11587The battle rages with many a loud alarm and frequent advance and retreat,
11588The infidel triumphs, or supposes he triumphs,
11589The prison, scaffold, garrote, handcuffs, iron necklace and
11590    leadballs do their work,
11591The named and unnamed heroes pass to other spheres,
11592The great speakers and writers are exiled, they lie sick in distant lands,
11593The cause is asleep, the strongest throats are choked with their own blood,
11594The young men droop their eyelashes toward the ground when they meet;
11595But for all this Liberty has not gone out of the place, nor the
11596    infidel enter'd into full possession.
11597
11598When liberty goes out of a place it is not the first to go, nor the
11599    second or third to go,
11600It waits for all the rest to go, it is the last.
11601
11602When there are no more memories of heroes and martyrs,
11603And when all life and all the souls of men and women are discharged
11604    from any part of the earth,
11605Then only shall liberty or the idea of liberty be discharged from
11606    that part of the earth,
11607And the infidel come into full possession.
11608
11609Then courage European revolter, revoltress!
11610For till all ceases neither must you cease.
11611
11612I do not know what you are for, (I do not know what I am for myself,
11613    nor what any thing is for,)
11614But I will search carefully for it even in being foil'd,
11615In defeat, poverty, misconception, imprisonment--for they too are great.
11616
11617Did we think victory great?
11618So it is--but now it seems to me, when it cannot be help'd, that
11619    defeat is great,
11620And that death and dismay are great.
11621
11622
11623
11624
11625Nations ten thousand years before these States, and many times ten
11626    thousand years before these States,
11627Garner'd clusters of ages that men and women like us grew up and
11628    travel'd their course and pass'd on,
11629What vast-built cities, what orderly republics, what pastoral tribes
11630    and nomads,
11631What histories, rulers, heroes, perhaps transcending all others,
11632What laws, customs, wealth, arts, traditions,
11633What sort of marriage, what costumes, what physiology and phrenology,
11634What of liberty and slavery among them, what they thought of death
11635    and the soul,
11636Who were witty and wise, who beautiful and poetic, who brutish and
11637    undevelop'd,
11638Not a mark, not a record remains--and yet all remains.
11639
11640O I know that those men and women were not for nothing, any more
11641    than we are for nothing,
11642I know that they belong to the scheme of the world every bit as much
11643    as we now belong to it.
11644
11645Afar they stand, yet near to me they stand,
11646Some with oval countenances learn'd and calm,
11647Some naked and savage, some like huge collections of insects,
11648Some in tents, herdsmen, patriarchs, tribes, horsemen,
11649Some prowling through woods, some living peaceably on farms,
11650    laboring, reaping, filling barns,
11651Some traversing paved avenues, amid temples, palaces, factories,
11652    libraries, shows, courts, theatres, wonderful monuments.
11653Are those billions of men really gone?
11654Are those women of the old experience of the earth gone?
11655Do their lives, cities, arts, rest only with us?
11656Did they achieve nothing for good for themselves?
11657
11658I believe of all those men and women that fill'd the unnamed lands,
11659    every one exists this hour here or elsewhere, invisible to us.
11660In exact proportion to what he or she grew from in life, and out of
11661    what he or she did, felt, became, loved, sinn'd, in life.
11662
11663I believe that was not the end of those nations or any person of
11664    them, any more than this shall be the end of my nation, or of me;
11665Of their languages, governments, marriage, literature, products,
11666    games, wars, manners, crimes, prisons, slaves, heroes, poets,
11667I suspect their results curiously await in the yet unseen world,
11668    counterparts of what accrued to them in the seen world,
11669I suspect I shall meet them there,
11670I suspect I shall there find each old particular of those unnamed lands.
11671
11672
11673
11674
11675Manhattan's streets I saunter'd pondering,
11676On Time, Space, Reality--on such as these, and abreast with them Prudence.
11677
11678The last explanation always remains to be made about prudence,
11679Little and large alike drop quietly aside from the prudence that
11680    suits immortality.
11681
11682The soul is of itself,
11683All verges to it, all has reference to what ensues,
11684All that a person does, says, thinks, is of consequence,
11685Not a move can a man or woman make, that affects him or her in a day,
11686    month, any part of the direct lifetime, or the hour of death,
11687But the same affects him or her onward afterward through the
11688    indirect lifetime.
11689
11690The indirect is just as much as the direct,
11691The spirit receives from the body just as much as it gives to the
11692    body, if not more.
11693
11694Not one word or deed, not venereal sore, discoloration, privacy of
11695    the onanist,
11696Putridity of gluttons or rum-drinkers, peculation, cunning,
11697    betrayal, murder, seduction, prostitution,
11698But has results beyond death as really as before death.
11699
11700Charity and personal force are the only investments worth any thing.
11701
11702No specification is necessary, all that a male or female does, that
11703    is vigorous, benevolent, clean, is so much profit to him or her,
11704In the unshakable order of the universe and through the whole scope
11705    of it forever.
11706
11707Who has been wise receives interest,
11708Savage, felon, President, judge, farmer, sailor, mechanic, literat,
11709    young, old, it is the same,
11710The interest will come round--all will come round.
11711
11712Singly, wholly, to affect now, affected their time, will forever affect,
11713    all of the past and all of the present and all of the future,
11714All the brave actions of war and peace,
11715All help given to relatives, strangers, the poor, old, sorrowful,
11716    young children, widows, the sick, and to shunn'd persons,
11717All self-denial that stood steady and aloof on wrecks, and saw
11718    others fill the seats of the boats,
11719All offering of substance or life for the good old cause, or for a
11720    friend's sake, or opinion's sake,
11721All pains of enthusiasts scoff'd at by their neighbors,
11722All the limitless sweet love and precious suffering of mothers,
11723All honest men baffled in strifes recorded or unrecorded,
11724All the grandeur and good of ancient nations whose fragments we inherit,
11725All the good of the dozens of ancient nations unknown to us by name,
11726    date, location,
11727All that was ever manfully begun, whether it succeeded or no,
11728All suggestions of the divine mind of man or the divinity of his
11729    mouth, or the shaping of his great hands,
11730All that is well thought or said this day on any part of the globe,
11731    or on any of the wandering stars, or on any of the fix'd stars,
11732    by those there as we are here,
11733All that is henceforth to be thought or done by you whoever you are,
11734    or by any one,
11735These inure, have inured, shall inure, to the identities from which
11736    they sprang, or shall spring.
11737
11738Did you guess any thing lived only its moment?
11739The world does not so exist, no parts palpable or impalpable so exist,
11740No consummation exists without being from some long previous
11741    consummation, and that from some other,
11742Without the farthest conceivable one coming a bit nearer the
11743    beginning than any.
11744
11745Whatever satisfies souls is true;
11746Prudence entirely satisfies the craving and glut of souls,
11747Itself only finally satisfies the soul,
11748The soul has that measureless pride which revolts from every lesson
11749    but its own.
11750
11751Now I breathe the word of the prudence that walks abreast with time,
11752    space, reality,
11753That answers the pride which refuses every lesson but its own.
11754
11755What is prudence is indivisible,
11756Declines to separate one part of life from every part,
11757Divides not the righteous from the unrighteous or the living from the dead,
11758Matches every thought or act by its correlative,
11759Knows no possible forgiveness or deputed atonement,
11760Knows that the young man who composedly peril'd his life and lost it
11761    has done exceedingly well for himself without doubt,
11762That he who never peril'd his life, but retains it to old age in
11763    riches and ease, has probably achiev'd nothing for himself worth
11764    mentioning,
11765Knows that only that person has really learn'd who has learn'd to
11766    prefer results,
11767Who favors body and soul the same,
11768Who perceives the indirect assuredly following the direct,
11769Who in his spirit in any emergency whatever neither hurries nor
11770    avoids death.
11771
11772
11773
11774
11775        O sight of pity, shame and dole!
11776        O fearful thought--a convict soul.
11777
11778
11779Rang the refrain along the hall, the prison,
11780Rose to the roof, the vaults of heaven above,
11781Pouring in floods of melody in tones so pensive sweet and strong the
11782    like whereof was never heard,
11783Reaching the far-off sentry and the armed guards, who ceas'd their pacing,
11784Making the hearer's pulses stop for ecstasy and awe.
11785
11786
11787The sun was low in the west one winter day,
11788When down a narrow aisle amid the thieves and outlaws of the land,
11789(There by the hundreds seated, sear-faced murderers, wily counterfeiters,
11790Gather'd to Sunday church in prison walls, the keepers round,
11791Plenteous, well-armed, watching with vigilant eyes,)
11792Calmly a lady walk'd holding a little innocent child by either hand,
11793Whom seating on their stools beside her on the platform,
11794She, first preluding with the instrument a low and musical prelude,
11795In voice surpassing all, sang forth a quaint old hymn.
11796
11797     A soul confined by bars and bands,
11798     Cries, help! O help! and wrings her hands,
11799     Blinded her eyes, bleeding her breast,
11800     Nor pardon finds, nor balm of rest.
11801
11802     Ceaseless she paces to and fro,
11803     O heart-sick days! O nights of woe!
11804     Nor hand of friend, nor loving face,
11805     Nor favor comes, nor word of grace.
11806
11807     It was not I that sinn'd the sin,
11808     The ruthless body dragg'd me in;
11809     Though long I strove courageously,
11810     The body was too much for me.
11811
11812     Dear prison'd soul bear up a space,
11813     For soon or late the certain grace;
11814     To set thee free and bear thee home,
11815     The heavenly pardoner death shall come.
11816
11817        Convict no more, nor shame, nor dole!
11818        Depart--a God-enfranchis'd soul!
11819
11820
11821The singer ceas'd,
11822One glance swept from her clear calm eyes o'er all those upturn'd faces,
11823Strange sea of prison faces, a thousand varied, crafty, brutal,
11824    seam'd and beauteous faces,
11825Then rising, passing back along the narrow aisle between them,
11826While her gown touch'd them rustling in the silence,
11827She vanish'd with her children in the dusk.
11828
11829While upon all, convicts and armed keepers ere they stirr'd,
11830(Convict forgetting prison, keeper his loaded pistol,)
11831A hush and pause fell down a wondrous minute,
11832With deep half-stifled sobs and sound of bad men bow'd and moved to weeping,
11833And youth's convulsive breathings, memories of home,
11834The mother's voice in lullaby, the sister's care, the happy childhood,
11835The long-pent spirit rous'd to reminiscence;
11836A wondrous minute then--but after in the solitary night, to many,
11837    many there,
11838Years after, even in the hour of death, the sad refrain, the tune,
11839    the voice, the words,
11840Resumed, the large calm lady walks the narrow aisle,
11841The wailing melody again, the singer in the prison sings,
11842
11843     O sight of pity, shame and dole!
11844     O fearful thought--a convict soul.
11845
11846
11847
11848
11849Warble me now for joy of lilac-time, (returning in reminiscence,)
11850Sort me O tongue and lips for Nature's sake, souvenirs of earliest summer,
11851Gather the welcome signs, (as children with pebbles or stringing shells,)
11852Put in April and May, the hylas croaking in the ponds, the elastic air,
11853Bees, butterflies, the sparrow with its simple notes,
11854Blue-bird and darting swallow, nor forget the high-hole flashing his
11855    golden wings,
11856The tranquil sunny haze, the clinging smoke, the vapor,
11857Shimmer of waters with fish in them, the cerulean above,
11858All that is jocund and sparkling, the brooks running,
11859The maple woods, the crisp February days and the sugar-making,
11860The robin where he hops, bright-eyed, brown-breasted,
11861With musical clear call at sunrise, and again at sunset,
11862Or flitting among the trees of the apple-orchard, building the nest
11863    of his mate,
11864The melted snow of March, the willow sending forth its yellow-green sprouts,
11865For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it
11866    and from it?
11867Thou, soul, unloosen'd--the restlessness after I know not what;
11868Come, let us lag here no longer, let us be up and away!
11869O if one could but fly like a bird!
11870O to escape, to sail forth as in a ship!
11871To glide with thee O soul, o'er all, in all, as a ship o'er the waters;
11872Gathering these hints, the preludes, the blue sky, the grass, the
11873    morning drops of dew,
11874The lilac-scent, the bushes with dark green heart-shaped leaves,
11875Wood-violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence,
11876Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere,
11877To grace the bush I love--to sing with the birds,
11878A warble for joy of returning in reminiscence.
11879
11880
11881
11882
11883
11884What may we chant, O thou within this tomb?
11885What tablets, outlines, hang for thee, O millionnaire?
11886The life thou lived'st we know not,
11887But that thou walk'dst thy years in barter, 'mid the haunts of
11888    brokers,
11889Nor heroism thine, nor war, nor glory.
11890
11891
11892Silent, my soul,
11893With drooping lids, as waiting, ponder'd,
11894Turning from all the samples, monuments of heroes.
11895
11896While through the interior vistas,
11897Noiseless uprose, phantasmic, (as by night Auroras of the north,)
11898Lambent tableaus, prophetic, bodiless scenes,
11899Spiritual projections.
11900
11901In one, among the city streets a laborer's home appear'd,
11902After his day's work done, cleanly, sweet-air'd, the gaslight burning,
11903The carpet swept and a fire in the cheerful stove.
11904
11905In one, the sacred parturition scene,
11906A happy painless mother birth'd a perfect child.
11907
11908In one, at a bounteous morning meal,
11909Sat peaceful parents with contented sons.
11910
11911In one, by twos and threes, young people,
11912Hundreds concentring, walk'd the paths and streets and roads,
11913Toward a tall-domed school.
11914
11915In one a trio beautiful,
11916Grandmother, loving daughter, loving daughter's daughter, sat,
11917Chatting and sewing.
11918
11919In one, along a suite of noble rooms,
11920'Mid plenteous books and journals, paintings on the walls, fine statuettes,
11921Were groups of friendly journeymen, mechanics young and old,
11922Reading, conversing.
11923
11924All, all the shows of laboring life,
11925City and country, women's, men's and children's,
11926Their wants provided for, hued in the sun and tinged for once with joy,
11927Marriage, the street, the factory, farm, the house-room, lodging-room,
11928Labor and toll, the bath, gymnasium, playground, library, college,
11929The student, boy or girl, led forward to be taught,
11930The sick cared for, the shoeless shod, the orphan father'd and mother'd,
11931The hungry fed, the houseless housed;
11932(The intentions perfect and divine,
11933The workings, details, haply human.)
11934
11935
11936O thou within this tomb,
11937From thee such scenes, thou stintless, lavish giver,
11938Tallying the gifts of earth, large as the earth,
11939Thy name an earth, with mountains, fields and tides.
11940
11941Nor by your streams alone, you rivers,
11942By you, your banks Connecticut,
11943By you and all your teeming life old Thames,
11944By you Potomac laving the ground Washington trod, by you Patapsco,
11945You Hudson, you endless Mississippi--nor you alone,
11946But to the high seas launch, my thought, his memory.
11947
11948
11949
11950
11951
11952Out from behind this bending rough-cut mask,
11953These lights and shades, this drama of the whole,
11954This common curtain of the face contain'd in me for me, in you for
11955    you, in each for each,
11956(Tragedies, sorrows, laughter, tears-- heaven!
11957The passionate teeming plays this curtain hid!)
11958This glaze of God's serenest purest sky,
11959This film of Satan's seething pit,
11960This heart's geography's map, this limitless small continent, this
11961    soundless sea;
11962Out from the convolutions of this globe,
11963This subtler astronomic orb than sun or moon, than Jupiter, Venus, Mars,
11964This condensation of the universe, (nay here the only universe,
11965Here the idea, all in this mystic handful wrapt;)
11966These burin'd eyes, flashing to you to pass to future time,
11967To launch and spin through space revolving sideling, from these to emanate,
11968To you whoe'er you are--a look.
11969
11970
11971A traveler of thoughts and years, of peace and war,
11972Of youth long sped and middle age declining,
11973(As the first volume of a tale perused and laid away, and this the second,
11974Songs, ventures, speculations, presently to close,)
11975Lingering a moment here and now, to you I opposite turn,
11976As on the road or at some crevice door by chance, or open'd window,
11977Pausing, inclining, baring my head, you specially I greet,
11978To draw and clinch your soul for once inseparably with mine,
11979Then travel travel on.
11980
11981
11982
11983
11984
11985Vocalism, measure, concentration, determination, and the divine
11986    power to speak words;
11987Are you full-lung'd and limber-lipp'd from long trial? from vigorous
11988    practice? from physique?
11989Do you move in these broad lands as broad as they?
11990Come duly to the divine power to speak words?
11991For only at last after many years, after chastity, friendship,
11992    procreation, prudence, and nakedness,
11993After treading ground and breasting river and lake,
11994After a loosen'd throat, after absorbing eras, temperaments, races,
11995    after knowledge, freedom, crimes,
11996After complete faith, after clarifyings, elevations, and removing
11997    obstructions,
11998After these and more, it is just possible there comes to a man,
11999    woman, the divine power to speak words;
12000Then toward that man or that woman swiftly hasten all--none
12001    refuse, all attend,
12002Armies, ships, antiquities, libraries, paintings, machines, cities,
12003    hate, despair, amity, pain, theft, murder, aspiration, form in
12004    close ranks,
12005They debouch as they are wanted to march obediently through the
12006    mouth of that man or that woman.
12007
12008
12009O what is it in me that makes me tremble so at voices?
12010Surely whoever speaks to me in the right voice, him or her I shall follow,
12011As the water follows the moon, silently, with fluid steps, anywhere
12012    around the globe.
12013
12014All waits for the right voices;
12015Where is the practis'd and perfect organ? where is the develop'd soul?
12016For I see every word utter'd thence has deeper, sweeter, new sounds,
12017    impossible on less terms.
12018
12019I see brains and lips closed, tympans and temples unstruck,
12020Until that comes which has the quality to strike and to unclose,
12021Until that comes which has the quality to bring forth what lies
12022    slumbering forever ready in all words.
12023
12024
12025
12026
12027My spirit to yours dear brother,
12028Do not mind because many sounding your name do not understand you,
12029I do not sound your name, but I understand you,
12030I specify you with joy O my comrade to salute you, and to salute
12031    those who are with you, before and since, and those to come also,
12032That we all labor together transmitting the same charge and succession,
12033We few equals indifferent of lands, indifferent of times,
12034We, enclosers of all continents, all castes, allowers of all theologies,
12035Compassionaters, perceivers, rapport of men,
12036We walk silent among disputes and assertions, but reject not the
12037    disputers nor any thing that is asserted,
12038We hear the bawling and din, we are reach'd at by divisions,
12039    jealousies, recriminations on every side,
12040They close peremptorily upon us to surround us, my comrade,
12041Yet we walk unheld, free, the whole earth over, journeying up and
12042    down till we make our ineffaceable mark upon time and the diverse eras,
12043Till we saturate time and eras, that the men and women of races,
12044    ages to come, may prove brethren and lovers as we are.
12045
12046
12047
12048
12049You felons on trial in courts,
12050You convicts in prison-cells, you sentenced assassins chain'd and
12051    handcuff'd with iron,
12052Who am I too that I am not on trial or in prison?
12053Me ruthless and devilish as any, that my wrists are not chain'd with
12054    iron, or my ankles with iron?
12055
12056You prostitutes flaunting over the trottoirs or obscene in your rooms,
12057Who am I that I should call you more obscene than myself?
12058
12059O culpable! I acknowledge--I expose!
12060(O admirers, praise not me--compliment not me--you make me wince,
12061I see what you do not--I know what you do not.)
12062
12063Inside these breast-bones I lie smutch'd and choked,
12064Beneath this face that appears so impassive hell's tides continually run,
12065Lusts and wickedness are acceptable to me,
12066I walk with delinquents with passionate love,
12067I feel I am of them--I belong to those convicts and prostitutes myself,
12068And henceforth I will not deny them--for how can I deny myself?
12069
12070
12071
12072
12073Laws for creations,
12074For strong artists and leaders, for fresh broods of teachers and
12075    perfect literats for America,
12076For noble savans and coming musicians.
12077All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the
12078    compact truth of the world,
12079There shall be no subject too pronounced--all works shall illustrate
12080    the divine law of indirections.
12081
12082What do you suppose creation is?
12083What do you suppose will satisfy the soul, except to walk free and
12084    own no superior?
12085What do you suppose I would intimate to you in a hundred ways, but
12086    that man or woman is as good as God?
12087And that there is no God any more divine than Yourself?
12088And that that is what the oldest and newest myths finally mean?
12089And that you or any one must approach creations through such laws?
12090
12091
12092
12093
12094Be composed--be at ease with me--I am Walt Whitman, liberal and
12095    lusty as Nature,
12096Not till the sun excludes you do I exclude you,
12097Not till the waters refuse to glisten for you and the leaves to
12098    rustle for you, do my words refuse to glisten and rustle for you.
12099
12100My girl I appoint with you an appointment, and I charge you that you
12101    make preparation to be worthy to meet me,
12102And I charge you that you be patient and perfect till I come.
12103
12104Till then I salute you with a significant look that you do not forget me.
12105
12106
12107
12108
12109I was looking a long while for Intentions,
12110For a clew to the history of the past for myself, and for these
12111    chants--and now I have found it,
12112It is not in those paged fables in the libraries, (them I neither
12113    accept nor reject,)
12114It is no more in the legends than in all else,
12115It is in the present--it is this earth to-day,
12116It is in Democracy--(the purport and aim of all the past,)
12117It is the life of one man or one woman to-day--the average man of to-day,
12118It is in languages, social customs, literatures, arts,
12119It is in the broad show of artificial things, ships, machinery,
12120    politics, creeds, modern improvements, and the interchange of nations,
12121All for the modern--all for the average man of to-day.
12122
12123
12124
12125
12126Of persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies, wealth,
12127    scholarships, and the like;
12128(To me all that those persons have arrived at sinks away from them,
12129    except as it results to their bodies and souls,
12130So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked,
12131And often to me each one mocks the others, and mocks himself or herself,
12132And of each one the core of life, namely happiness, is full of the
12133    rotten excrement of maggots,
12134And often to me those men and women pass unwittingly the true
12135    realities of life, and go toward false realities,
12136And often to me they are alive after what custom has served them,
12137    but nothing more,
12138And often to me they are sad, hasty, unwaked sonnambules walking the dusk.)
12139
12140
12141
12142
12143Why, who makes much of a miracle?
12144As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
12145Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
12146Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
12147Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
12148Or stand under trees in the woods,
12149Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night
12150    with any one I love,
12151Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
12152Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
12153Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
12154Or animals feeding in the fields,
12155Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
12156Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet
12157    and bright,
12158Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
12159These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
12160The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
12161
12162To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
12163Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
12164Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
12165Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
12166To me the sea is a continual miracle,
12167The fishes that swim--the rocks--the motion of the waves--the
12168    ships with men in them,
12169What stranger miracles are there?
12170
12171
12172
12173
12174Where the city's ceaseless crowd moves on the livelong day,
12175Withdrawn I join a group of children watching, I pause aside with them.
12176
12177By the curb toward the edge of the flagging,
12178A knife-grinder works at his wheel sharpening a great knife,
12179Bending over he carefully holds it to the stone, by foot and knee,
12180With measur'd tread he turns rapidly, as he presses with light but
12181    firm hand,
12182Forth issue then in copious golden jets,
12183Sparkles from the wheel.
12184
12185The scene and all its belongings, how they seize and affect me,
12186The sad sharp-chinn'd old man with worn clothes and broad
12187    shoulder-band of leather,
12188Myself effusing and fluid, a phantom curiously floating, now here
12189    absorb'd and arrested,
12190The group, (an unminded point set in a vast surrounding,)
12191The attentive, quiet children, the loud, proud, restive base of the streets,
12192The low hoarse purr of the whirling stone, the light-press'd blade,
12193Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
12194Sparkles from the wheel.
12195
12196
12197
12198
12199Is reform needed? is it through you?
12200The greater the reform needed, the greater the Personality you need
12201    to accomplish it.
12202
12203You! do you not see how it would serve to have eyes, blood,
12204    complexion, clean and sweet?
12205Do you not see how it would serve to have such a body and soul that
12206    when you enter the crowd an atmosphere of desire and command
12207    enters with you, and every one is impress'd with your Personality?
12208
12209O the magnet! the flesh over and over!
12210Go, dear friend, if need be give up all else, and commence to-day to
12211    inure yourself to pluck, reality, self-esteem, definiteness,
12212    elevatedness,
12213Rest not till you rivet and publish yourself of your own Personality.
12214
12215
12216
12217
12218Unfolded out of the folds of the woman man comes unfolded, and is
12219    always to come unfolded,
12220Unfolded only out of the superbest woman of the earth is to come the
12221    superbest man of the earth,
12222Unfolded out of the friendliest woman is to come the friendliest man,
12223Unfolded only out of the perfect body of a woman can a man be
12224    form'd of perfect body,
12225Unfolded only out of the inimitable poems of woman can come the
12226    poems of man, (only thence have my poems come;)
12227Unfolded out of the strong and arrogant woman I love, only thence
12228    can appear the strong and arrogant man I love,
12229Unfolded by brawny embraces from the well-muscled woman
12230    love, only thence come the brawny embraces of the man,
12231Unfolded out of the folds of the woman's brain come all the folds
12232    of the man's brain, duly obedient,
12233Unfolded out of the justice of the woman all justice is unfolded,
12234Unfolded out of the sympathy of the woman is all sympathy;
12235A man is a great thing upon the earth and through eternity, but
12236    every of the greatness of man is unfolded out of woman;
12237First the man is shaped in the woman, he can then be shaped in himself.
12238
12239
12240
12241
12242What am I after all but a child, pleas'd with the sound of my own
12243    name? repeating it over and over;
12244I stand apart to hear--it never tires me.
12245
12246To you your name also;
12247Did you think there was nothing but two or three pronunciations in
12248    the sound of your name?
12249
12250
12251
12252
12253Who includes diversity and is Nature,
12254Who is the amplitude of the earth, and the coarseness and sexuality of
12255    the earth, and the great charity of the earth, and the equilibrium also,
12256Who has not look'd forth from the windows the eyes for nothing,
12257    or whose brain held audience with messengers for nothing,
12258Who contains believers and disbelievers, who is the most majestic lover,
12259Who holds duly his or her triune proportion of realism,
12260    spiritualism, and of the aesthetic or intellectual,
12261Who having consider'd the body finds all its organs and parts good,
12262Who, out of the theory of the earth and of his or her body
12263    understands by subtle analogies all other theories,
12264The theory of a city, a poem, and of the large politics of these States;
12265Who believes not only in our globe with its sun and moon, but in
12266    other globes with their suns and moons,
12267Who, constructing the house of himself or herself, not for a day
12268    but for all time, sees races, eras, dates, generations,
12269The past, the future, dwelling there, like space, inseparable together.
12270
12271
12272
12273
12274Others may praise what they like;
12275But I, from the banks of the running Missouri, praise nothing in art
12276    or aught else,
12277Till it has well inhaled the atmosphere of this river, also the
12278    western prairie-scent,
12279And exudes it all again.
12280
12281
12282
12283
12284Who learns my lesson complete?
12285Boss, journeyman, apprentice, churchman and atheist,
12286The stupid and the wise thinker, parents and offspring, merchant,
12287    clerk, porter and customer,
12288Editor, author, artist, and schoolboy--draw nigh and commence;
12289It is no lesson--it lets down the bars to a good lesson,
12290And that to another, and every one to another still.
12291
12292The great laws take and effuse without argument,
12293I am of the same style, for I am their friend,
12294I love them quits and quits, I do not halt and make salaams.
12295
12296I lie abstracted and hear beautiful tales of things and the reasons
12297    of things,
12298They are so beautiful I nudge myself to listen.
12299
12300I cannot say to any person what I hear--I cannot say it to myself--
12301    it is very wonderful.
12302
12303It is no small matter, this round and delicious globe moving so
12304    exactly in its orbit for ever and ever, without one jolt or
12305    the untruth of a single second,
12306I do not think it was made in six days, nor in ten thousand years,
12307    nor ten billions of years,
12308Nor plann'd and built one thing after another as an architect plans
12309    and builds a house.
12310
12311I do not think seventy years is the time of a man or woman,
12312Nor that seventy millions of years is the time of a man or woman,
12313Nor that years will ever stop the existence of me, or any one else.
12314
12315Is it wonderful that I should be immortal? as every one is immortal;
12316I know it is wonderful, but my eyesight is equally wonderful, and
12317    how I was conceived in my mother's womb is equally wonderful,
12318And pass'd from a babe in the creeping trance of a couple of
12319    summers and winters to articulate and walk--all this is
12320    equally wonderful.
12321
12322And that my soul embraces you this hour, and we affect each other
12323    without ever seeing each other, and never perhaps to see
12324    each other, is every bit as wonderful.
12325
12326And that I can think such thoughts as these is just as wonderful,
12327And that I can remind you, and you think them and know them to
12328    be true, is just as wonderful.
12329
12330And that the moon spins round the earth and on with the earth, is
12331    equally wonderful,
12332And that they balance themselves with the sun and stars is equally
12333    wonderful.
12334
12335
12336
12337
12338All submit to them where they sit, inner, secure, unapproachable to
12339    analysis in the soul,
12340Not traditions, not the outer authorities are the judges,
12341They are the judges of outer authorities and of all traditions,
12342They corroborate as they go only whatever corroborates themselves,
12343    and touches themselves;
12344For all that, they have it forever in themselves to corroborate far
12345    and near without one exception.
12346
12347
12348
12349
12350On my Northwest coast in the midst of the night a fishermen's group
12351    stands watching,
12352Out on the lake that expands before them, others are spearing salmon,
12353The canoe, a dim shadowy thing, moves across the black water,
12354Bearing a torch ablaze at the prow.
12355
12356
12357
12358
12359O star of France,
12360The brightness of thy hope and strength and fame,
12361Like some proud ship that led the fleet so long,
12362Beseems to-day a wreck driven by the gale, a mastless hulk,
12363And 'mid its teeming madden'd half-drown'd crowds,
12364Nor helm nor helmsman.
12365
12366Dim smitten star,
12367Orb not of France alone, pale symbol of my soul, its dearest hopes,
12368The struggle and the daring, rage divine for liberty,
12369Of aspirations toward the far ideal, enthusiast's dreams of brotherhood,
12370Of terror to the tyrant and the priest.
12371
12372Star crucified--by traitors sold,
12373Star panting o'er a land of death, heroic land,
12374Strange, passionate, mocking, frivolous land.
12375
12376Miserable! yet for thy errors, vanities, sins, I will not now rebuke thee,
12377Thy unexampled woes and pangs have quell'd them all,
12378And left thee sacred.
12379
12380In that amid thy many faults thou ever aimedst highly,
12381In that thou wouldst not really sell thyself however great the price,
12382In that thou surely wakedst weeping from thy drugg'd sleep,
12383In that alone among thy sisters thou, giantess, didst rend the ones
12384    that shamed thee,
12385In that thou couldst not, wouldst not, wear the usual chains,
12386This cross, thy livid face, thy pierced hands and feet,
12387The spear thrust in thy side.
12388
12389O star! O ship of France, beat back and baffled long!
12390Bear up O smitten orb! O ship continue on!
12391
12392Sure as the ship of all, the Earth itself,
12393Product of deathly fire and turbulent chaos,
12394Forth from its spasms of fury and its poisons,
12395Issuing at last in perfect power and beauty,
12396Onward beneath the sun following its course,
12397So thee O ship of France!
12398
12399Finish'd the days, the clouds dispel'd
12400The travail o'er, the long-sought extrication,
12401When lo! reborn, high o'er the European world,
12402(In gladness answering thence, as face afar to face, reflecting ours
12403    Columbia,)
12404Again thy star O France, fair lustrous star,
12405In heavenly peace, clearer, more bright than ever,
12406Shall beam immortal.
12407
12408
12409
12410
12411In a far-away northern county in the placid pastoral region,
12412Lives my farmer friend, the theme of my recitative, a famous tamer of oxen,
12413There they bring him the three-year-olds and the four-year-olds to
12414    break them,
12415He will take the wildest steer in the world and break him and tame him,
12416He will go fearless without any whip where the young bullock
12417    chafes up and down the yard,
12418The bullock's head tosses restless high in the air with raging eyes,
12419Yet see you! how soon his rage subsides--how soon this tamer tames him;
12420See you! on the farms hereabout a hundred oxen young and old,
12421    and he is the man who has tamed them,
12422They all know him, all are affectionate to him;
12423See you! some are such beautiful animals, so lofty looking;
12424Some are buff-color'd, some mottled, one has a white line running
12425    along his back, some are brindled,
12426Some have wide flaring horns (a good sign)--see you! the bright hides,
12427See, the two with stars on their foreheads--see, the round bodies
12428    and broad backs,
12429How straight and square they stand on their legs--what fine sagacious eyes!
12430How straight they watch their tamer--they wish him near them--how
12431    they turn to look after him!
12432What yearning expression! how uneasy they are when he moves away from them;
12433Now I marvel what it can be he appears to them, (books, politics,
12434    poems, depart--all else departs,)
12435I confess I envy only his fascination--my silent, illiterate friend,
12436Whom a hundred oxen love there in his life on farms,
12437In the northern county far, in the placid pastoral region.
12438
12439
12440
12441
12442An old man's thought of school,
12443An old man gathering youthful memories and blooms that youth itself cannot.
12444
12445Now only do I know you,
12446O fair auroral skies--O morning dew upon the grass!
12447
12448And these I see, these sparkling eyes,
12449These stores of mystic meaning, these young lives,
12450Building, equipping like a fleet of ships, immortal ships,
12451Soon to sail out over the measureless seas,
12452On the soul's voyage.
12453
12454Only a lot of boys and girls?
12455Only the tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes?
12456Only a public school?
12457
12458Ah more, infinitely more;
12459(As George Fox rais'd his warning cry, "Is it this pile of brick and
12460    mortar, these dead floors, windows, rails, you call the church?
12461Why this is not the church at all--the church is living, ever living
12462    souls.")
12463
12464And you America,
12465Cast you the real reckoning for your present?
12466The lights and shadows of your future, good or evil?
12467To girlhood, boyhood look, the teacher and the school.
12468
12469
12470
12471
12472Wandering at morn,
12473Emerging from the night from gloomy thoughts, thee in my thoughts,
12474Yearning for thee harmonious Union! thee, singing bird divine!
12475Thee coil'd in evil times my country, with craft and black dismay,
12476    with every meanness, treason thrust upon thee,
12477This common marvel I beheld--the parent thrush I watch'd feeding its young,
12478The singing thrush whose tones of joy and faith ecstatic,
12479Fail not to certify and cheer my soul.
12480
12481There ponder'd, felt I,
12482If worms, snakes, loathsome grubs, may to sweet spiritual songs be turn'd,
12483If vermin so transposed, so used and bless'd may be,
12484Then may I trust in you, your fortunes, days, my country;
12485Who knows but these may be the lessons fit for you?
12486From these your future song may rise with joyous trills,
12487Destin'd to fill the world.
12488
12489
12490
12491
12492Through the soft evening air enwinding all,
12493Rocks, woods, fort, cannon, pacing sentries, endless wilds,
12494In dulcet streams, in flutes' and cornets' notes,
12495Electric, pensive, turbulent, artificial,
12496(Yet strangely fitting even here, meanings unknown before,
12497Subtler than ever, more harmony, as if born here, related here,
12498Not to the city's fresco'd rooms, not to the audience of the opera house,
12499Sounds, echoes, wandering strains, as really here at home,
12500Sonnambula's innocent love, trios with Norma's anguish,
12501And thy ecstatic chorus Poliuto;)
12502Ray'd in the limpid yellow slanting sundown,
12503Music, Italian music in Dakota.
12504
12505While Nature, sovereign of this gnarl'd realm,
12506Lurking in hidden barbaric grim recesses,
12507Acknowledging rapport however far remov'd,
12508(As some old root or soil of earth its last-born flower or fruit,)
12509Listens well pleas'd.
12510
12511
12512
12513
12514With all thy gifts America,
12515Standing secure, rapidly tending, overlooking the world,
12516Power, wealth, extent, vouchsafed to thee--with these and like of
12517    these vouchsafed to thee,
12518What if one gift thou lackest? (the ultimate human problem never solving,)
12519The gift of perfect women fit for thee--what if that gift of gifts
12520    thou lackest?
12521The towering feminine of thee? the beauty, health, completion, fit for thee?
12522The mothers fit for thee?
12523
12524
12525
12526
12527In a little house keep I pictures suspended, it is not a fix'd house,
12528It is round, it is only a few inches from one side to the other;
12529Yet behold, it has room for all the shows of the world, all memories!
12530Here the tableaus of life, and here the groupings of death;
12531Here, do you know this? this is cicerone himself,
12532With finger rais'd he points to the prodigal pictures.
12533
12534
12535
12536
12537A newer garden of creation, no primal solitude,
12538Dense, joyous, modern, populous millions, cities and farms,
12539With iron interlaced, composite, tied, many in one,
12540By all the world contributed--freedom's and law's and thrift's society,
12541The crown and teeming paradise, so far, of time's accumulations,
12542To justify the past.
12543
12544
12545
12546
12547
12548
12549Proud music of the storm,
12550Blast that careers so free, whistling across the prairies,
12551Strong hum of forest tree-tops--wind of the mountains,
12552Personified dim shapes--you hidden orchestras,
12553You serenades of phantoms with instruments alert,
12554Blending with Nature's rhythmus all the tongues of nations;
12555You chords left as by vast composers--you choruses,
12556You formless, free, religious dances--you from the Orient,
12557You undertone of rivers, roar of pouring cataracts,
12558You sounds from distant guns with galloping cavalry,
12559Echoes of camps with all the different bugle-calls,
12560Trooping tumultuous, filling the midnight late, bending me powerless,
12561Entering my lonesome slumber-chamber, why have you seiz'd me?
12562
12563
12564
12565Come forward O my soul, and let the rest retire,
12566Listen, lose not, it is toward thee they tend,
12567Parting the midnight, entering my slumber-chamber,
12568For thee they sing and dance O soul.
12569
12570A festival song,
12571The duet of the bridegroom and the bride, a marriage-march,
12572With lips of love, and hearts of lovers fill'd to the brim with love,
12573The red-flush'd cheeks and perfumes, the cortege swarming full of
12574    friendly faces young and old,
12575To flutes' clear notes and sounding harps' cantabile.
12576
12577Now loud approaching drums,
12578Victoria! seest thou in powder-smoke the banners torn but flying?
12579    the rout of the baffled?
12580Hearest those shouts of a conquering army?
12581
12582(Ah soul, the sobs of women, the wounded groaning in agony,
12583The hiss and crackle of flames, the blacken'd ruins, the embers of cities,
12584The dirge and desolation of mankind.)
12585
12586Now airs antique and mediaeval fill me,
12587I see and hear old harpers with their harps at Welsh festivals,
12588I hear the minnesingers singing their lays of love,
12589I hear the minstrels, gleemen, troubadours, of the middle ages.
12590
12591Now the great organ sounds,
12592Tremulous, while underneath, (as the hid footholds of the earth,
12593On which arising rest, and leaping forth depend,
12594All shapes of beauty, grace and strength, all hues we know,
12595Green blades of grass and warbling birds, children that gambol and
12596    play, the clouds of heaven above,)
12597The strong base stands, and its pulsations intermits not,
12598Bathing, supporting, merging all the rest, maternity of all the rest,
12599And with it every instrument in multitudes,
12600The players playing, all the world's musicians,
12601The solemn hymns and masses rousing adoration,
12602All passionate heart-chants, sorrowful appeals,
12603The measureless sweet vocalists of ages,
12604And for their solvent setting earth's own diapason,
12605Of winds and woods and mighty ocean waves,
12606A new composite orchestra, binder of years and climes, ten-fold renewer,
12607As of the far-back days the poets tell, the Paradiso,
12608The straying thence, the separation long, but now the wandering done,
12609The journey done, the journeyman come home,
12610And man and art with Nature fused again.
12611
12612Tutti! for earth and heaven;
12613(The Almighty leader now for once has signal'd with his wand.)
12614
12615The manly strophe of the husbands of the world,
12616And all the wives responding.
12617
12618The tongues of violins,
12619(I think O tongues ye tell this heart, that cannot tell itself,
12620This brooding yearning heart, that cannot tell itself.)
12621
12622
12623Ah from a little child,
12624Thou knowest soul how to me all sounds became music,
12625My mother's voice in lullaby or hymn,
12626(The voice, O tender voices, memory's loving voices,
12627Last miracle of all, O dearest mother's, sister's, voices;)
12628The rain, the growing corn, the breeze among the long-leav'd corn,
12629The measur'd sea-surf beating on the sand,
12630The twittering bird, the hawk's sharp scream,
12631The wild-fowl's notes at night as flying low migrating north or south,
12632The psalm in the country church or mid the clustering trees, the
12633    open air camp-meeting,
12634The fiddler in the tavern, the glee, the long-strung sailor-song,
12635The lowing cattle, bleating sheep, the crowing cock at dawn.
12636
12637All songs of current lands come sounding round me,
12638The German airs of friendship, wine and love,
12639Irish ballads, merry jigs and dances, English warbles,
12640Chansons of France, Scotch tunes, and o'er the rest,
12641Italia's peerless compositions.
12642
12643Across the stage with pallor on her face, yet lurid passion,
12644Stalks Norma brandishing the dagger in her hand.
12645
12646I see poor crazed Lucia's eyes' unnatural gleam,
12647Her hair down her back falls loose and dishevel'd.
12648
12649I see where Ernani walking the bridal garden,
12650Amid the scent of night-roses, radiant, holding his bride by the hand,
12651Hears the infernal call, the death-pledge of the horn.
12652
12653To crossing swords and gray hairs bared to heaven,
12654The clear electric base and baritone of the world,
12655The trombone duo, Libertad forever!
12656From Spanish chestnut trees' dense shade,
12657By old and heavy convent walls a wailing song,
12658Song of lost love, the torch of youth and life quench'd in despair,
12659Song of the dying swan, Fernando's heart is breaking.
12660
12661Awaking from her woes at last retriev'd Amina sings,
12662Copious as stars and glad as morning light the torrents of her joy.
12663
12664(The teeming lady comes,
12665The lustrious orb, Venus contralto, the blooming mother,
12666Sister of loftiest gods, Alboni's self I hear.)
12667
12668
12669I hear those odes, symphonies, operas,
12670I hear in the William Tell the music of an arous'd and angry people,
12671I hear Meyerbeer's Huguenots, the Prophet, or Robert,
12672Gounod's Faust, or Mozart's Don Juan.
12673
12674I hear the dance-music of all nations,
12675The waltz, some delicious measure, lapsing, bathing me in bliss,
12676The bolero to tinkling guitars and clattering castanets.
12677
12678I see religious dances old and new,
12679I hear the sound of the Hebrew lyre,
12680I see the crusaders marching bearing the cross on high, to the
12681    martial clang of cymbals,
12682I hear dervishes monotonously chanting, interspers'd with frantic
12683    shouts, as they spin around turning always towards Mecca,
12684I see the rapt religious dances of the Persians and the Arabs,
12685Again, at Eleusis, home of Ceres, I see the modern Greeks dancing,
12686I hear them clapping their hands as they bend their bodies,
12687I hear the metrical shuffling of their feet.
12688
12689I see again the wild old Corybantian dance, the performers wounding
12690    each other,
12691I see the Roman youth to the shrill sound of flageolets throwing and
12692    catching their weapons,
12693As they fall on their knees and rise again.
12694
12695I hear from the Mussulman mosque the muezzin calling,
12696I see the worshippers within, nor form nor sermon, argument nor word,
12697But silent, strange, devout, rais'd, glowing heads, ecstatic faces.
12698
12699I hear the Egyptian harp of many strings,
12700The primitive chants of the Nile boatmen,
12701The sacred imperial hymns of China,
12702To the delicate sounds of the king, (the stricken wood and stone,)
12703Or to Hindu flutes and the fretting twang of the vina,
12704A band of bayaderes.
12705
12706
12707Now Asia, Africa leave me, Europe seizing inflates me,
12708To organs huge and bands I hear as from vast concourses of voices,
12709Luther's strong hymn Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott,
12710Rossini's Stabat Mater dolorosa,
12711Or floating in some high cathedral dim with gorgeous color'd windows,
12712The passionate Agnus Dei or Gloria in Excelsis.
12713
12714Composers! mighty maestros!
12715And you, sweet singers of old lands, soprani, tenori, bassi!
12716To you a new bard caroling in the West,
12717Obeisant sends his love.
12718
12719(Such led to thee O soul,
12720All senses, shows and objects, lead to thee,
12721But now it seems to me sound leads o'er all the rest.)
12722
12723I hear the annual singing of the children in St. Paul's cathedral,
12724Or, under the high roof of some colossal hall, the symphonies,
12725    oratorios of Beethoven, Handel, or Haydn,
12726The Creation in billows of godhood laves me.
12727
12728Give me to hold all sounds, (I madly struggling cry,)
12729Fill me with all the voices of the universe,
12730Endow me with their throbbings, Nature's also,
12731The tempests, waters, winds, operas and chants, marches and dances,
12732Utter, pour in, for I would take them all!
12733
12734
12735Then I woke softly,
12736And pausing, questioning awhile the music of my dream,
12737And questioning all those reminiscences, the tempest in its fury,
12738And all the songs of sopranos and tenors,
12739And those rapt oriental dances of religious fervor,
12740And the sweet varied instruments, and the diapason of organs,
12741And all the artless plaints of love and grief and death,
12742I said to my silent curious soul out of the bed of the slumber-chamber,
12743Come, for I have found the clew I sought so long,
12744Let us go forth refresh'd amid the day,
12745Cheerfully tallying life, walking the world, the real,
12746Nourish'd henceforth by our celestial dream.
12747
12748And I said, moreover,
12749Haply what thou hast heard O soul was not the sound of winds,
12750Nor dream of raging storm, nor sea-hawk's flapping wings nor harsh scream,
12751Nor vocalism of sun-bright Italy,
12752Nor German organ majestic, nor vast concourse of voices, nor layers
12753    of harmonies,
12754Nor strophes of husbands and wives, nor sound of marching soldiers,
12755Nor flutes, nor harps, nor the bugle-calls of camps,
12756But to a new rhythmus fitted for thee,
12757Poems bridging the way from Life to Death, vaguely wafted in night
12758    air, uncaught, unwritten,
12759Which let us go forth in the bold day and write.
12760
12761
12762
12763
12764
12765
12766Singing my days,
12767Singing the great achievements of the present,
12768Singing the strong light works of engineers,
12769Our modern wonders, (the antique ponderous Seven outvied,)
12770In the Old World the east the Suez canal,
12771The New by its mighty railroad spann'd,
12772The seas inlaid with eloquent gentle wires;
12773Yet first to sound, and ever sound, the cry with thee O soul,
12774The Past! the Past! the Past!
12775
12776The Past--the dark unfathom'd retrospect!
12777The teeming gulf--the sleepers and the shadows!
12778The past--the infinite greatness of the past!
12779For what is the present after all but a growth out of the past?
12780(As a projectile form'd, impell'd, passing a certain line, still keeps on,
12781So the present, utterly form'd, impell'd by the past.)
12782
12783
12784Passage O soul to India!
12785Eclaircise the myths Asiatic, the primitive fables.
12786
12787Not you alone proud truths of the world,
12788Nor you alone ye facts of modern science,
12789But myths and fables of eld, Asia's, Africa's fables,
12790The far-darting beams of the spirit, the unloos'd dreams,
12791The deep diving bibles and legends,
12792The daring plots of the poets, the elder religions;
12793O you temples fairer than lilies pour'd over by the rising sun!
12794O you fables spurning the known, eluding the hold of the known,
12795    mounting to heaven!
12796You lofty and dazzling towers, pinnacled, red as roses, burnish'd
12797    with gold!
12798Towers of fables immortal fashion'd from mortal dreams!
12799You too I welcome and fully the same as the rest!
12800You too with joy I sing.
12801
12802Passage to India!
12803Lo, soul, seest thou not God's purpose from the first?
12804The earth to be spann'd, connected by network,
12805The races, neighbors, to marry and be given in marriage,
12806The oceans to be cross'd, the distant brought near,
12807The lands to be welded together.
12808
12809A worship new I sing,
12810You captains, voyagers, explorers, yours,
12811You engineers, you architects, machinists, yours,
12812You, not for trade or transportation only,
12813But in God's name, and for thy sake O soul.
12814
12815
12816Passage to India!
12817Lo soul for thee of tableaus twain,
12818I see in one the Suez canal initiated, open'd,
12819I see the procession of steamships, the Empress Engenie's leading the van,
12820I mark from on deck the strange landscape, the pure sky, the level
12821    sand in the distance,
12822I pass swiftly the picturesque groups, the workmen gather'd,
12823The gigantic dredging machines.
12824
12825In one again, different, (yet thine, all thine, O soul, the same,)
12826I see over my own continent the Pacific railroad surmounting every barrier,
12827I see continual trains of cars winding along the Platte carrying
12828    freight and passengers,
12829I hear the locomotives rushing and roaring, and the shrill steam-whistle,
12830I hear the echoes reverberate through the grandest scenery in the world,
12831I cross the Laramie plains, I note the rocks in grotesque shapes,
12832    the buttes,
12833I see the plentiful larkspur and wild onions, the barren, colorless,
12834    sage-deserts,
12835I see in glimpses afar or towering immediately above me the great
12836    mountains, I see the Wind river and the Wahsatch mountains,
12837I see the Monument mountain and the Eagle's Nest, I pass the
12838    Promontory, I ascend the Nevadas,
12839I scan the noble Elk mountain and wind around its base,
12840I see the Humboldt range, I thread the valley and cross the river,
12841I see the clear waters of lake Tahoe, I see forests of majestic pines,
12842Or crossing the great desert, the alkaline plains, I behold
12843    enchanting mirages of waters and meadows,
12844Marking through these and after all, in duplicate slender lines,
12845Bridging the three or four thousand miles of land travel,
12846Tying the Eastern to the Western sea,
12847The road between Europe and Asia.
12848
12849(Ah Genoese thy dream! thy dream!
12850Centuries after thou art laid in thy grave,
12851The shore thou foundest verifies thy dream.)
12852
12853
12854Passage to India!
12855Struggles of many a captain, tales of many a sailor dead,
12856Over my mood stealing and spreading they come,
12857Like clouds and cloudlets in the unreach'd sky.
12858
12859Along all history, down the slopes,
12860As a rivulet running, sinking now, and now again to the surface rising,
12861A ceaseless thought, a varied train--lo, soul, to thee, thy sight,
12862    they rise,
12863The plans, the voyages again, the expeditions;
12864Again Vasco de Gama sails forth,
12865Again the knowledge gain'd, the mariner's compass,
12866Lands found and nations born, thou born America,
12867For purpose vast, man's long probation fill'd,
12868Thou rondure of the world at last accomplish'd.
12869
12870
12871O vast Rondure, swimming in space,
12872Cover'd all over with visible power and beauty,
12873Alternate light and day and the teeming spiritual darkness,
12874Unspeakable high processions of sun and moon and countless stars above,
12875Below, the manifold grass and waters, animals, mountains, trees,
12876With inscrutable purpose, some hidden prophetic intention,
12877Now first it seems my thought begins to span thee.
12878
12879Down from the gardens of Asia descending radiating,
12880Adam and Eve appear, then their myriad progeny after them,
12881Wandering, yearning, curious, with restless explorations,
12882With questionings, baffled, formless, feverish, with never-happy hearts,
12883With that sad incessant refrain, Wherefore unsatisfied soul? and
12884    Whither O mocking life?
12885
12886Ah who shall soothe these feverish children?
12887Who Justify these restless explorations?
12888Who speak the secret of impassive earth?
12889Who bind it to us? what is this separate Nature so unnatural?
12890What is this earth to our affections? (unloving earth, without a
12891    throb to answer ours,
12892Cold earth, the place of graves.)
12893
12894Yet soul be sure the first intent remains, and shall be carried out,
12895Perhaps even now the time has arrived.
12896
12897After the seas are all cross'd, (as they seem already cross'd,)
12898After the great captains and engineers have accomplish'd their work,
12899After the noble inventors, after the scientists, the chemist, the
12900    geologist, ethnologist,
12901Finally shall come the poet worthy that name,
12902The true son of God shall come singing his songs.
12903
12904Then not your deeds only O voyagers, O scientists and inventors,
12905    shall be justified,
12906All these hearts as of fretted children shall be sooth'd,
12907All affection shall be fully responded to, the secret shall be told,
12908All these separations and gaps shall be taken up and hook'd and
12909    link'd together,
12910The whole earth, this cold, impassive, voiceless earth, shall be
12911    completely Justified,
12912Trinitas divine shall be gloriously accomplish'd and compacted by
12913    the true son of God, the poet,
12914(He shall indeed pass the straits and conquer the mountains,
12915He shall double the cape of Good Hope to some purpose,)
12916Nature and Man shall be disjoin'd and diffused no more,
12917The true son of God shall absolutely fuse them.
12918
12919
12920Year at whose wide-flung door I sing!
12921Year of the purpose accomplish'd!
12922Year of the marriage of continents, climates and oceans!
12923(No mere doge of Venice now wedding the Adriatic,)
12924I see O year in you the vast terraqueous globe given and giving all,
12925Europe to Asia, Africa join'd, and they to the New World,
12926The lands, geographies, dancing before you, holding a festival garland,
12927As brides and bridegrooms hand in hand.
12928
12929Passage to India!
12930Cooling airs from Caucasus far, soothing cradle of man,
12931The river Euphrates flowing, the past lit up again.
12932
12933Lo soul, the retrospect brought forward,
12934The old, most populous, wealthiest of earth's lands,
12935The streams of the Indus and the Ganges and their many affluents,
12936(I my shores of America walking to-day behold, resuming all,)
12937The tale of Alexander on his warlike marches suddenly dying,
12938On one side China and on the other side Persia and Arabia,
12939To the south the great seas and the bay of Bengal,
12940The flowing literatures, tremendous epics, religions, castes,
12941Old occult Brahma interminably far back, the tender and junior Buddha,
12942Central and southern empires and all their belongings, possessors,
12943The wars of Tamerlane,the reign of Aurungzebe,
12944The traders, rulers, explorers, Moslems, Venetians, Byzantium, the
12945    Arabs, Portuguese,
12946The first travelers famous yet, Marco Polo, Batouta the Moor,
12947Doubts to be solv'd, the map incognita, blanks to be fill'd,
12948The foot of man unstay'd, the hands never at rest,
12949Thyself O soul that will not brook a challenge.
12950
12951The mediaeval navigators rise before me,
12952The world of , with its awaken'd enterprise,
12953Something swelling in humanity now like the sap of the earth in spring,
12954The sunset splendor of chivalry declining.
12955
12956And who art thou sad shade?
12957Gigantic, visionary, thyself a visionary,
12958With majestic limbs and pious beaming eyes,
12959Spreading around with every look of thine a golden world,
12960Enhuing it with gorgeous hues.
12961
12962As the chief histrion,
12963Down to the footlights walks in some great scena,
12964Dominating the rest I see the Admiral himself,
12965(History's type of courage, action, faith,)
12966Behold him sail from Palos leading his little fleet,
12967His voyage behold, his return, his great fame,
12968His misfortunes, calumniators, behold him a prisoner, chain'd,
12969Behold his dejection, poverty, death.
12970
12971(Curious in time I stand, noting the efforts of heroes,
12972Is the deferment long? bitter the slander, poverty, death?
12973Lies the seed unreck'd for centuries in the ground? lo, to God's due
12974    occasion,
12975Uprising in the night, it sprouts, blooms,
12976And fills the earth with use and beauty.)
12977
12978
12979Passage indeed O soul to primal thought,
12980Not lands and seas alone, thy own clear freshness,
12981The young maturity of brood and bloom,
12982To realms of budding bibles.
12983
12984O soul, repressless, I with thee and thou with me,
12985Thy circumnavigation of the world begin,
12986Of man, the voyage of his mind's return,
12987To reason's early paradise,
12988Back, back to wisdom's birth, to innocent intuitions,
12989Again with fair creation.
12990
12991
12992O we can wait no longer,
12993We too take ship O soul,
12994Joyous we too launch out on trackless seas,
12995Fearless for unknown shores on waves of ecstasy to sail,
12996Amid the wafting winds, (thou pressing me to thee, I thee to me, O soul,)
12997Caroling free, singing our song of God,
12998Chanting our chant of pleasant exploration.
12999
13000With laugh and many a kiss,
13001(Let others deprecate, let others weep for sin, remorse, humiliation,)
13002O soul thou pleasest me, I thee.
13003
13004Ah more than any priest O soul we too believe in God,
13005But with the mystery of God we dare not dally.
13006
13007O soul thou pleasest me, I thee,
13008Sailing these seas or on the hills, or waking in the night,
13009Thoughts, silent thoughts, of Time and Space and Death, like waters flowing,
13010Bear me indeed as through the regions infinite,
13011Whose air I breathe, whose ripples hear, lave me all over,
13012Bathe me O God in thee, mounting to thee,
13013I and my soul to range in range of thee.
13014
13015O Thou transcendent,
13016Nameless, the fibre and the breath,
13017Light of the light, shedding forth universes, thou centre of them,
13018Thou mightier centre of the true, the good, the loving,
13019Thou moral, spiritual fountain--affection's source--thou reservoir,
13020(O pensive soul of me--O thirst unsatisfied--waitest not there?
13021Waitest not haply for us somewhere there the Comrade perfect?)
13022Thou pulse--thou motive of the stars, suns, systems,
13023That, circling, move in order, safe, harmonious,
13024Athwart the shapeless vastnesses of space,
13025How should I think, how breathe a single breath, how speak, if, out
13026    of myself,
13027I could not launch, to those, superior universes?
13028
13029Swiftly I shrivel at the thought of God,
13030At Nature and its wonders, Time and Space and Death,
13031But that I, turning, call to thee O soul, thou actual Me,
13032And lo, thou gently masterest the orbs,
13033Thou matest Time, smilest content at Death,
13034And fillest, swellest full the vastnesses of Space.
13035
13036Greater than stars or suns,
13037Bounding O soul thou journeyest forth;
13038What love than thine and ours could wider amplify?
13039What aspirations, wishes, outvie thine and ours O soul?
13040What dreams of the ideal? what plans of purity, perfection, strength?
13041What cheerful willingness for others' sake to give up all?
13042For others' sake to suffer all?
13043
13044Reckoning ahead O soul, when thou, the time achiev'd,
13045The seas all cross'd, weather'd the capes, the voyage done,
13046Surrounded, copest, frontest God, yieldest, the aim attain'd,
13047As fill'd with friendship, love complete, the Elder Brother found,
13048The Younger melts in fondness in his arms.
13049
13050
13051Passage to more than India!
13052Are thy wings plumed indeed for such far flights?
13053O soul, voyagest thou indeed on voyages like those?
13054Disportest thou on waters such as those?
13055Soundest below the Sanscrit and the Vedas?
13056Then have thy bent unleash'd.
13057
13058Passage to you, your shores, ye aged fierce enigmas!
13059Passage to you, to mastership of you, ye strangling problems!
13060You, strew'd with the wrecks of skeletons, that, living, never reach'd you.
13061
13062Passage to more than India!
13063O secret of the earth and sky!
13064Of you O waters of the sea! O winding creeks and rivers!
13065Of you O woods and fields! of you strong mountains of my land!
13066Of you O prairies! of you gray rocks!
13067O morning red! O clouds! O rain and snows!
13068O day and night, passage to you!
13069
13070
13071O sun and moon and all you stars! Sirius and Jupiter!
13072Passage to you!
13073
13074Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!
13075Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
13076
13077Cut the hawsers--haul out--shake out every sail!
13078Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
13079Have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
13080Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?
13081
13082Sail forth--steer for the deep waters only,
13083Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me,
13084For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
13085And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.
13086
13087O my brave soul!
13088O farther farther sail!
13089O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
13090O farther, farther, farther sail!
13091
13092
13093
13094
13095
13096A batter'd, wreck'd old man,
13097Thrown on this savage shore, far, far from home,
13098Pent by the sea and dark rebellious brows, twelve dreary months,
13099Sore, stiff with many toils, sicken'd and nigh to death,
13100I take my way along the island's edge,
13101Venting a heavy heart.
13102
13103I am too full of woe!
13104Haply I may not live another day;
13105I cannot rest O God, I cannot eat or drink or sleep,
13106Till I put forth myself, my prayer, once more to Thee,
13107Breathe, bathe myself once more in Thee, commune with Thee,
13108Report myself once more to Thee.
13109
13110Thou knowest my years entire, my life,
13111My long and crowded life of active work, not adoration merely;
13112Thou knowest the prayers and vigils of my youth,
13113Thou knowest my manhood's solemn and visionary meditations,
13114Thou knowest how before I commenced I devoted all to come to Thee,
13115Thou knowest I have in age ratified all those vows and strictly kept them,
13116Thou knowest I have not once lost nor faith nor ecstasy in Thee,
13117In shackles, prison'd, in disgrace, repining not,
13118Accepting all from Thee, as duly come from Thee.
13119
13120All my emprises have been fill'd with Thee,
13121My speculations, plans, begun and carried on in thoughts of Thee,
13122Sailing the deep or journeying the land for Thee;
13123Intentions, purports, aspirations mine, leaving results to Thee.
13124
13125O I am sure they really came from Thee,
13126The urge, the ardor, the unconquerable will,
13127The potent, felt, interior command, stronger than words,
13128A message from the Heavens whispering to me even in sleep,
13129These sped me on.
13130
13131By me and these the work so far accomplish'd,
13132By me earth's elder cloy'd and stifled lands uncloy'd, unloos'd,
13133By me the hemispheres rounded and tied, the unknown to the known.
13134
13135The end I know not, it is all in Thee,
13136Or small or great I know not--haply what broad fields, what lands,
13137Haply the brutish measureless human undergrowth I know,
13138Transplanted there may rise to stature, knowledge worthy Thee,
13139Haply the swords I know may there indeed be turn'd to reaping-tools,
13140Haply the lifeless cross I know, Europe's dead cross, may bud and
13141    blossom there.
13142
13143One effort more, my altar this bleak sand;
13144That Thou O God my life hast lighted,
13145With ray of light, steady, ineffable, vouchsafed of Thee,
13146Light rare untellable, lighting the very light,
13147Beyond all signs, descriptions, languages;
13148For that O God, be it my latest word, here on my knees,
13149Old, poor, and paralyzed, I thank Thee.
13150
13151My terminus near,
13152The clouds already closing in upon me,
13153The voyage balk'd, the course disputed, lost,
13154I yield my ships to Thee.
13155
13156My hands, my limbs grow nerveless,
13157My brain feels rack'd, bewilder'd,
13158Let the old timbers part, I will not part,
13159I will cling fast to Thee, O God, though the waves buffet me,
13160Thee, Thee at least I know.
13161
13162Is it the prophet's thought I speak, or am I raving?
13163What do I know of life? what of myself?
13164I know not even my own work past or present,
13165Dim ever-shifting guesses of it spread before me,
13166Of newer better worlds, their mighty parturition,
13167Mocking, perplexing me.
13168
13169And these things I see suddenly, what mean they?
13170As if some miracle, some hand divine unseal'd my eyes,
13171Shadowy vast shapes smile through the air and sky,
13172And on the distant waves sail countless ships,
13173And anthems in new tongues I hear saluting me.
13174
13175
13176
13177
13178
13179
13180I wander all night in my vision,
13181Stepping with light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping,
13182Bending with open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers,
13183Wandering and confused, lost to myself, ill-assorted, contradictory,
13184Pausing, gazing, bending, and stopping.
13185
13186How solemn they look there, stretch'd and still,
13187How quiet they breathe, the little children in their cradles.
13188
13189The wretched features of ennuyes, the white features of corpses, the
13190    livid faces of drunkards, the sick-gray faces of onanists,
13191The gash'd bodies on battle-fields, the insane in their
13192    strong-door'd rooms, the sacred idiots, the new-born emerging
13193    from gates, and the dying emerging from gates,
13194The night pervades them and infolds them.
13195
13196The married couple sleep calmly in their bed, he with his palm on
13197    the hip of the wife, and she with her palm on the hip of the husband,
13198The sisters sleep lovingly side by side in their bed,
13199The men sleep lovingly side by side in theirs,
13200And the mother sleeps with her little child carefully wrapt.
13201
13202The blind sleep, and the deaf and dumb sleep,
13203The prisoner sleeps well in the prison, the runaway son sleeps,
13204The murderer that is to be hung next day, how does he sleep?
13205And the murder'd person, how does he sleep?
13206
13207The female that loves unrequited sleeps,
13208And the male that loves unrequited sleeps,
13209The head of the money-maker that plotted all day sleeps,
13210And the enraged and treacherous dispositions, all, all sleep.
13211
13212I stand in the dark with drooping eyes by the worst-suffering and
13213    the most restless,
13214I pass my hands soothingly to and fro a few inches from them,
13215The restless sink in their beds, they fitfully sleep.
13216
13217Now I pierce the darkness, new beings appear,
13218The earth recedes from me into the night,
13219I saw that it was beautiful, and I see that what is not the earth is
13220    beautiful.
13221
13222I go from bedside to bedside, I sleep close with the other sleepers
13223    each in turn,
13224I dream in my dream all the dreams of the other dreamers,
13225And I become the other dreamers.
13226
13227I am a dance--play up there! the fit is whirling me fast!
13228
13229I am the ever-laughing--it is new moon and twilight,
13230I see the hiding of douceurs, I see nimble ghosts whichever way look,
13231Cache and cache again deep in the ground and sea, and where it is
13232    neither ground nor sea.
13233
13234Well do they do their jobs those journeymen divine,
13235Only from me can they hide nothing, and would not if they could,
13236I reckon I am their boss and they make me a pet besides,
13237And surround me and lead me and run ahead when I walk,
13238To lift their cunning covers to signify me with stretch'd arms, and
13239    resume the way;
13240Onward we move, a gay gang of blackguards! with mirth-shouting
13241    music and wild-flapping pennants of joy!
13242
13243I am the actor, the actress, the voter, the politician,
13244The emigrant and the exile, the criminal that stood in the box,
13245He who has been famous and he who shall be famous after to-day,
13246The stammerer, the well-form'd person, the wasted or feeble person.
13247
13248I am she who adorn'd herself and folded her hair expectantly,
13249My truant lover has come, and it is dark.
13250
13251Double yourself and receive me darkness,
13252Receive me and my lover too, he will not let me go without him.
13253
13254I roll myself upon you as upon a bed, I resign myself to the dusk.
13255
13256He whom I call answers me and takes the place of my lover,
13257He rises with me silently from the bed.
13258
13259Darkness, you are gentler than my lover, his flesh was sweaty and panting,
13260I feel the hot moisture yet that he left me.
13261
13262My hands are spread forth, I pass them in all directions,
13263I would sound up the shadowy shore to which you are journeying.
13264
13265Be careful darkness! already what was it touch'd me?
13266I thought my lover had gone, else darkness and he are one,
13267I hear the heart-beat, I follow, I fade away.
13268
13269
13270I descend my western course, my sinews are flaccid,
13271Perfume and youth course through me and I am their wake.
13272
13273It is my face yellow and wrinkled instead of the old woman's,
13274I sit low in a straw-bottom chair and carefully darn my grandson's
13275    stockings.
13276
13277It is I too, the sleepless widow looking out on the winter midnight,
13278I see the sparkles of starshine on the icy and pallid earth.
13279
13280A shroud I see and I am the shroud, I wrap a body and lie in the coffin,
13281It is dark here under ground, it is not evil or pain here, it is
13282    blank here, for reasons.
13283
13284(It seems to me that every thing in the light and air ought to be happy,
13285Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave let him know he has enough.)
13286
13287
13288I see a beautiful gigantic swimmer swimming naked through the eddies
13289    of the sea,
13290His brown hair lies close and even to his head, he strikes out with
13291    courageous arms, he urges himself with his legs,
13292I see his white body, I see his undaunted eyes,
13293I hate the swift-running eddies that would dash him head-foremost on
13294    the rocks.
13295
13296What are you doing you ruffianly red-trickled waves?
13297Will you kill the courageous giant? will you kill him in the prime
13298    of his middle age?
13299
13300Steady and long he struggles,
13301He is baffled, bang'd, bruis'd, he holds out while his strength
13302    holds out,
13303The slapping eddies are spotted with his blood, they bear him away,
13304    they roll him, swing him, turn him,
13305His beautiful body is borne in the circling eddies, it is
13306    continually bruis'd on rocks,
13307Swiftly and ought of sight is borne the brave corpse.
13308
13309
13310I turn but do not extricate myself,
13311Confused, a past-reading, another, but with darkness yet.
13312
13313The beach is cut by the razory ice-wind, the wreck-guns sound,
13314The tempest lulls, the moon comes floundering through the drifts.
13315
13316I look where the ship helplessly heads end on, I hear the burst as
13317    she strikes, I hear the howls of dismay, they grow fainter and fainter.
13318
13319I cannot aid with my wringing fingers,
13320I can but rush to the surf and let it drench me and freeze upon me.
13321
13322I search with the crowd, not one of the company is wash'd to us alive,
13323In the morning I help pick up the dead and lay them in rows in a barn.
13324
13325
13326Now of the older war-days, the defeat at Brooklyn,
13327Washington stands inside the lines, he stands on the intrench'd
13328    hills amid a crowd of officers.
13329His face is cold and damp, he cannot repress the weeping drops,
13330He lifts the glass perpetually to his eyes, the color is blanch'd
13331    from his cheeks,
13332He sees the slaughter of the southern braves confided to him by
13333    their parents.
13334
13335The same at last and at last when peace is declared,
13336He stands in the room of the old tavern, the well-belov'd soldiers
13337    all pass through,
13338The officers speechless and slow draw near in their turns,
13339The chief encircles their necks with his arm and kisses them on the cheek,
13340He kisses lightly the wet cheeks one after another, he shakes hands
13341    and bids good-by to the army.
13342
13343
13344Now what my mother told me one day as we sat at dinner together,
13345Of when she was a nearly grown girl living home with her parents on
13346    the old homestead.
13347
13348A red squaw came one breakfast-time to the old homestead,
13349On her back she carried a bundle of rushes for rush-bottoming chairs,
13350Her hair, straight, shiny, coarse, black, profuse, half-envelop'd
13351    her face,
13352Her step was free and elastic, and her voice sounded exquisitely as
13353    she spoke.
13354
13355My mother look'd in delight and amazement at the stranger,
13356She look'd at the freshness of her tall-borne face and full and
13357    pliant limbs,
13358The more she look'd upon her she loved her,
13359Never before had she seen such wonderful beauty and purity,
13360She made her sit on a bench by the jamb of the fireplace, she cook'd
13361    food for her,
13362She had no work to give her, but she gave her remembrance and fondness.
13363
13364The red squaw staid all the forenoon, and toward the middle of the
13365    afternoon she went away,
13366O my mother was loth to have her go away,
13367All the week she thought of her, she watch'd for her many a month,
13368She remember'd her many a winter and many a summer,
13369But the red squaw never came nor was heard of there again.
13370
13371
13372A show of the summer softness--a contact of something unseen--an
13373    amour of the light and air,
13374I am jealous and overwhelm'd with friendliness,
13375And will go gallivant with the light and air myself.
13376
13377O love and summer, you are in the dreams and in me,
13378Autumn and winter are in the dreams, the farmer goes with his thrift,
13379The droves and crops increase, the barns are well-fill'd.
13380
13381Elements merge in the night, ships make tacks in the dreams,
13382The sailor sails, the exile returns home,
13383The fugitive returns unharm'd, the immigrant is back beyond months
13384    and years,
13385The poor Irishman lives in the simple house of his childhood with
13386    the well known neighbors and faces,
13387They warmly welcome him, he is barefoot again, he forgets he is well off,
13388The Dutchman voyages home, and the Scotchman and Welshman voyage
13389    home, and the native of the Mediterranean voyages home,
13390To every port of England, France, Spain, enter well-fill'd ships,
13391The Swiss foots it toward his hills, the Prussian goes his way, the
13392    Hungarian his way, and the Pole his way,
13393The Swede returns, and the Dane and Norwegian return.
13394
13395The homeward bound and the outward bound,
13396The beautiful lost swimmer, the ennuye, the onanist, the female that
13397    loves unrequited, the money-maker,
13398The actor and actress, those through with their parts and those
13399    waiting to commence,
13400The affectionate boy, the husband and wife, the voter, the nominee
13401    that is chosen and the nominee that has fail'd,
13402The great already known and the great any time after to-day,
13403The stammerer, the sick, the perfect-form'd, the homely,
13404The criminal that stood in the box, the judge that sat and sentenced
13405    him, the fluent lawyers, the jury, the audience,
13406The laugher and weeper, the dancer, the midnight widow, the red squaw,
13407The consumptive, the erysipalite, the idiot, he that is wrong'd,
13408The antipodes, and every one between this and them in the dark,
13409I swear they are averaged now--one is no better than the other,
13410The night and sleep have liken'd them and restored them.
13411
13412I swear they are all beautiful,
13413Every one that sleeps is beautiful, every thing in the dim light is
13414    beautiful,
13415The wildest and bloodiest is over, and all is peace.
13416
13417Peace is always beautiful,
13418The myth of heaven indicates peace and night.
13419
13420The myth of heaven indicates the soul,
13421The soul is always beautiful, it appears more or it appears less, it
13422    comes or it lags behind,
13423It comes from its embower'd garden and looks pleasantly on itself
13424    and encloses the world,
13425Perfect and clean the genitals previously jetting,and perfect and
13426    clean the womb cohering,
13427The head well-grown proportion'd and plumb, and the bowels and
13428    joints proportion'd and plumb.
13429
13430The soul is always beautiful,
13431The universe is duly in order, every thing is in its place,
13432What has arrived is in its place and what waits shall be in its place,
13433The twisted skull waits, the watery or rotten blood waits,
13434The child of the glutton or venerealee waits long, and the child of
13435    the drunkard waits long, and the drunkard himself waits long,
13436The sleepers that lived and died wait, the far advanced are to go on
13437    in their turns, and the far behind are to come on in their turns,
13438The diverse shall be no less diverse, but they shall flow and unite--
13439    they unite now.
13440
13441
13442The sleepers are very beautiful as they lie unclothed,
13443They flow hand in hand over the whole earth from east to west as
13444    they lie unclothed,
13445The Asiatic and African are hand in hand, the European and American
13446    are hand in hand,
13447Learn'd and unlearn'd are hand in hand, and male and female are hand
13448    in hand,
13449The bare arm of the girl crosses the bare breast of her lover, they
13450    press close without lust, his lips press her neck,
13451The father holds his grown or ungrown son in his arms with
13452    measureless love, and the son holds the father in his arms with
13453    measureless love,
13454The white hair of the mother shines on the white wrist of the daughter,
13455The breath of the boy goes with the breath of the man, friend is
13456    inarm'd by friend,
13457The scholar kisses the teacher and the teacher kisses the scholar,
13458    the wrong 'd made right,
13459The call of the slave is one with the master's call, and the master
13460    salutes the slave,
13461The felon steps forth from the prison, the insane becomes sane, the
13462    suffering of sick persons is reliev'd,
13463The sweatings and fevers stop, the throat that was unsound is sound,
13464    the lungs of the consumptive are resumed, the poor distress'd
13465    head is free,
13466The joints of the rheumatic move as smoothly as ever, and smoother
13467    than ever,
13468Stiflings and passages open, the paralyzed become supple,
13469The swell'd and convuls'd and congested awake to themselves in condition,
13470They pass the invigoration of the night and the chemistry of the
13471    night, and awake.
13472
13473I too pass from the night,
13474I stay a while away O night, but I return to you again and love you.
13475
13476Why should I be afraid to trust myself to you?
13477I am not afraid, I have been well brought forward by you,
13478I love the rich running day, but I do not desert her in whom I lay so long,
13479I know not how I came of you and I know not where I go with you, but
13480    I know I came well and shall go well.
13481
13482I will stop only a time with the night, and rise betimes,
13483I will duly pass the day O my mother, and duly return to you.
13484
13485
13486
13487
13488Let the reformers descend from the stands where they are forever
13489    bawling--let an idiot or insane person appear on each of the stands;
13490Let judges and criminals be transposed--let the prison-keepers be
13491    put in prison--let those that were prisoners take the keys;
13492Let them that distrust birth and death lead the rest.
13493
13494
13495
13496
13497
13498
13499To think of time--of all that retrospection,
13500To think of to-day, and the ages continued henceforward.
13501
13502Have you guess'd you yourself would not continue?
13503Have you dreaded these earth-beetles?
13504Have you fear'd the future would be nothing to you?
13505
13506Is to-day nothing? is the beginningless past nothing?
13507If the future is nothing they are just as surely nothing.
13508
13509To think that the sun rose in the east--that men and women were
13510    flexible, real, alive--that every thing was alive,
13511To think that you and I did not see, feel, think, nor bear our part,
13512To think that we are now here and bear our part.
13513
13514
13515Not a day passes, not a minute or second without an accouchement,
13516Not a day passes, not a minute or second without a corpse.
13517
13518The dull nights go over and the dull days also,
13519The soreness of lying so much in bed goes over,
13520The physician after long putting off gives the silent and terrible
13521    look for an answer,
13522The children come hurried and weeping, and the brothers and sisters
13523    are sent for,
13524Medicines stand unused on the shelf, (the camphor-smell has long
13525    pervaded the rooms,)
13526The faithful hand of the living does not desert the hand of the dying,
13527The twitching lips press lightly on the forehead of the dying,
13528The breath ceases and the pulse of the heart ceases,
13529The corpse stretches on the bed and the living look upon it,
13530It is palpable as the living are palpable.
13531
13532The living look upon the corpse with their eyesight,
13533But without eyesight lingers a different living and looks curiously
13534    on the corpse.
13535
13536
13537To think the thought of death merged in the thought of materials,
13538To think of all these wonders of city and country, and others taking
13539    great interest in them, and we taking no interest in them.
13540
13541To think how eager we are in building our houses,
13542To think others shall be just as eager, and we quite indifferent.
13543
13544(I see one building the house that serves him a few years, or
13545    seventy or eighty years at most,
13546I see one building the house that serves him longer than that.)
13547
13548Slow-moving and black lines creep over the whole earth--they never
13549    cease--they are the burial lines,
13550He that was President was buried, and he that is now President shall
13551    surely be buried.
13552
13553
13554
13555A reminiscence of the vulgar fate,
13556A frequent sample of the life and death of workmen,
13557Each after his kind.
13558
13559Cold dash of waves at the ferry-wharf, posh and ice in the river,
13560    half-frozen mud in the streets,
13561A gray discouraged sky overhead, the short last daylight of December,
13562A hearse and stages, the funeral of an old Broadway stage-driver,
13563    the cortege mostly drivers.
13564
13565Steady the trot to the cemetery, duly rattles the death-bell,
13566The gate is pass'd, the new-dug grave is halted at, the living
13567    alight, the hearse uncloses,
13568The coffin is pass'd out, lower'd and settled, the whip is laid on
13569    the coffin, the earth is swiftly shovel'd in,
13570The mound above is flatted with the spades--silence,
13571A minute--no one moves or speaks--it is done,
13572He is decently put away--is there any thing more?
13573
13574He was a good fellow, free-mouth'd, quick-temper'd, not bad-looking,
13575Ready with life or death for a friend, fond of women, gambled, ate
13576    hearty, drank hearty,
13577Had known what it was to be flush, grew low-spirited toward the
13578    last, sicken'd, was help'd by a contribution,
13579Died, aged forty-one years--and that was his funeral.
13580
13581Thumb extended, finger uplifted, apron, cape, gloves, strap,
13582    wet-weather clothes, whip carefully chosen,
13583Boss, spotter, starter, hostler, somebody loafing on you, you
13584    loafing on somebody, headway, man before and man behind,
13585Good day's work, bad day's work, pet stock, mean stock, first out,
13586    last out, turning-in at night,
13587To think that these are so much and so nigh to other drivers, and he
13588    there takes no interest in them.
13589
13590
13591The markets, the government, the working-man's wages, to think what
13592    account they are through our nights and days,
13593To think that other working-men will make just as great account of
13594    them, yet we make little or no account.
13595
13596The vulgar and the refined, what you call sin and what you call
13597    goodness, to think how wide a difference,
13598To think the difference will still continue to others, yet we lie
13599    beyond the difference.
13600
13601To think how much pleasure there is,
13602Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business? or
13603    planning a nomination and election? or with your wife and family?
13604Or with your mother and sisters? or in womanly housework? or the
13605    beautiful maternal cares?
13606These also flow onward to others, you and I flow onward,
13607But in due time you and I shall take less interest in them.
13608
13609Your farm, profits, crops--to think how engross'd you are,
13610To think there will still be farms, profits, crops, yet for you of
13611    what avail?
13612
13613
13614What will be will be well, for what is is well,
13615To take interest is well, and not to take interest shall be well.
13616
13617The domestic joys, the dally housework or business, the building of
13618    houses, are not phantasms, they have weight, form, location,
13619Farms, profits, crops, markets, wages, government, are none of them
13620    phantasms,
13621The difference between sin and goodness is no delusion,
13622The earth is not an echo, man and his life and all the things of his
13623    life are well-consider'd.
13624
13625You are not thrown to the winds, you gather certainly and safely
13626    around yourself,
13627Yourself! yourself!. yourself, for ever and ever!
13628
13629
13630It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and
13631    father, it is to identify you,
13632It is not that you should be undecided, but that you should be decided,
13633Something long preparing and formless is arrived and form'd in you,
13634You are henceforth secure, whatever comes or goes.
13635
13636The threads that were spun are gather'd, the wet crosses the warp,
13637    the pattern is systematic.
13638
13639The preparations have every one been justified,
13640The orchestra have sufficiently tuned their instruments, the baton
13641    has given the signal.
13642
13643The guest that was coming, he waited long, he is now housed,
13644He is one of those who are beautiful and happy, he is one of those
13645    that to look upon and be with is enough.
13646
13647The law of the past cannot be eluded,
13648The law of the present and future cannot be eluded,
13649The law of the living cannot be eluded, it is eternal,
13650The law of promotion and transformation cannot be eluded,
13651The law of heroes and good-doers cannot be eluded,
13652The law of drunkards, informers, mean persons, not one iota thereof
13653    can be eluded.
13654
13655
13656Slow moving and black lines go ceaselessly over the earth,
13657Northerner goes carried and Southerner goes carried, and they on the
13658    Atlantic side and they on the Pacific,
13659And they between, and all through the Mississippi country, and all
13660    over the earth.
13661
13662The great masters and kosmos are well as they go, the heroes and
13663    good-doers are well,
13664The known leaders and inventors and the rich owners and pious and
13665    distinguish'd may be well,
13666But there is more account than that, there is strict account of all.
13667
13668The interminable hordes of the ignorant and wicked are not nothing,
13669The barbarians of Africa and Asia are not nothing,
13670The perpetual successions of shallow people are not nothing as they go.
13671
13672Of and in all these things,
13673I have dream'd that we are not to be changed so much, nor the law of
13674    us changed,
13675I have dream'd that heroes and good-doers shall be under the present
13676    and past law,
13677And that murderers, drunkards, liars, shall be under the present and
13678    past law,
13679For I have dream'd that the law they are under now is enough.
13680
13681And I have dream'd that the purpose and essence of the known life,
13682    the transient,
13683Is to form and decide identity for the unknown life, the permanent.
13684
13685If all came but to ashes of dung,
13686If maggots and rats ended us, then Alarum! for we are betray'd,
13687Then indeed suspicion of death.
13688
13689Do you suspect death? if I were to suspect death I should die now,
13690Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited toward annihilation?
13691
13692Pleasantly and well-suited I walk,
13693Whither I walk I cannot define, but I know it is good,
13694The whole universe indicates that it is good,
13695The past and the present indicate that it is good.
13696
13697How beautiful and perfect are the animals!
13698How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!
13699What is called good is perfect, and what is called bad is just as perfect,
13700The vegetables and minerals are all perfect, and the imponderable
13701    fluids perfect;
13702Slowly and surely they have pass'd on to this, and slowly and surely
13703    they yet pass on.
13704
13705
13706I swear I think now that every thing without exception has an eternal soul!
13707The trees have, rooted in the ground! the weeds of the sea have! the
13708    animals!
13709
13710I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!
13711That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for
13712    it, and the cohering is for it!
13713And all preparation is for it--and identity is for it--and life and
13714    materials are altogether for it!
13715
13716
13717
13718
13719
13720Darest thou now O soul,
13721Walk out with me toward the unknown region,
13722Where neither ground is for the feet nor any path to follow?
13723
13724No map there, nor guide,
13725Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
13726Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.
13727
13728I know it not O soul,
13729Nor dost thou, all is a blank before us,
13730All waits undream'd of in that region, that inaccessible land.
13731
13732Till when the ties loosen,
13733All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
13734Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds bounding us.
13735
13736Then we burst forth, we float,
13737In Time and Space O soul, prepared for them,
13738Equal, equipt at last, (O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil O soul.
13739
13740
13741
13742
13743Whispers of heavenly death murmur'd I hear,
13744Labial gossip of night, sibilant chorals,
13745Footsteps gently ascending, mystical breezes wafted soft and low,
13746Ripples of unseen rivers, tides of a current flowing, forever flowing,
13747(Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human tears?)
13748
13749I see, just see skyward, great cloud-masses,
13750Mournfully slowly they roll, silently swelling and mixing,
13751With at times a half-dimm'd sadden'd far-off star,
13752Appearing and disappearing.
13753
13754(Some parturition rather, some solemn immortal birth;
13755On the frontiers to eyes impenetrable,
13756Some soul is passing over.)
13757
13758
13759
13760
13761
13762Chanting the square deific, out of the One advancing, out of the sides,
13763Out of the old and new, out of the square entirely divine,
13764Solid, four-sided, (all the sides needed,) from this side Jehovah am I,
13765Old Brahm I, and I Saturnius am;
13766Not Time affects me--I am Time, old, modern as any,
13767Unpersuadable, relentless, executing righteous judgments,
13768As the Earth, the Father, the brown old Kronos, with laws,
13769Aged beyond computation, yet never new, ever with those mighty laws rolling,
13770Relentless I forgive no man--whoever sins dies--I will have that man's life;
13771Therefore let none expect mercy--have the seasons, gravitation, the
13772    appointed days, mercy? no more have I,
13773But as the seasons and gravitation, and as all the appointed days
13774    that forgive not,
13775I dispense from this side judgments inexorable without the least remorse.
13776
13777
13778Consolator most mild, the promis'd one advancing,
13779With gentle hand extended, the mightier God am I,
13780Foretold by prophets and poets in their most rapt prophecies and poems,
13781From this side, lo! the Lord Christ gazes--lo! Hermes I--lo! mine is
13782    Hercules' face,
13783All sorrow, labor, suffering, I, tallying it, absorb in myself,
13784Many times have I been rejected, taunted, put in prison, and
13785    crucified, and many times shall be again,
13786All the world have I given up for my dear brothers' and sisters'
13787    sake, for the soul's sake,
13788Wanding my way through the homes of men, rich or poor, with the kiss
13789    of affection,
13790For I am affection, I am the cheer-bringing God, with hope and
13791    all-enclosing charity,
13792With indulgent words as to children, with fresh and sane words, mine only,
13793Young and strong I pass knowing well I am destin'd myself to an
13794    early death;
13795But my charity has no death--my wisdom dies not, neither early nor late,
13796And my sweet love bequeath'd here and elsewhere never dies.
13797
13798
13799Aloof, dissatisfied, plotting revolt,
13800Comrade of criminals, brother of slaves,
13801Crafty, despised, a drudge, ignorant,
13802With sudra face and worn brow, black, but in the depths of my heart,
13803    proud as any,
13804Lifted now and always against whoever scorning assumes to rule me,
13805Morose, full of guile, full of reminiscences, brooding, with many wiles,
13806(Though it was thought I was baffled, and dispel'd, and my wiles
13807    done, but that will never be,)
13808Defiant, I, Satan, still live, still utter words, in new lands duly
13809    appearing, (and old ones also,)
13810Permanent here from my side, warlike, equal with any, real as any,
13811Nor time nor change shall ever change me or my words.
13812
13813
13814Santa Spirita, breather, life,
13815Beyond the light, lighter than light,
13816Beyond the flames of hell, joyous, leaping easily above hell,
13817Beyond Paradise, perfumed solely with mine own perfume,
13818Including all life on earth, touching, including God, including
13819    Saviour and Satan,
13820Ethereal, pervading all, (for without me what were all? what were God?)
13821Essence of forms, life of the real identities, permanent, positive,
13822    (namely the unseen,)
13823Life of the great round world, the sun and stars, and of man, I, the
13824    general soul,
13825Here the square finishing, the solid, I the most solid,
13826Breathe my breath also through these songs.
13827
13828
13829
13830
13831Of him I love day and night I dream'd I heard he was dead,
13832And I dream'd I went where they had buried him I love, but he was
13833    not in that place,
13834And I dream'd I wander'd searching among burial-places to find him,
13835And I found that every place was a burial-place;
13836The houses full of life were equally full of death, (this house is now,)
13837The streets, the shipping, the places of amusement, the Chicago,
13838    Boston, Philadelphia, the Mannahatta, were as full of the dead as
13839    of the living,
13840And fuller, O vastly fuller of the dead than of the living;
13841And what I dream'd I will henceforth tell to every person and age,
13842And I stand henceforth bound to what I dream'd,
13843And now I am willing to disregard burial-places and dispense with them,
13844And if the memorials of the dead were put up indifferently everywhere,
13845    even in the room where I eat or sleep, I should be satisfied,
13846And if the corpse of any one I love, or if my own corpse, be duly
13847    render'd to powder and pour'd in the sea, I shall be satisfied,
13848Or if it be distributed to the winds I shall be satisfied.
13849
13850
13851
13852
13853Yet, yet, ye downcast hours, I know ye also,
13854Weights of lead, how ye clog and cling at my ankles,
13855Earth to a chamber of mourning turns--I hear the o'erweening, mocking
13856    voice,
13857Matter is conqueror--matter, triumphant only, continues onward.
13858
13859Despairing cries float ceaselessly toward me,
13860The call of my nearest lover, putting forth, alarm'd, uncertain,
13861The sea I am quickly to sail, come tell me,
13862Come tell me where I am speeding, tell me my destination.
13863
13864I understand your anguish, but I cannot help you,
13865I approach, hear, behold, the sad mouth, the look out of the eyes,
13866    your mute inquiry,
13867Whither I go from the bed I recline on, come tell me,--
13868Old age, alarm'd, uncertain--a young woman's voice, appealing to
13869    me for comfort;
13870A young man's voice, Shall I not escape?
13871
13872
13873
13874
13875As if a phantom caress'd me,
13876I thought I was not alone walking here by the shore;
13877But the one I thought was with me as now I walk by the shore, the
13878    one I loved that caress'd me,
13879As I lean and look through the glimmering light, that one has
13880    utterly disappear'd.
13881And those appear that are hateful to me and mock me.
13882
13883
13884
13885
13886I need no assurances, I am a man who is preoccupied of his own soul;
13887I do not doubt that from under the feet and beside the hands and
13888    face I am cognizant of, are now looking faces I am not cognizant
13889    of, calm and actual faces,
13890I do not doubt but the majesty and beauty of the world are latent in
13891    any iota of the world,
13892I do not doubt I am limitless, and that the universes are limitless,
13893    in vain I try to think how limitless,
13894I do not doubt that the orbs and the systems of orbs play their
13895    swift sports through the air on purpose, and that I shall one day
13896    be eligible to do as much as they, and more than they,
13897I do not doubt that temporary affairs keep on and on millions of years,
13898I do not doubt interiors have their interiors, and exteriors have
13899    their exteriors, and that the eyesight has another eyesight, and
13900    the hearing another hearing, and the voice another voice,
13901I do not doubt that the passionately-wept deaths of young men are
13902    provided for, and that the deaths of young women and the
13903    deaths of little children are provided for,
13904(Did you think Life was so well provided for, and Death, the purport
13905    of all Life, is not well provided for?)
13906I do not doubt that wrecks at sea, no matter what the horrors of
13907    them, no matter whose wife, child, husband, father, lover, has
13908    gone down, are provided for, to the minutest points,
13909I do not doubt that whatever can possibly happen anywhere at any
13910    time, is provided for in the inherences of things,
13911I do not think Life provides for all and for Time and Space, but I
13912    believe Heavenly Death provides for all.
13913
13914
13915
13916
13917Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither,
13918Your schemes, politics, fail, lines give way, substances mock and elude me,
13919Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess'd soul, eludes not,
13920One's-self must never give way--that is the final substance--that
13921    out of all is sure,
13922Out of politics, triumphs, battles, life, what at last finally remains?
13923When shows break up what but One's-Self is sure?
13924
13925
13926
13927
13928That music always round me, unceasing, unbeginning, yet long
13929    untaught I did not hear,
13930But now the chorus I hear and am elated,
13931A tenor, strong, ascending with power and health, with glad notes of
13932    daybreak I hear,
13933A soprano at intervals sailing buoyantly over the tops of immense waves,
13934A transparent base shuddering lusciously under and through the universe,
13935The triumphant tutti, the funeral wailings with sweet flutes and
13936    violins, all these I fill myself with,
13937I hear not the volumes of sound merely, I am moved by the exquisite
13938    meanings,
13939I listen to the different voices winding in and out, striving,
13940    contending with fiery vehemence to excel each other in emotion;
13941I do not think the performers know themselves--but now I think
13942    begin to know them.
13943
13944
13945
13946
13947What ship puzzled at sea, cons for the true reckoning?
13948Or coming in, to avoid the bars and follow the channel a perfect
13949    pilot needs?
13950Here, sailor! here, ship! take aboard the most perfect pilot,
13951Whom, in a little boat, putting off and rowing, I hailing you offer.
13952
13953
13954
13955
13956A noiseless patient spider,
13957I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
13958Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
13959It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament out of itself,
13960Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
13961
13962And you O my soul where you stand,
13963Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
13964Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to
13965    connect them,
13966Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
13967Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
13968
13969
13970
13971
13972O living always, always dying!
13973O the burials of me past and present,
13974O me while I stride ahead, material, visible, imperious as ever;
13975O me, what I was for years, now dead, (I lament not, I am content;)
13976O to disengage myself from those corpses of me, which I turn and
13977    look at where I cast them,
13978To pass on, (O living! always living!) and leave the corpses behind.
13979
13980
13981
13982
13983From all the rest I single out you, having a message for you,
13984You are to die--let others tell you what they please, I cannot prevaricate,
13985I am exact and merciless, but I love you--there is no escape for you.
13986
13987Softly I lay my right hand upon you, you 'ust feel it,
13988I do not argue, I bend my head close and half envelop it,
13989I sit quietly by, I remain faithful,
13990I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbor,
13991I absolve you from all except yourself spiritual bodily, that is
13992    eternal, you yourself will surely escape,
13993The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious.
13994
13995The sun bursts through in unlooked-for directions,
13996Strong thoughts fill you and confidence, you smile,
13997You forget you are sick, as I forget you are sick,
13998You do not see the medicines, you do not mind the weeping friends,
13999    I am with you,
14000I exclude others from you, there is nothing to be commiserated,
14001I do not commiserate, I congratulate you.
14002
14003
14004
14005
14006Night on the prairies,
14007The supper is over, the fire on the ground burns low,
14008The wearied emigrants sleep, wrapt in their blankets;
14009I walk by myself--I stand and look at the stars, which I think now
14010    never realized before.
14011
14012Now I absorb immortality and peace,
14013I admire death and test propositions.
14014
14015How plenteous! how spiritual! how resume!
14016The same old man and soul--the same old aspirations, and the same content.
14017
14018I was thinking the day most splendid till I saw what the not-day exhibited,
14019I was thinking this globe enough till there sprang out so noiseless
14020    around me myriads of other globes.
14021
14022Now while the great thoughts of space and eternity fill me I will
14023    measure myself by them,
14024And now touch'd with the lives of other globes arrived as far along
14025    as those of the earth,
14026Or waiting to arrive, or pass'd on farther than those of the earth,
14027I henceforth no more ignore them than I ignore my own life,
14028Or the lives of the earth arrived as far as mine, or waiting to arrive.
14029
14030O I see now that life cannot exhibit all to me, as the day cannot,
14031I see that I am to wait for what will be exhibited by death.
14032
14033
14034
14035
14036As I sit with others at a great feast, suddenly while the music is playing,
14037To my mind, (whence it comes I know not,) spectral in mist of a
14038    wreck at sea,
14039Of certain ships, how they sail from port with flying streamers and
14040    wafted kisses, and that is the last of them,
14041Of the solemn and murky mystery about the fate of the President,
14042Of the flower of the marine science of fifty generations founder'd
14043    off the Northeast coast and going down--of the steamship Arctic
14044    going down,
14045Of the veil'd tableau-women gather'd together on deck, pale, heroic,
14046    waiting the moment that draws so close--O the moment!
14047
14048A huge sob--a few bubbles--the white foam spirting up--and then the
14049    women gone,
14050Sinking there while the passionless wet flows on--and I now
14051    pondering, Are those women indeed gone?
14052Are souls drown'd and destroy'd so?
14053Is only matter triumphant?
14054
14055
14056
14057
14058At the last, tenderly,
14059From the walls of the powerful fortress'd house,
14060From the clasp of the knitted locks, from the keep of the well-closed doors,
14061Let me be wafted.
14062
14063Let me glide noiselessly forth;
14064With the key of softness unlock the locks--with a whisper,
14065Set ope the doors O soul.
14066
14067Tenderly--be not impatient,
14068(Strong is your hold O mortal flesh,
14069Strong is your hold O love.)
14070
14071
14072
14073
14074As I watch'd the ploughman ploughing,
14075Or the sower sowing in the fields, or the harvester harvesting,
14076I saw there too, O life and death, your analogies;
14077(Life, life is the tillage, and Death is the harvest according.)
14078
14079
14080
14081
14082Pensive and faltering,
14083The words the Dead I write,
14084For living are the Dead,
14085(Haply the only living, only real,
14086And I the apparition, I the spectre.)
14087
14088
14089
14090
14091
14092
14093Thou Mother with thy equal brood,
14094Thou varied chain of different States, yet one identity only,
14095A special song before I go I'd sing o'er all the rest,
14096For thee, the future.
14097
14098I'd sow a seed for thee of endless Nationality,
14099I'd fashion thy ensemble including body and soul,
14100I'd show away ahead thy real Union, and how it may be accomplish'd.
14101
14102The paths to the house I seek to make,
14103But leave to those to come the house itself.
14104
14105Belief I sing, and preparation;
14106As Life and Nature are not great with reference to the present only,
14107But greater still from what is yet to come,
14108Out of that formula for thee I sing.
14109
14110
14111As a strong bird on pinions free,
14112Joyous, the amplest spaces heavenward cleaving,
14113Such be the thought I'd think of thee America,
14114Such be the recitative I'd bring for thee.
14115
14116The conceits of the poets of other lands I'd bring thee not,
14117Nor the compliments that have served their turn so long,
14118Nor rhyme, nor the classics, nor perfume of foreign court or indoor
14119    library;
14120But an odor I'd bring as from forests of pine in Maine, or breath of
14121    an Illinois prairie,
14122With open airs of Virginia or Georgia or Tennessee, or from Texas
14123    uplands, or Florida's glades,
14124Or the Saguenay's black stream, or the wide blue spread of Huron,
14125With presentment of Yellowstone's scenes, or Yosemite,
14126And murmuring under, pervading all, I'd bring the rustling sea-sound,
14127That endlessly sounds from the two Great Seas of the world.
14128
14129And for thy subtler sense subtler refrains dread Mother,
14130Preludes of intellect tallying these and thee, mind-formulas fitted
14131    for thee, real and sane and large as these and thee,
14132Thou! mounting higher, diving deeper than we knew, thou
14133    transcendental Union!
14134By thee fact to be justified, blended with thought,
14135Thought of man justified, blended with God,
14136Through thy idea, lo, the immortal reality!
14137Through thy reality, lo, the immortal idea!
14138
14139
14140Brain of the New World, what a task is thine,
14141To formulate the Modern--out of the peerless grandeur of the modern,
14142Out of thyself, comprising science, to recast poems, churches, art,
14143(Recast, may-be discard them, end them--maybe their work is done,
14144    who knows?)
14145By vision, hand, conception, on the background of the mighty past, the dead,
14146To limn with absolute faith the mighty living present.
14147
14148And yet thou living present brain, heir of the dead, the Old World brain,
14149Thou that lay folded like an unborn babe within its folds so long,
14150Thou carefully prepared by it so long--haply thou but unfoldest it,
14151    only maturest it,
14152It to eventuate in thee--the essence of the by-gone time contain'd in thee,
14153Its poems, churches, arts, unwitting to themselves, destined with
14154    reference to thee;
14155Thou but the apples, long, long, long a-growing,
14156The fruit of all the Old ripening to-day in thee.
14157
14158
14159Sail, sail thy best, ship of Democracy,
14160Of value is thy freight, 'tis not the Present only,
14161The Past is also stored in thee,
14162Thou holdest not the venture of thyself alone, not of the Western
14163    continent alone,
14164Earth's resume entire floats on thy keel O ship, is steadied by thy spars,
14165With thee Time voyages in trust, the antecedent nations sink or
14166    swim with thee,
14167With all their ancient struggles, martyrs, heroes, epics, wars, thou
14168    bear'st the other continents,
14169Theirs, theirs as much as thine, the destination-port triumphant;
14170Steer then with good strong hand and wary eye O helmsman, thou
14171    carriest great companions,
14172Venerable priestly Asia sails this day with thee,
14173And royal feudal Europe sails with thee.
14174
14175
14176Beautiful world of new superber birth that rises to my eyes,
14177Like a limitless golden cloud filling the westernr sky,
14178Emblem of general maternity lifted above all,
14179Sacred shape of the bearer of daughters and sons,
14180Out of thy teeming womb thy giant babes in ceaseless procession issuing,
14181Acceding from such gestation, taking and giving continual strength
14182    and life,
14183World of the real--world of the twain in one,
14184World of the soul, born by the world of the real alone, led to
14185    identity, body, by it alone,
14186Yet in beginning only, incalculable masses of composite precious materials,
14187By history's cycles forwarded, by every nation, language, hither sent,
14188Ready, collected here, a freer, vast, electric world, to be
14189    constructed here,
14190(The true New World, the world of orbic science, morals, literatures
14191    to come,)
14192Thou wonder world yet undefined, unform'd, neither do I define thee,
14193How can I pierce the impenetrable blank of the future?
14194I feel thy ominous greatness evil as well as good,
14195I watch thee advancing, absorbing the present, transcending the past,
14196I see thy light lighting, and thy shadow shadowing, as if the entire globe,
14197But I do not undertake to define thee, hardly to comprehend thee,
14198I but thee name, thee prophesy, as now,
14199I merely thee ejaculate!
14200
14201Thee in thy future,
14202Thee in thy only permanent life, career, thy own unloosen'd mind,
14203    thy soaring spirit,
14204Thee as another equally needed sun, radiant, ablaze, swift-moving,
14205    fructifying all,
14206Thee risen in potent cheerfulness and joy, in endless great hilarity,
14207Scattering for good the cloud that hung so long, that weigh'd so
14208    long upon the mind of man,
14209The doubt, suspicion, dread, of gradual, certain decadence of man;
14210Thee in thy larger, saner brood of female, male--thee in thy
14211    athletes, moral, spiritual, South, North, West, East,
14212(To thy immortal breasts, Mother of All, thy every daughter, son,
14213    endear'd alike, forever equal,)
14214Thee in thy own musicians, singers, artists, unborn yet, but certain,
14215Thee in thy moral wealth and civilization, (until which thy proudest
14216    material civilization must remain in vain,)
14217Thee in thy all-supplying, all-enclosing worship--thee in no single
14218    bible, saviour, merely,
14219Thy saviours countless, latent within thyself, thy bibles incessant
14220    within thyself, equal to any, divine as any,
14221(Thy soaring course thee formulating, not in thy two great wars, nor
14222    in thy century's visible growth,
14223But far more in these leaves and chants, thy chants, great Mother!)
14224Thee in an education grown of thee, in teachers, studies, students,
14225    born of thee,
14226Thee in thy democratic fetes en-masse, thy high original festivals,
14227    operas, lecturers, preachers,
14228Thee in thy ultimate, (the preparations only now completed, the
14229    edifice on sure foundations tied,)
14230Thee in thy pinnacles, intellect, thought, thy topmost rational
14231    joys, thy love and godlike aspiration,
14232In thy resplendent coming literati, thy full-lung'd orators, thy
14233    sacerdotal bards, kosmic savans,
14234These! these in thee, (certain to come,) to-day I prophesy.
14235
14236
14237Land tolerating all, accepting all, not for the good alone, all good
14238    for thee,
14239Land in the realms of God to be a realm unto thyself,
14240Under the rule of God to be a rule unto thyself.
14241
14242(Lo, where arise three peerless stars,
14243To be thy natal stars my country, Ensemble, Evolution, Freedom,
14244Set in the sky of Law.)
14245
14246Land of unprecedented faith, God's faith,
14247Thy soil, thy very subsoil, all upheav'd,
14248The general inner earth so long so sedulously draped over, now hence
14249    for what it is boldly laid bare,
14250Open'd by thee to heaven's light for benefit or bale.
14251
14252Not for success alone,
14253Not to fair-sail unintermitted always,
14254The storm shall dash thy face, the murk of war and worse than war
14255    shall cover thee all over,
14256(Wert capable of war, its tug and trials? be capable of peace, its trials,
14257For the tug and mortal strain of nations come at last in prosperous
14258    peace, not war;)
14259In many a smiling mask death shall approach beguiling thee, thou in
14260    disease shalt swelter,
14261The livid cancer spread its hideous claws, clinging upon thy
14262    breasts, seeking to strike thee deep within,
14263Consumption of the worst, moral consumption, shall rouge thy face
14264    with hectic,
14265But thou shalt face thy fortunes, thy diseases, and surmount them all,
14266Whatever they are to-day and whatever through time they may be,
14267They each and all shall lift and pass away and cease from thee,
14268While thou, Time's spirals rounding, out of thyself, thyself still
14269    extricating, fusing,
14270Equable, natural, mystical Union thou, (the mortal with immortal blent,)
14271Shalt soar toward the fulfilment of the future, the spirit of the
14272    body and the mind,
14273The soul, its destinies.
14274
14275The soul, its destinies, the real real,
14276(Purport of all these apparitions of the real;)
14277In thee America, the soul, its destinies,
14278Thou globe of globes! thou wonder nebulous!
14279By many a throe of heat and cold convuls'd, (by these thyself solidifying,)
14280Thou mental, moral orb--thou New, indeed new, Spiritual World!
14281The Present holds thee not--for such vast growth as thine,
14282For such unparallel'd flight as thine, such brood as thine,
14283The FUTURE only holds thee and can hold thee.
14284
14285
14286
14287
14288Two boats with nets lying off the sea-beach, quite still,
14289Ten fishermen waiting--they discover a thick school of mossbonkers
14290    --they drop the join'd seine-ends in the water,
14291The boats separate and row off, each on its rounding course to the
14292    beach, enclosing the mossbonkers,
14293The net is drawn in by a windlass by those who stop ashore,
14294Some of the fishermen lounge in their boats, others stand
14295    ankle-deep in the water, pois'd on strong legs,
14296The boats partly drawn up, the water slapping against them,
14297Strew'd on the sand in heaps and windrows, well out from the water,
14298    the green-back'd spotted mossbonkers.
14299
14300
14301
14302
14303
14304Thou orb aloft full-dazzling! thou hot October noon!
14305Flooding with sheeny light the gray beach sand,
14306The sibilant near sea with vistas far and foam,
14307And tawny streaks and shades and spreading blue;
14308O sun of noon refulgent! my special word to thee.
14309
14310Hear me illustrious!
14311Thy lover me, for always I have loved thee,
14312Even as basking babe, then happy boy alone by some wood edge, thy
14313    touching-distant beams enough,
14314Or man matured, or young or old, as now to thee I launch my invocation.
14315
14316(Thou canst not with thy dumbness me deceive,
14317I know before the fitting man all Nature yields,
14318Though answering not in words, the skies, trees, hear his voice--and
14319    thou O sun,
14320As for thy throes, thy perturbations, sudden breaks and shafts of
14321    flame gigantic,
14322I understand them, I know those flames, those perturbations well.)
14323
14324Thou that with fructifying heat and light,
14325O'er myriad farms, o'er lands and waters North and South,
14326O'er Mississippi's endless course, o'er Texas' grassy plains,
14327    Kanada's woods,
14328O'er all the globe that turns its face to thee shining in space,
14329Thou that impartially enfoldest all, not only continents, seas,
14330Thou that to grapes and weeds and little wild flowers givest so liberally,
14331Shed, shed thyself on mine and me, with but a fleeting ray out of
14332    thy million millions,
14333Strike through these chants.
14334
14335Nor only launch thy subtle dazzle and thy strength for these,
14336Prepare the later afternoon of me myself--prepare my lengthening shadows,
14337Prepare my starry nights.
14338
14339
14340
14341
14342
14343Sauntering the pavement or riding the country by-road, faces!
14344Faces of friendship, precision, caution, suavity, ideality,
14345The spiritual-prescient face, the always welcome common benevolent face,
14346The face of the singing of music, the grand faces of natural lawyers
14347    and judges broad at the back-top,
14348The faces of hunters and fishers bulged at the brows, the shaved
14349    blanch'd faces of orthodox citizens,
14350The pure, extravagant, yearning, questioning artist's face,
14351The ugly face of some beautiful soul, the handsome detested or
14352    despised face,
14353The sacred faces of infants, the illuminated face of the mother of
14354    many children,
14355The face of an amour, the face of veneration,
14356The face as of a dream, the face of an immobile rock,
14357The face withdrawn of its good and bad, a castrated face,
14358A wild hawk, his wings clipp'd by the clipper,
14359A stallion that yielded at last to the thongs and knife of the gelder.
14360
14361Sauntering the pavement thus, or crossing the ceaseless ferry, faces
14362    and faces and faces,
14363I see them and complain not, and am content with all.
14364
14365
14366Do you suppose I could be content with all if I thought them their
14367    own finale?
14368
14369This now is too lamentable a face for a man,
14370Some abject louse asking leave to be, cringing for it,
14371Some milk-nosed maggot blessing what lets it wrig to its hole.
14372
14373This face is a dog's snout sniffing for garbage,
14374Snakes nest in that mouth, I hear the sibilant threat.
14375
14376This face is a haze more chill than the arctic sea,
14377Its sleepy and wobbling icebergs crunch as they go.
14378
14379This is a face of bitter herbs, this an emetic, they need no label,
14380And more of the drug-shelf, laudanum, caoutchouc, or hog's-lard.
14381
14382This face is an epilepsy, its wordless tongue gives out the unearthly cry,
14383Its veins down the neck distend, its eyes roll till they show
14384    nothing but their whites,
14385Its teeth grit, the palms of the hands are cut by the turn'd-in nails,
14386The man falls struggling and foaming to the ground, while he
14387    speculates well.
14388
14389This face is bitten by vermin and worms,
14390And this is some murderer's knife with a half-pull'd scabbard.
14391
14392This face owes to the sexton his dismalest fee,
14393An unceasing death-bell tolls there.
14394
14395
14396Features of my equals would you trick me with your creas'd and
14397    cadaverous march?
14398Well, you cannot trick me.
14399
14400I see your rounded never-erased flow,
14401I see 'neath the rims of your haggard and mean disguises.
14402
14403Splay and twist as you like, poke with the tangling fores of fishes or rats,
14404You'll be unmuzzled, you certainly will.
14405
14406I saw the face of the most smear'd and slobbering idiot they had at
14407    the asylum,
14408And I knew for my consolation what they knew not,
14409I knew of the agents that emptied and broke my brother,
14410The same wait to clear the rubbish from the fallen tenement,
14411And I shall look again in a score or two of ages,
14412And I shall meet the real landlord perfect and unharm'd, every inch
14413    as good as myself.
14414
14415
14416The Lord advances, and yet advances,
14417Always the shadow in front, always the reach'd hand bringing up the
14418    laggards.
14419
14420Out of this face emerge banners and horses--O superb! I see what is coming,
14421I see the high pioneer-caps, see staves of runners clearing the way,
14422I hear victorious drums.
14423
14424This face is a life-boat,
14425This is the face commanding and bearded, it asks no odds of the rest,
14426This face is flavor'd fruit ready for eating,
14427This face of a healthy honest boy is the programme of all good.
14428
14429These faces bear testimony slumbering or awake,
14430They show their descent from the Master himself.
14431
14432Off the word I have spoken I except not one--red, white, black, are
14433    all deific,
14434In each house is the ovum, it comes forth after a thousand years.
14435
14436Spots or cracks at the windows do not disturb me,
14437Tall and sufficient stand behind and make signs to me,
14438I read the promise and patiently wait.
14439
14440This is a full-grown lily's face,
14441She speaks to the limber-hipp'd man near the garden pickets,
14442Come here she blushingly cries, Come nigh to me limber-hipp'd man,
14443Stand at my side till I lean as high as I can upon you,
14444Fill me with albescent honey, bend down to me,
14445Rub to me with your chafing beard, rub to my breast and shoulders.
14446
14447
14448The old face of the mother of many children,
14449Whist! I am fully content.
14450
14451Lull'd and late is the smoke of the First-day morning,
14452It hangs low over the rows of trees by the fences,
14453It hangs thin by the sassafras and wild-cherry and cat-brier under them.
14454
14455I saw the rich ladies in full dress at the soiree,
14456I heard what the singers were singing so long,
14457Heard who sprang in crimson youth from the white froth and the water-blue.
14458
14459Behold a woman!
14460She looks out from her quaker cap, her face is clearer and more
14461    beautiful than the sky.
14462
14463She sits in an armchair under the shaded porch of the farmhouse,
14464The sun just shines on her old white head.
14465
14466Her ample gown is of cream-hued linen,
14467Her grandsons raised the flax, and her grand-daughters spun it with
14468    the distaff and the wheel.
14469
14470The melodious character of the earth,
14471The finish beyond which philosophy cannot go and does not wish to go,
14472The justified mother of men.
14473
14474
14475
14476
14477
14478Hark, some wild trumpeter, some strange musician,
14479Hovering unseen in air, vibrates capricious tunes to-night.
14480
14481I hear thee trumpeter, listening alert I catch thy notes,
14482Now pouring, whirling like a tempest round me,
14483Now low, subdued, now in the distance lost.
14484
14485
14486Come nearer bodiless one, haply in thee resounds
14487Some dead composer, haply thy pensive life
14488Was fill'd with aspirations high, unform'd ideals,
14489Waves, oceans musical, chaotically surging,
14490That now ecstatic ghost, close to me bending, thy cornet echoing, pealing,
14491Gives out to no one's ears but mine, but freely gives to mine,
14492That I may thee translate.
14493
14494
14495Blow trumpeter free and clear, I follow thee,
14496While at thy liquid prelude, glad, serene,
14497The fretting world, the streets, the noisy hours of day withdraw,
14498A holy calm descends like dew upon me,
14499I walk in cool refreshing night the walks of Paradise,
14500I scent the grass, the moist air and the roses;
14501Thy song expands my numb'd imbonded spirit, thou freest, launchest me,
14502Floating and basking upon heaven's lake.
14503
14504
14505Blow again trumpeter! and for my sensuous eyes,
14506Bring the old pageants, show the feudal world.
14507
14508What charm thy music works! thou makest pass before me,
14509Ladies and cavaliers long dead, barons are in their castle halls,
14510    the troubadours are singing,
14511Arm'd knights go forth to redress wrongs, some in quest of the holy Graal;
14512I see the tournament, I see the contestants incased in heavy armor
14513    seated on stately champing horses,
14514I hear the shouts, the sounds of blows and smiting steel;
14515I see the Crusaders' tumultuous armies--hark, how the cymbals clang,
14516Lo, where the monks walk in advance, bearing the cross on high.
14517
14518
14519Blow again trumpeter! and for thy theme,
14520Take now the enclosing theme of all, the solvent and the setting,
14521Love, that is pulse of all, the sustenance and the pang,
14522The heart of man and woman all for love,
14523No other theme but love--knitting, enclosing, all-diffusing love.
14524
14525O how the immortal phantoms crowd around me!
14526I see the vast alembic ever working, I see and know the flames that
14527    heat the world,
14528The glow, the blush, the beating hearts of lovers,
14529So blissful happy some, and some so silent, dark, and nigh to death;
14530Love, that is all the earth to lovers--love, that mocks time and space,
14531Love, that is day and night--love, that is sun and moon and stars,
14532Love, that is crimson, sumptuous, sick with perfume,
14533No other words but words of love, no other thought but love.
14534
14535
14536Blow again trumpeter--conjure war's alarums.
14537
14538Swift to thy spell a shuddering hum like distant thunder rolls,
14539Lo, where the arm'd men hasten--lo, mid the clouds of dust the glint
14540    of bayonets,
14541I see the grime-faced cannoneers, I mark the rosy flash amid the
14542    smoke, I hear the cracking of the guns;
14543Nor war alone--thy fearful music-song, wild player, brings every
14544    sight of fear,
14545The deeds of ruthless brigands, rapine, murder--I hear the cries for help!
14546I see ships foundering at sea, I behold on deck and below deck the
14547    terrible tableaus.
14548
14549
14550O trumpeter, methinks I am myself the instrument thou playest,
14551Thou melt'st my heart, my brain--thou movest, drawest, changest
14552    them at will;
14553And now thy sullen notes send darkness through me,
14554Thou takest away all cheering light, all hope,
14555I see the enslaved, the overthrown, the hurt, the opprest of the
14556    whole earth,
14557I feel the measureless shame and humiliation of my race, it becomes
14558    all mine,
14559Mine too the revenges of humanity, the wrongs of ages, baffled feuds
14560    and hatreds,
14561Utter defeat upon me weighs--all lost--the foe victorious,
14562(Yet 'mid the ruins Pride colossal stands unshaken to the last,
14563Endurance, resolution to the last.)
14564
14565
14566
14567Now trumpeter for thy close,
14568Vouchsafe a higher strain than any yet,
14569Sing to my soul, renew its languishing faith and hope,
14570Rouse up my slow belief, give me some vision of the future,
14571Give me for once its prophecy and joy.
14572
14573O glad, exulting, culminating song!
14574A vigor more than earth's is in thy notes,
14575Marches of victory--man disenthral'd--the conqueror at last,
14576Hymns to the universal God from universal man--all joy!
14577A reborn race appears--a perfect world, all joy!
14578Women and men in wisdom innocence and health--all joy!
14579Riotous laughing bacchanals fill'd with joy!
14580War, sorrow, suffering gone--the rank earth purged--nothing but joy left!
14581The ocean fill'd with joy--the atmosphere all joy!
14582Joy! joy! in freedom, worship, love! joy in the ecstasy of life!
14583Enough to merely be! enough to breathe!
14584Joy! joy! all over joy!
14585
14586
14587
14588
14589Thee for my recitative,
14590Thee in the driving storm even as now, the snow, the winter-day declining,
14591Thee in thy panoply, thy measur'd dual throbbing and thy beat convulsive,
14592Thy black cylindric body, golden brass and silvery steel,
14593Thy ponderous side-bars, parallel and connecting rods, gyrating,
14594    shuttling at thy sides,
14595Thy metrical, now swelling pant and roar, now tapering in the distance,
14596Thy great protruding head-light fix'd in front,
14597Thy long, pale, floating vapor-pennants, tinged with delicate purple,
14598The dense and murky clouds out-belching from thy smoke-stack,
14599Thy knitted frame, thy springs and valves, the tremulous twinkle of
14600    thy wheels,
14601Thy train of cars behind, obedient, merrily following,
14602Through gale or calm, now swift, now slack, yet steadily careering;
14603Type of the modern--emblem of motion and power--pulse of the continent,
14604For once come serve the Muse and merge in verse, even as here I see thee,
14605With storm and buffeting gusts of wind and falling snow,
14606By day thy warning ringing bell to sound its notes,
14607By night thy silent signal lamps to swing.
14608
14609Fierce-throated beauty!
14610Roll through my chant with all thy lawless music, thy swinging lamps
14611    at night,
14612Thy madly-whistled laughter, echoing, rumbling like an earthquake,
14613    rousing all,
14614Law of thyself complete, thine own track firmly holding,
14615(No sweetness debonair of tearful harp or glib piano thine,)
14616Thy trills of shrieks by rocks and hills return'd,
14617Launch'd o'er the prairies wide, across the lakes,
14618To the free skies unpent and glad and strong.
14619
14620
14621
14622
14623O magnet-south! O glistening perfumed South! my South!
14624O quick mettle, rich blood, impulse and love! good and evil! O all
14625    dear to me!
14626O dear to me my birth-things--all moving things and the trees where
14627    I was born--the grains, plants, rivers,
14628Dear to me my own slow sluggish rivers where they flow, distant,
14629    over flats of slivery sands or through swamps,
14630Dear to me the Roanoke, the Savannah, the Altamahaw, the Pedee, the
14631    Tombigbee, the Santee, the Coosa and the Sabine,
14632O pensive, far away wandering, I return with my soul to haunt their
14633    banks again,
14634Again in Florida I float on transparent lakes, I float on the
14635    Okeechobee, I cross the hummock-land or through pleasant openings
14636    or dense forests,
14637I see the parrots in the woods, I see the papaw-tree and the
14638    blossoming titi;
14639Again, sailing in my coaster on deck, I coast off Georgia, I coast
14640    up the Carolinas,
14641I see where the live-oak is growing, I see where the yellow-pine,
14642    the scented bay-tree, the lemon and orange, the cypress, the
14643    graceful palmetto,
14644I pass rude sea-headlands and enter Pamlico sound through an inlet,
14645    and dart my vision inland;
14646O the cotton plant! the growing fields of rice, sugar, hemp!
14647The cactus guarded with thorns, the laurel-tree with large white flowers,
14648The range afar, the richness and barrenness, the old woods charged
14649    with mistletoe and trailing moss,
14650The piney odor and the gloom, the awful natural stillness, (here in
14651    these dense swamps the freebooter carries his gun, and the
14652    fugitive has his conceal'd hut;)
14653O the strange fascination of these half-known half-impassable
14654    swamps, infested by reptiles, resounding with the bellow of the
14655    alligator, the sad noises of the night-owl and the wild-cat, and
14656    the whirr of the rattlesnake,
14657The mocking-bird, the American mimic, singing all the forenoon,
14658    singing through the moon-lit night,
14659The humming-bird, the wild turkey, the raccoon, the opossum;
14660A Kentucky corn-field, the tall, graceful, long-leav'd corn,
14661    slender, flapping, bright green, with tassels, with beautiful
14662    ears each well-sheath'd in its husk;
14663O my heart! O tender and fierce pangs, I can stand them not, I will depart;
14664O to be a Virginian where I grew up! O to be a Carolinian!
14665O longings irrepressible! O I will go back to old Tennessee and
14666    never wander more.
14667
14668
14669
14670
14671I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
14672Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.
14673
14674Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly,
14675    musical, self-sufficient,
14676I see that the word of my city is that word from of old,
14677Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb,
14678Rich, hemm'd thick all around with sailships and steamships, an
14679    island sixteen miles long, solid-founded,
14680Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender, strong,
14681    light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies,
14682Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown,
14683The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining
14684    islands, the heights, the villas,
14685The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the
14686    ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-model'd,
14687The down-town streets, the jobbers' houses of business, the houses
14688    of business of the ship-merchants and money-brokers, the river-streets,
14689Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week,
14690The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses, the
14691    brown-faced sailors,
14692The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft,
14693The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the river,
14694    passing along up or down with the flood-tide or ebb-tide,
14695The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form'd,
14696    beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,
14697Trottoirs throng'd, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the shops and shows,
14698A million people--manners free and superb--open voices--hospitality--
14699    the most courageous and friendly young men,
14700City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts!
14701City nested in bays! my city!
14702
14703
14704
14705
14706O me, man of slack faith so long,
14707Standing aloof, denying portions so long,
14708Only aware to-day of compact all-diffused truth,
14709Discovering to-day there is no lie or form of lie, and can be none,
14710    but grows as inevitably upon itself as the truth does upon itself,
14711Or as any law of the earth or any natural production of the earth does.
14712
14713(This is curious and may not be realized immediately, but it must be
14714    realized,
14715I feel in myself that I represent falsehoods equally with the rest,
14716And that the universe does.)
14717
14718Where has fail'd a perfect return indifferent of lies or the truth?
14719Is it upon the ground, or in water or fire? or in the spirit of man?
14720    or in the meat and blood?
14721
14722Meditating among liars and retreating sternly into myself, I see
14723    that there are really no liars or lies after all,
14724And that nothing fails its perfect return, and that what are called
14725    lies are perfect returns,
14726And that each thing exactly represents itself and what has preceded it,
14727And that the truth includes all, and is compact just as much as
14728    space is compact,
14729And that there is no flaw or vacuum in the amount of the truth--but
14730    that all is truth without exception;
14731And henceforth I will go celebrate any thing I see or am,
14732And sing and laugh and deny nothing.
14733
14734
14735
14736
14737That which eludes this verse and any verse,
14738Unheard by sharpest ear, unform'd in clearest eye or cunningest mind,
14739Nor lore nor fame, nor happiness nor wealth,
14740And yet the pulse of every heart and life throughout the world incessantly,
14741Which you and I and all pursuing ever ever miss,
14742Open but still a secret, the real of the real, an illusion,
14743Costless, vouchsafed to each, yet never man the owner,
14744Which poets vainly seek to put in rhyme, historians in prose,
14745Which sculptor never chisel'd yet, nor painter painted,
14746Which vocalist never sung, nor orator nor actor ever utter'd,
14747Invoking here and now I challenge for my song.
14748
14749Indifferently, 'mid public, private haunts, in solitude,
14750Behind the mountain and the wood,
14751Companion of the city's busiest streets, through the assemblage,
14752It and its radiations constantly glide.
14753
14754In looks of fair unconscious babes,
14755Or strangely in the coffin'd dead,
14756Or show of breaking dawn or stars by night,
14757As some dissolving delicate film of dreams,
14758Hiding yet lingering.
14759
14760Two little breaths of words comprising it,
14761Two words, yet all from first to last comprised in it.
14762
14763How ardently for it!
14764How many ships have sail'd and sunk for it!
14765
14766How many travelers started from their homes and neer return'd!
14767How much of genius boldly staked and lost for it!
14768What countless stores of beauty, love, ventur'd for it!
14769How all superbest deeds since Time began are traceable to it--and
14770    shall be to the end!
14771How all heroic martyrdoms to it!
14772How, justified by it, the horrors, evils, battles of the earth!
14773How the bright fascinating lambent flames of it, in every age and
14774    land, have drawn men's eyes,
14775Rich as a sunset on the Norway coast, the sky, the islands, and the cliffs,
14776Or midnight's silent glowing northern lights unreachable.
14777
14778Haply God's riddle it, so vague and yet so certain,
14779The soul for it, and all the visible universe for it,
14780And heaven at last for it.
14781
14782
14783
14784
14785Who has gone farthest? for I would go farther,
14786And who has been just? for I would be the most just person of the earth,
14787And who most cautious? for I would be more cautious,
14788And who has been happiest? O I think it is I--I think no one was
14789    ever happier than I,
14790And who has lavish'd all? for I lavish constantly the best I have,
14791And who proudest? for I think I have reason to be the proudest son
14792    alive--for I am the son of the brawny and tall-topt city,
14793And who has been bold and true? for I would be the boldest and
14794    truest being of the universe,
14795And who benevolent? for I would show more benevolence than all the rest,
14796And who has receiv'd the love of the most friends? for I know what
14797    it is to receive the passionate love of many friends,
14798And who possesses a perfect and enamour'd body? for I do not believe
14799    any one possesses a more perfect or enamour'd body than mine,
14800And who thinks the amplest thoughts? for I would surround those thoughts,
14801And who has made hymns fit for the earth? for I am mad with
14802    devouring ecstasy to make joyous hymns for the whole earth.
14803
14804
14805
14806
14807Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats,
14808Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me,
14809(For what is my life or any man's life but a conflict with foes, the
14810    old, the incessant war?)
14811You degradations, you tussle with passions and appetites,
14812You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds the sharpest of all!)
14813You toil of painful and choked articulations, you meannesses,
14814You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of any;)
14815You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother'd ennuis!
14816Ah think not you finally triumph, my real self has yet to come forth,
14817It shall yet march forth o'ermastering, till all lies beneath me,
14818It shall yet stand up the soldier of ultimate victory.
14819
14820
14821
14822
14823Of public opinion,
14824Of a calm and cool fiat sooner or later, (how impassive! how certain
14825    and final!)
14826Of the President with pale face asking secretly to himself, What
14827    will the people say at last?
14828Of the frivolous Judge--of the corrupt Congressman, Governor,
14829    Mayor--of such as these standing helpless and exposed,
14830Of the mumbling and screaming priest, (soon, soon deserted,)
14831Of the lessening year by year of venerableness, and of the dicta of
14832    officers, statutes, pulpits, schools,
14833Of the rising forever taller and stronger and broader of the
14834    intuitions of men and women, and of Self-esteem and Personality;
14835Of the true New World--of the Democracies resplendent en-masse,
14836Of the conformity of politics, armies, navies, to them,
14837Of the shining sun by them--of the inherent light, greater than the rest,
14838Of the envelopment of all by them, and the effusion of all from them.
14839
14840
14841
14842
14843They shall arise in the States,
14844They shall report Nature, laws, physiology, and happiness,
14845They shall illustrate Democracy and the kosmos,
14846They shall be alimentive, amative, perceptive,
14847They shall be complete women and men, their pose brawny and supple,
14848    their drink water, their blood clean and clear,
14849They shall fully enjoy materialism and the sight of products, they
14850    shall enjoy the sight of the beef, lumber, bread-stuffs, of
14851    Chicago the great city.
14852They shall train themselves to go in public to become orators and
14853    oratresses,
14854Strong and sweet shall their tongues be, poems and materials of
14855    poems shall come from their lives, they shall be makers and finders,
14856Of them and of their works shall emerge divine conveyers, to convey gospels,
14857Characters, events, retrospections, shall be convey'd in gospels,
14858    trees, animals, waters, shall be convey'd,
14859Death, the future, the invisible faith, shall all be convey'd.
14860
14861
14862
14863
14864Weave in, weave in, my hardy life,
14865Weave yet a soldier strong and full for great campaigns to come,
14866Weave in red blood, weave sinews in like ropes, the senses, sight weave in,
14867Weave lasting sure, weave day and night the wet, the warp, incessant
14868    weave, tire not,
14869(We know not what the use O life, nor know the aim, the end, nor
14870    really aught we know,
14871But know the work, the need goes on and shall go on, the
14872    death-envelop'd march of peace as well as war goes on,)
14873For great campaigns of peace the same the wiry threads to weave,
14874We know not why or what, yet weave, forever weave.
14875
14876
14877
14878
14879Out of the murk of heaviest clouds,
14880Out of the feudal wrecks and heap'd-up skeletons of kings,
14881Out of that old entire European debris, the shatter'd mummeries,
14882Ruin'd cathedrals, crumble of palaces, tombs of priests,
14883Lo, Freedom's features fresh undimm'd look forth--the same immortal
14884    face looks forth;
14885(A glimpse as of thy Mother's face Columbia,
14886A flash significant as of a sword,
14887Beaming towards thee.)
14888
14889Nor think we forget thee maternal;
14890Lag'd'st thou so long? shall the clouds close again upon thee?
14891Ah, but thou hast thyself now appear'd to us--we know thee,
14892Thou hast given us a sure proof, the glimpse of thyself,
14893Thou waitest there as everywhere thy time.
14894
14895
14896
14897
14898By broad Potomac's shore, again old tongue,
14899(Still uttering, still ejaculating, canst never cease this babble?)
14900Again old heart so gay, again to you, your sense, the full flush
14901    spring returning,
14902Again the freshness and the odors, again Virginia's summer sky,
14903    pellucid blue and silver,
14904Again the forenoon purple of the hills,
14905Again the deathless grass, so noiseless soft and green,
14906Again the blood-red roses blooming.
14907
14908Perfume this book of mine O blood-red roses!
14909Lave subtly with your waters every line Potomac!
14910Give me of you O spring, before I close, to put between its pages!
14911O forenoon purple of the hills, before I close, of you!
14912O deathless grass, of you!
14913
14914
14915
14916
14917From far Dakota's canyons,
14918Lands of the wild ravine, the dusky Sioux, the lonesome stretch, the
14919    silence,
14920Haply to-day a mournful wall, haply a trumpet-note for heroes.
14921
14922The battle-bulletin,
14923The Indian ambuscade, the craft, the fatal environment,
14924The cavalry companies fighting to the last in sternest heroism,
14925In the midst of their little circle, with their slaughter'd horses
14926    for breastworks,
14927The fall of Custer and all his officers and men.
14928
14929Continues yet the old, old legend of our race,
14930The loftiest of life upheld by death,
14931The ancient banner perfectly maintain'd,
14932O lesson opportune, O how I welcome thee!
14933
14934As sitting in dark days,
14935Lone, sulky, through the time's thick murk looking in vain for
14936    light, for hope,
14937From unsuspected parts a fierce and momentary proof,
14938(The sun there at the centre though conceal'd,
14939Electric life forever at the centre,)
14940Breaks forth a lightning flash.
14941
14942Thou of the tawny flowing hair in battle,
14943I erewhile saw, with erect head, pressing ever in front, bearing a
14944    bright sword in thy hand,
14945Now ending well in death the splendid fever of thy deeds,
14946(I bring no dirge for it or thee, I bring a glad triumphal sonnet,)
14947Desperate and glorious, aye in defeat most desperate, most glorious,
14948After thy many battles in which never yielding up a gun or a color,
14949Leaving behind thee a memory sweet to soldiers,
14950Thou yieldest up thyself.
14951
14952
14953
14954
14955In midnight sleep of many a face of anguish,
14956Of the look at first of the mortally wounded, (of that indescribable look,)
14957Of the dead on their backs with arms extended wide,
14958     I dream, I dream, I dream.
14959
14960Of scenes of Nature, fields and mountains,
14961Of skies so beauteous after a storm, and at night the moon so
14962    unearthly bright,
14963Shining sweetly, shining down, where we dig the trenches and
14964    gather the heaps,
14965     I dream, I dream, I dream.
14966
14967Long have they pass'd, faces and trenches and fields,
14968Where through the carnage I moved with a callous composure, or away
14969    from the fallen,
14970Onward I sped at the time--but now of their forms at night,
14971     I dream, I dream, I dream.
14972
14973
14974
14975
14976Thick-sprinkled bunting! flag of stars!
14977Long yet your road, fateful flag--long yet your road, and lined with
14978    bloody death,
14979For the prize I see at issue at last is the world,
14980All its ships and shores I see interwoven with your threads greedy banner;
14981Dream'd again the flags of kings, highest borne to flaunt unrival'd?
14982O hasten flag of man--O with sure and steady step, passing highest
14983    flags of kings,
14984Walk supreme to the heavens mighty symbol--run up above them all,
14985Flag of stars! thick-sprinkled bunting!
14986
14987
14988
14989
14990What best I see in thee,
14991Is not that where thou mov'st down history's great highways,
14992Ever undimm'd by time shoots warlike victory's dazzle,
14993Or that thou sat'st where Washington sat, ruling the land in peace,
14994Or thou the man whom feudal Europe feted, venerable Asia swarm'd upon,
14995Who walk'd with kings with even pace the round world's promenade;
14996But that in foreign lands, in all thy walks with kings,
14997Those prairie sovereigns of the West, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois,
14998Ohio's, Indiana's millions, comrades, farmers, soldiers, all to the front,
14999Invisibly with thee walking with kings with even pace the round
15000    world's promenade,
15001Were all so justified.
15002
15003
15004
15005
15006Spirit that form'd this scene,
15007These tumbled rock-piles grim and red,
15008These reckless heaven-ambitious peaks,
15009These gorges, turbulent-clear streams, this naked freshness,
15010These formless wild arrays, for reasons of their own,
15011I know thee, savage spirit--we have communed together,
15012Mine too such wild arrays, for reasons of their own;
15013Wast charged against my chants they had forgotten art?
15014To fuse within themselves its rules precise and delicatesse?
15015The lyrist's measur'd beat, the wrought-out temple's grace--column
15016    and polish'd arch forgot?
15017But thou that revelest here--spirit that form'd this scene,
15018They have remember'd thee.
15019
15020
15021
15022
15023As I walk these broad majestic days of peace,
15024(For the war, the struggle of blood finish'd, wherein, O terrific Ideal,
15025Against vast odds erewhile having gloriously won,
15026Now thou stridest on, yet perhaps in time toward denser wars,
15027Perhaps to engage in time in still more dreadful contests, dangers,
15028Longer campaigns and crises, labors beyond all others,)
15029Around me I hear that eclat of the world, politics, produce,
15030The announcements of recognized things, science,
15031The approved growth of cities and the spread of inventions.
15032
15033I see the ships, (they will last a few years,)
15034The vast factories with their foremen and workmen,
15035And hear the indorsement of all, and do not object to it.
15036
15037But I too announce solid things,
15038Science, ships, politics, cities, factories, are not nothing,
15039Like a grand procession to music of distant bugles pouring,
15040    triumphantly moving, and grander heaving in sight,
15041They stand for realities--all is as it should be.
15042
15043Then my realities;
15044What else is so real as mine?
15045Libertad and the divine average, freedom to every slave on the face
15046    of the earth,
15047The rapt promises and lumine of seers, the spiritual world, these
15048    centuries-lasting songs,
15049And our visions, the visions of poets, the most solid announcements
15050    of any.
15051
15052
15053
15054
15055This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
15056Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
15057Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou
15058    lovest best,
15059Night, sleep, death and the stars.
15060
15061
15062
15063
15064
15065As the time draws nigh glooming a cloud,
15066A dread beyond of I know not what darkens me.
15067
15068I shall go forth,
15069I shall traverse the States awhile, but I cannot tell whither or how long,
15070Perhaps soon some day or night while I am singing my voice will
15071    suddenly cease.
15072
15073O book, O chants! must all then amount to but this?
15074Must we barely arrive at this beginning of us? --and yet it is
15075    enough, O soul;
15076O soul, we have positively appear'd--that is enough.
15077
15078
15079
15080
15081Years of the modern! years of the unperform'd!
15082Your horizon rises, I see it parting away for more august dramas,
15083I see not America only, not only Liberty's nation but other nations
15084    preparing,
15085I see tremendous entrances and exits, new combinations, the solidarity
15086    of races,
15087I see that force advancing with irresistible power on the world's stage,
15088(Have the old forces, the old wars, played their parts? are the acts
15089    suitable to them closed?)
15090I see Freedom, completely arm'd and victorious and very haughty,
15091    with Law on one side and Peace on the other,
15092A stupendous trio all issuing forth against the idea of caste;
15093What historic denouements are these we so rapidly approach?
15094I see men marching and countermarching by swift millions,
15095I see the frontiers and boundaries of the old aristocracies broken,
15096I see the landmarks of European kings removed,
15097I see this day the People beginning their landmarks, (all others give way;)
15098Never were such sharp questions ask'd as this day,
15099Never was average man, his soul, more energetic, more like a God,
15100Lo, how he urges and urges, leaving the masses no rest!
15101His daring foot is on land and sea everywhere, he colonizes the
15102    Pacific, the archipelagoes,
15103With the steamship, the electric telegraph, the newspaper, the
15104    wholesale engines of war,
15105With these and the world-spreading factories he interlinks all
15106    geography, all lands;
15107What whispers are these O lands, running ahead of you, passing under
15108    the seas?
15109Are all nations communing? is there going to be but one heart to the globe?
15110Is humanity forming en-masse? for lo, tyrants tremble, crowns grow dim,
15111The earth, restive, confronts a new era, perhaps a general divine war,
15112No one knows what will happen next, such portents fill the days and nights;
15113Years prophetical! the space ahead as I walk, as I vainly try to
15114    pierce it, is full of phantoms,
15115Unborn deeds, things soon to be, project their shapes around me,
15116This incredible rush and heat, this strange ecstatic fever of dreams
15117    O years!
15118Your dreams O years, how they penetrate through me! (I know not
15119    whether I sleep or wake;)
15120The perform'd America and Europe grow dim, retiring in shadow behind me,
15121The unperform'd, more gigantic than ever, advance, advance upon me.
15122
15123
15124
15125
15126Ashes of soldiers South or North,
15127As I muse retrospective murmuring a chant in thought,
15128The war resumes, again to my sense your shapes,
15129And again the advance of the armies.
15130
15131Noiseless as mists and vapors,
15132From their graves in the trenches ascending,
15133From cemeteries all through Virginia and Tennessee,
15134From every point of the compass out of the countless graves,
15135In wafted clouds, in myriads large, or squads of twos or threes or
15136    single ones they come,
15137And silently gather round me.
15138
15139Now sound no note O trumpeters,
15140Not at the head of my cavalry parading on spirited horses,
15141With sabres drawn and glistening, and carbines by their thighs, (ah
15142    my brave horsemen!
15143My handsome tan-faced horsemen! what life, what joy and pride,
15144With all the perils were yours.)
15145
15146Nor you drummers, neither at reveille at dawn,
15147Nor the long roll alarming the camp, nor even the muffled beat for burial,
15148Nothing from you this time O drummers bearing my warlike drums.
15149
15150But aside from these and the marts of wealth and the crowded promenade,
15151Admitting around me comrades close unseen by the rest and voiceless,
15152The slain elate and alive again, the dust and debris alive,
15153I chant this chant of my silent soul in the name of all dead soldiers.
15154
15155Faces so pale with wondrous eyes, very dear, gather closer yet,
15156Draw close, but speak not.
15157
15158Phantoms of countless lost,
15159Invisible to the rest henceforth become my companions,
15160Follow me ever--desert me not while I live.
15161
15162Sweet are the blooming cheeks of the living--sweet are the musical
15163    voices sounding,
15164But sweet, ah sweet, are the dead with their silent eyes.
15165
15166Dearest comrades, all is over and long gone,
15167But love is not over--and what love, O comrades!
15168Perfume from battle-fields rising, up from the foetor arising.
15169
15170Perfume therefore my chant, O love, immortal love,
15171Give me to bathe the memories of all dead soldiers,
15172Shroud them, embalm them, cover them all over with tender pride.
15173
15174Perfume all--make all wholesome,
15175Make these ashes to nourish and blossom,
15176O love, solve all, fructify all with the last chemistry.
15177
15178Give me exhaustless, make me a fountain,
15179That I exhale love from me wherever I go like a moist perennial dew,
15180For the ashes of all dead soldiers South or North.
15181
15182
15183
15184
15185
15186Of these years I sing,
15187How they pass and have pass'd through convuls'd pains, as through
15188    parturitions,
15189How America illustrates birth, muscular youth, the promise, the sure
15190    fulfilment, the absolute success, despite of people--illustrates
15191    evil as well as good,
15192The vehement struggle so fierce for unity in one's-self,
15193How many hold despairingly yet to the models departed, caste, myths,
15194    obedience, compulsion, and to infidelity,
15195How few see the arrived models, the athletes, the Western States, or
15196    see freedom or spirituality, or hold any faith in results,
15197(But I see the athletes, and I see the results of the war glorious
15198    and inevitable, and they again leading to other results.)
15199
15200How the great cities appear--how the Democratic masses, turbulent,
15201    willful, as I love them,
15202How the whirl, the contest, the wrestle of evil with good, the
15203    sounding and resounding, keep on and on,
15204How society waits unform'd, and is for a while between things ended
15205    and things begun,
15206How America is the continent of glories, and of the triumph of
15207    freedom and of the Democracies, and of the fruits of society, and
15208    of all that is begun,
15209And how the States are complete in themselves--and how all triumphs
15210    and glories are complete in themselves, to lead onward,
15211And how these of mine and of the States will in their turn be
15212    convuls'd, and serve other parturitions and transitions,
15213And how all people, sights, combinations, the democratic masses too,
15214    serve--and how every fact, and war itself, with all its horrors,
15215    serves,
15216And how now or at any time each serves the exquisite transition of death.
15217
15218
15219Of seeds dropping into the ground, of births,
15220Of the steady concentration of America, inland, upward, to
15221    impregnable and swarming places,
15222Of what Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, and the rest, are to be,
15223Of what a few years will show there in Nebraska, Colorado, Nevada,
15224    and the rest,
15225(Or afar, mounting the Northern Pacific to Sitka or Aliaska,)
15226Of what the feuillage of America is the preparation for--and of what
15227    all sights, North, South, East and West, are,
15228Of this Union welded in blood, of the solemn price paid, of the
15229    unnamed lost ever present in my mind;
15230Of the temporary use of materials for identity's sake,
15231Of the present, passing, departing--of the growth of completer men
15232    than any yet,
15233Of all sloping down there where the fresh free giver the mother, the
15234    Mississippi flows,
15235Of mighty inland cities yet unsurvey'd and unsuspected,
15236Of the new and good names, of the modern developments, of
15237    inalienable homesteads,
15238Of a free and original life there, of simple diet and clean and
15239    sweet blood,
15240Of litheness, majestic faces, clear eyes, and perfect physique there,
15241Of immense spiritual results future years far West, each side of the
15242    Anahuacs,
15243Of these songs, well understood there, (being made for that area,)
15244Of the native scorn of grossness and gain there,
15245(O it lurks in me night and day--what is gain after all to savageness
15246    and freedom?)
15247
15248
15249
15250
15251Splendor of ended day floating and filling me,
15252Hour prophetic, hour resuming the past,
15253Inflating my throat, you divine average,
15254You earth and life till the last ray gleams I sing.
15255
15256Open mouth of my soul uttering gladness,
15257Eyes of my soul seeing perfection,
15258Natural life of me faithfully praising things,
15259Corroborating forever the triumph of things.
15260
15261Illustrious every one!
15262Illustrious what we name space, sphere of unnumber'd spirits,
15263Illustrious the mystery of motion in all beings, even the tiniest insect,
15264Illustrious the attribute of speech, the senses, the body,
15265Illustrious the passing light--illustrious the pale reflection on
15266    the new moon in the western sky,
15267Illustrious whatever I see or hear or touch, to the last.
15268
15269Good in all,
15270In the satisfaction and aplomb of animals,
15271In the annual return of the seasons,
15272In the hilarity of youth,
15273In the strength and flush of manhood,
15274In the grandeur and exquisiteness of old age,
15275In the superb vistas of death.
15276
15277Wonderful to depart!
15278Wonderful to be here!
15279The heart, to jet the all-alike and innocent blood!
15280To breathe the air, how delicious!
15281To speak--to walk--to seize something by the hand!
15282To prepare for sleep, for bed, to look on my rose-color'd flesh!
15283To be conscious of my body, so satisfied, so large!
15284To be this incredible God I am!
15285To have gone forth among other Gods, these men and women I love.
15286
15287Wonderful how I celebrate you and myself
15288How my thoughts play subtly at the spectacles around!
15289How the clouds pass silently overhead!
15290How the earth darts on and on! and how the sun, moon, stars, dart on and on!
15291How the water sports and sings! (surely it is alive!)
15292How the trees rise and stand up, with strong trunks, with branches
15293    and leaves!
15294(Surely there is something more in each of the trees, some living soul.)
15295
15296O amazement of things--even the least particle!
15297O spirituality of things!
15298O strain musical flowing through ages and continents, now reaching
15299    me and America!
15300I take your strong chords, intersperse them, and cheerfully pass
15301    them forward.
15302
15303I too carol the sun, usher'd or at noon, or as now, setting,
15304I too throb to the brain and beauty of the earth and of all the
15305    growths of the earth,
15306I too have felt the resistless call of myself.
15307
15308As I steam'd down the Mississippi,
15309As I wander'd over the prairies,
15310As I have lived, as I have look'd through my windows my eyes,
15311As I went forth in the morning, as I beheld the light breaking in the east,
15312As I bathed on the beach of the Eastern Sea, and again on the beach
15313    of the Western Sea,
15314As I roam'd the streets of inland Chicago, whatever streets I have roam'd,
15315Or cities or silent woods, or even amid the sights of war,
15316Wherever I have been I have charged myself with contentment and triumph.
15317
15318I sing to the last the equalities modern or old,
15319I sing the endless finales of things,
15320I say Nature continues, glory continues,
15321I praise with electric voice,
15322For I do not see one imperfection in the universe,
15323And I do not see one cause or result lamentable at last in the universe.
15324
15325O setting sun! though the time has come,
15326I still warble under you, if none else does, unmitigated adoration.
15327
15328
15329
15330
15331As at thy portals also death,
15332Entering thy sovereign, dim, illimitable grounds,
15333To memories of my mother, to the divine blending, maternity,
15334To her, buried and gone, yet buried not, gone not from me,
15335(I see again the calm benignant face fresh and beautiful still,
15336I sit by the form in the coffin,
15337I kiss and kiss convulsively again the sweet old lips, the cheeks,
15338    the closed eyes in the coffin;)
15339To her, the ideal woman, practical, spiritual, of all of earth,
15340    life, love, to me the best,
15341I grave a monumental line, before I go, amid these songs,
15342And set a tombstone here.
15343
15344
15345
15346
15347The business man the acquirer vast,
15348After assiduous years surveying results, preparing for departure,
15349Devises houses and lands to his children, bequeaths stocks, goods,
15350    funds for a school or hospital,
15351Leaves money to certain companions to buy tokens, souvenirs of gems
15352    and gold.
15353
15354But I, my life surveying, closing,
15355With nothing to show to devise from its idle years,
15356Nor houses nor lands, nor tokens of gems or gold for my friends,
15357Yet certain remembrances of the war for you, and after you,
15358And little souvenirs of camps and soldiers, with my love,
15359I bind together and bequeath in this bundle of songs.
15360
15361
15362
15363
15364Pensive on her dead gazing I heard the Mother of All,
15365Desperate on the torn bodies, on the forms covering the battlefields gazing,
15366(As the last gun ceased, but the scent of the powder-smoke linger'd,)
15367As she call'd to her earth with mournful voice while she stalk'd,
15368Absorb them well O my earth, she cried, I charge you lose not my
15369    sons, lose not an atom,
15370And you streams absorb them well, taking their dear blood,
15371And you local spots, and you airs that swim above lightly impalpable,
15372And all you essences of soil and growth, and you my rivers' depths,
15373And you mountain sides, and the woods where my dear children's
15374    blood trickling redden'd,
15375And you trees down in your roots to bequeath to all future trees,
15376My dead absorb or South or North--my young men's bodies absorb,
15377    and their precious precious blood,
15378Which holding in trust for me faithfully back again give me many a
15379    year hence,
15380In unseen essence and odor of surface and grass, centuries hence,
15381In blowing airs from the fields back again give me my darlings, give
15382    my immortal heroes,
15383Exhale me them centuries hence, breathe me their breath, let not an
15384    atom be lost,
15385O years and graves! O air and soil! O my dead, an aroma sweet!
15386Exhale them perennial sweet death, years, centuries hence.
15387
15388
15389
15390
15391Nor alone those camps of white, old comrades of the wars,
15392When as order'd forward, after a long march,
15393Footsore and weary, soon as the light lessens we halt for the night,
15394Some of us so fatigued carrying the gun and knapsack, dropping
15395    asleep in our tracks,
15396Others pitching the little tents, and the fires lit up begin to sparkle,
15397Outposts of pickets posted surrounding alert through the dark,
15398And a word provided for countersign, careful for safety,
15399Till to the call of the drummers at daybreak loudly beating the drums,
15400We rise up refresh'd, the night and sleep pass'd over, and resume our
15401    journey,
15402Or proceed to battle.
15403
15404Lo, the camps of the tents of green,
15405Which the days of peace keep filling, and the days of war keep filling,
15406With a mystic army, (is it too order'd forward? is it too only
15407    halting awhile,
15408Till night and sleep pass over?)
15409
15410Now in those camps of green, in their tents dotting the world,
15411In the parents, children, husbands, wives, in them, in the old and young,
15412Sleeping under the sunlight, sleeping under the moonlight, content
15413    and silent there at last,
15414Behold the mighty bivouac-field and waiting-camp of all,
15415Of the corps and generals all, and the President over the corps and
15416    generals all,
15417And of each of us O soldiers, and of each and all in the ranks we fought,
15418(There without hatred we all, all meet.)
15419
15420For presently O soldiers, we too camp in our place in the
15421    bivouac-camps of green,
15422But we need not provide for outposts, nor word for the countersign,
15423Nor drummer to beat the morning drum.
15424
15425
15426
15427
15428The sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news everywhere,
15429The slumberers rouse, the rapport of the People,
15430(Full well they know that message in the darkness,
15431Full well return, respond within their breasts, their brains, the
15432    sad reverberations,)
15433The passionate toll and clang--city to city, joining, sounding, passing,
15434Those heart-beats of a Nation in the night.
15435
15436
15437
15438
15439As they draw to a close,
15440Of what underlies the precedent songs--of my aims in them,
15441Of the seed I have sought to plant in them,
15442Of joy, sweet joy, through many a year, in them,
15443(For them, for them have I lived, in them my work is done,)
15444Of many an aspiration fond, of many a dream and plan;
15445Through Space and Time fused in a chant, and the flowing eternal identity,
15446To Nature encompassing these, encompassing God--to the joyous,
15447    electric all,
15448To the sense of Death, and accepting exulting in Death in its turn
15449    the same as life,
15450The entrance of man to sing;
15451To compact you, ye parted, diverse lives,
15452To put rapport the mountains and rocks and streams,
15453And the winds of the north, and the forests of oak and pine,
15454With you O soul.
15455
15456
15457
15458
15459Joy, shipmate, Joy!
15460(Pleas'd to my soul at death I cry,)
15461Our life is closed, our life begins,
15462The long, long anchorage we leave,
15463The ship is clear at last, she leaps!
15464She swiftly courses from the shore,
15465Joy, shipmate, joy.
15466
15467
15468
15469
15470The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
15471Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find.
15472
15473
15474
15475
15476What are those of the known but to ascend and enter the Unknown?
15477And what are those of life but for Death?
15478
15479
15480
15481
15482These carols sung to cheer my passage through the world I see,
15483For completion I dedicate to the Invisible World.
15484
15485
15486
15487
15488Now finale to the shore,
15489Now land and life finale and farewell,
15490Now Voyager depart, (much, much for thee is yet in store,)
15491Often enough hast thou adventur'd o'er the seas,
15492Cautiously cruising, studying the charts,
15493Duly again to port and hawser's tie returning;
15494But now obey thy cherish'd secret wish,
15495Embrace thy friends, leave all in order,
15496To port and hawser's tie no more returning,
15497Depart upon thy endless cruise old Sailor.
15498
15499
15500
15501
15502To conclude, I announce what comes after me.
15503
15504I remember I said before my leaves sprang at all,
15505I would raise my voice jocund and strong with reference to consummations.
15506
15507When America does what was promis'd,
15508When through these States walk a hundred millions of superb persons,
15509When the rest part away for superb persons and contribute to them,
15510When breeds of the most perfect mothers denote America,
15511Then to me and mine our due fruition.
15512
15513I have press'd through in my own right,
15514I have sung the body and the soul, war and peace have I sung, and
15515    the songs of life and death,
15516And the songs of birth, and shown that there are many births.
15517
15518I have offer'd my style to every one, I have journey'd with confident step;
15519While my pleasure is yet at the full I whisper So long!
15520And take the young woman's hand and the young man's hand for the last time.
15521
15522I announce natural persons to arise,
15523I announce justice triumphant,
15524I announce uncompromising liberty and equality,
15525I announce the justification of candor and the justification of pride.
15526
15527I announce that the identity of these States is a single identity only,
15528I announce the Union more and more compact, indissoluble,
15529I announce splendors and majesties to make all the previous politics
15530    of the earth insignificant.
15531
15532I announce adhesiveness, I say it shall be limitless, unloosen'd,
15533I say you shall yet find the friend you were looking for.
15534
15535I announce a man or woman coming, perhaps you are the one, (So long!)
15536I announce the great individual, fluid as Nature, chaste,
15537    affectionate, compassionate, fully arm'd.
15538
15539I announce a life that shall be copious, vehement, spiritual, bold,
15540I announce an end that shall lightly and joyfully meet its translation.
15541
15542I announce myriads of youths, beautiful, gigantic, sweet-blooded,
15543I announce a race of splendid and savage old men.
15544
15545O thicker and faster--(So long!)
15546O crowding too close upon me,
15547I foresee too much, it means more than I thought,
15548It appears to me I am dying.
15549
15550Hasten throat and sound your last,
15551Salute me--salute the days once more. Peal the old cry once more.
15552
15553Screaming electric, the atmosphere using,
15554At random glancing, each as I notice absorbing,
15555Swiftly on, but a little while alighting,
15556Curious envelop'd messages delivering,
15557Sparkles hot, seed ethereal down in the dirt dropping,
15558Myself unknowing, my commission obeying, to question it never daring,
15559To ages and ages yet the growth of the seed leaving,
15560To troops out of the war arising, they the tasks I have set
15561promulging,
15562To women certain whispers of myself bequeathing, their affection
15563    me more clearly explaining,
15564To young men my problems offering--no dallier I--I the muscle of
15565    their brains trying,
15566So I pass, a little time vocal, visible, contrary,
15567Afterward a melodious echo, passionately bent for, (death making
15568    me really undying,)
15569The best of me then when no longer visible, for toward that I have
15570    been incessantly preparing.
15571
15572What is there more, that I lag and pause and crouch extended with
15573    unshut mouth?
15574Is there a single final farewell?
15575My songs cease, I abandon them,
15576From behind the screen where I hid I advance personally solely to you.
15577
15578Camerado, this is no book,
15579Who touches this touches a man,
15580(Is it night? are we here together alone?)
15581It is I you hold and who holds you,
15582I spring from the pages into your arms--decease calls me forth.
15583
15584O how your fingers drowse me,
15585Your breath falls around me like dew, your pulse lulls the tympans
15586    of my ears,
15587I feel immerged from head to foot,
15588Delicious, enough.
15589
15590Enough O deed impromptu and secret,
15591Enough O gliding present--enough O summ'd-up past.
15592
15593Dear friend whoever you are take this kiss,
15594I give it especially to you, do not forget me,
15595I feel like one who has done work for the day to retire awhile,
15596I receive now again of my many translations, from my avataras
15597    ascending, while others doubtless await me,
15598An unknown sphere more real than I dream'd, more direct, darts
15599    awakening rays about me, So long!
15600Remember my words, I may again return,
15601I love you, I depart from materials,
15602I am as one disembodied, triumphant, dead.
15603
15604
15605
15606
15607
15608My city's fit and noble name resumed,
15609Choice aboriginal name, with marvellous beauty, meaning,
15610A rocky founded island--shores where ever gayly dash the coming,
15611    going, hurrying sea waves.
15612
15613
15614
15615
15616Sea-beauty! stretch'd and basking!
15617One side thy inland ocean laving, broad, with copious commerce,
15618    steamers, sails,
15619And one the Atlantic's wind caressing, fierce or gentle--mighty hulls
15620    dark-gliding in the distance.
15621Isle of sweet brooks of drinking-water--healthy air and soil!
15622Isle of the salty shore and breeze and brine!
15623
15624
15625
15626
15627I stand as on some mighty eagle's beak,
15628Eastward the sea absorbing, viewing, (nothing but sea and sky,)
15629The tossing waves, the foam, the ships in the distance,
15630The wild unrest, the snowy, curling caps--that inbound urge and urge
15631    of waves,
15632Seeking the shores forever.
15633
15634
15635
15636
15637To those who've fail'd, in aspiration vast,
15638To unnam'd soldiers fallen in front on the lead,
15639To calm, devoted engineers--to over-ardent travelers--to pilots on
15640    their ships,
15641To many a lofty song and picture without recognition--I'd rear
15642    laurel-cover'd monument,
15643High, high above the rest--To all cut off before their time,
15644Possess'd by some strange spirit of fire,
15645Quench'd by an early death.
15646
15647
15648
15649
15650A carol closing sixty-nine--a resume--a repetition,
15651My lines in joy and hope continuing on the same,
15652Of ye, O God, Life, Nature, Freedom, Poetry;
15653Of you, my Land--your rivers, prairies, States--you, mottled Flag I love,
15654Your aggregate retain'd entire--Of north, south, east and west, your
15655    items all;
15656Of me myself--the jocund heart yet beating in my breast,
15657The body wreck'd, old, poor and paralyzed--the strange inertia
15658    falling pall-like round me,
15659The burning fires down in my sluggish blood not yet extinct,
15660The undiminish'd faith--the groups of loving friends.
15661
15662
15663
15664
15665Brave, brave were the soldiers (high named to-day) who lived through
15666    the fight;
15667But the bravest press'd to the front and fell, unnamed, unknown.
15668
15669
15670
15671
15672This latent mine--these unlaunch'd voices--passionate powers,
15673Wrath, argument, or praise, or comic leer, or prayer devout,
15674(Not nonpareil, brevier, bourgeois, long primer merely,)
15675These ocean waves arousable to fury and to death,
15676Or sooth'd to ease and sheeny sun and sleep,
15677Within the pallid slivers slumbering.
15678
15679
15680
15681
15682As I sit writing here, sick and grown old,
15683Not my least burden is that dulness of the years, querilities,
15684Ungracious glooms, aches, lethargy, constipation, whimpering ennui,
15685May filter in my dally songs.
15686
15687
15688
15689
15690Did we count great, O soul, to penetrate the themes of mighty books,
15691Absorbing deep and full from thoughts, plays, speculations?
15692But now from thee to me, caged bird, to feel thy joyous warble,
15693Filling the air, the lonesome room, the long forenoon,
15694Is it not just as great, O soul?
15695
15696
15697
15698
15699Approaching, nearing, curious,
15700Thou dim, uncertain spectre--bringest thou life or death?
15701Strength, weakness, blindness, more paralysis and heavier?
15702Or placid skies and sun? Wilt stir the waters yet?
15703Or haply cut me short for good? Or leave me here as now,
15704Dull, parrot-like and old, with crack'd voice harping, screeching?
15705
15706
15707
15708
15709Greater than memory of Achilles or Ulysses,
15710More, more by far to thee than tomb of Alexander,
15711Those cart loads of old charnel ashes, scales and splints of mouldy bones,
15712Once living men--once resolute courage, aspiration, strength,
15713The stepping stones to thee to-day and here, America.
15714
15715
15716
15717
15718Simple and fresh and fair from winter's close emerging,
15719As if no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been,
15720Forth from its sunny nook of shelter'd grass--innocent, golden, calm
15721    as the dawn,
15722The spring's first dandelion shows its trustful face.
15723
15724
15725
15726
15727Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
15728All, all alike endear'd, grown, ungrown, young or old,
15729Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
15730Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
15731A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
15732Chair'd in the adamant of Time.
15733
15734
15735
15736
15737How sweet the silent backward tracings!
15738The wanderings as in dreams--the meditation of old times resumed
15739    --their loves, joys, persons, voyages.
15740
15741
15742
15743
15744The appointed winners in a long-stretch'd game;
15745The course of Time and nations--Egypt, India, Greece and Rome;
15746The past entire, with all its heroes, histories, arts, experiments,
15747Its store of songs, inventions, voyages, teachers, books,
15748Garner'd for now and thee--To think of it!
15749The heirdom all converged in thee!
15750
15751
15752
15753
15754After the dazzle of day is gone,
15755Only the dark, dark night shows to my eyes the stars;
15756After the clangor of organ majestic, or chorus, or perfect band,
15757Silent, athwart my soul, moves the symphony true.
15758
15759
15760
15761
15762To-day, from each and all, a breath of prayer--a pulse of thought,
15763To memory of Him--to birth of Him.
15764
15765
15766
15767
15768Apple orchards, the trees all cover'd with blossoms;
15769Wheat fields carpeted far and near in vital emerald green;
15770The eternal, exhaustless freshness of each early morning;
15771The yellow, golden, transparent haze of the warm afternoon sun;
15772The aspiring lilac bushes with profuse purple or white flowers.
15773
15774
15775
15776
15777Not from successful love alone,
15778Nor wealth, nor honor'd middle age, nor victories of politics or war;
15779But as life wanes, and all the turbulent passions calm,
15780As gorgeous, vapory, silent hues cover the evening sky,
15781As softness, fulness, rest, suffuse the frame, like freshier, balmier air,
15782As the days take on a mellower light, and the apple at last hangs
15783    really finish'd and indolent-ripe on the tree,
15784Then for the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!
15785The brooding and blissful halcyon days!
15786
15787
15788
15789
15790
15791Steaming the northern rapids--(an old St. Lawrence reminiscence,
15792A sudden memory-flash comes back, I know not why,
15793Here waiting for the sunrise, gazing from this hill;)
15794Again 'tis just at morning--a heavy haze contends with daybreak,
15795Again the trembling, laboring vessel veers me--I press through
15796    foam-dash'd rocks that almost touch me,
15797Again I mark where aft the small thin Indian helmsman
15798Looms in the mist, with brow elate and governing hand.
15799
15800
15801
15802
15803Had I the choice to tally greatest bards,
15804To limn their portraits, stately, beautiful, and emulate at will,
15805Homer with all his wars and warriors--Hector, Achilles, Ajax,
15806Or Shakspere's woe-entangled Hamlet, Lear, Othello--Tennyson's fair ladies,
15807Metre or wit the best, or choice conceit to wield in perfect rhyme,
15808    delight of singers;
15809These, these, O sea, all these I'd gladly barter,
15810Would you the undulation of one wave, its trick to me transfer,
15811Or breathe one breath of yours upon my verse,
15812And leave its odor there.
15813
15814
15815
15816
15817You tides with ceaseless swell! you power that does this work!
15818You unseen force, centripetal, centrifugal, through space's spread,
15819Rapport of sun, moon, earth, and all the constellations,
15820What are the messages by you from distant stars to us? what Sirius'?
15821    what Capella's?
15822What central heart--and you the pulse--vivifies all? what boundless
15823    aggregate of all?
15824What subtle indirection and significance in you? what clue to all in
15825    you? what fluid, vast identity,
15826Holding the universe with all its parts as one--as sailing in a ship?
15827
15828
15829
15830
15831Last of ebb, and daylight waning,
15832Scented sea-cool landward making, smells of sedge and salt incoming,
15833With many a half-caught voice sent up from the eddies,
15834Many a muffled confession--many a sob and whisper'd word,
15835As of speakers far or hid.
15836
15837How they sweep down and out! how they mutter!
15838Poets unnamed--artists greatest of any, with cherish'd lost designs,
15839Love's unresponse--a chorus of age's complaints--hope's last words,
15840Some suicide's despairing cry, Away to the boundless waste, and
15841    never again return.
15842
15843On to oblivion then!
15844On, on, and do your part, ye burying, ebbing tide!
15845On for your time, ye furious debouche!
15846
15847
15848
15849
15850And yet not you alone, twilight and burying ebb,
15851Nor you, ye lost designs alone--nor failures, aspirations;
15852I know, divine deceitful ones, your glamour's seeming;
15853Duly by you, from you, the tide and light again--duly the hinges turning,
15854Duly the needed discord-parts offsetting, blending,
15855Weaving from you, from Sleep, Night, Death itself,
15856The rhythmus of Birth eternal.
15857
15858
15859
15860
15861Proudly the flood comes in, shouting, foaming, advancing,
15862Long it holds at the high, with bosom broad outswelling,
15863All throbs, dilates--the farms, woods, streets of cities--workmen at work,
15864Mainsails, topsails, jibs, appear in the offing--steamers' pennants
15865    of smoke--and under the forenoon sun,
15866Freighted with human lives, gaily the outward bound, gaily the
15867    inward bound,
15868Flaunting from many a spar the flag I love.
15869
15870
15871
15872
15873By that long scan of waves, myself call'd back, resumed upon myself,
15874In every crest some undulating light or shade--some retrospect,
15875Joys, travels, studies, silent panoramas--scenes ephemeral,
15876The long past war, the battles, hospital sights, the wounded and the dead,
15877Myself through every by-gone phase--my idle youth--old age at hand,
15878My three-score years of life summ'd up, and more, and past,
15879By any grand ideal tried, intentionless, the whole a nothing,
15880And haply yet some drop within God's scheme's ensemble--some
15881    wave, or part of wave,
15882Like one of yours, ye multitudinous ocean.
15883
15884
15885
15886
15887Then last of all, caught from these shores, this hill,
15888Of you O tides, the mystic human meaning:
15889Only by law of you, your swell and ebb, enclosing me the same,
15890The brain that shapes, the voice that chants this song.
15891
15892
15893
15894
15895If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
15896'Twould not be you, Niagara--nor you, ye limitless prairies--nor
15897    your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
15898Nor you, Yosemite--nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic
15899    geyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,
15900Nor Oregon's white cones--nor Huron's belt of mighty lakes--nor
15901    Mississippi's stream:
15902--This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, I'd name--the still
15903    small voice vibrating--America's choosing day,
15904(The heart of it not in the chosen--the act itself the main, the
15905    quadriennial choosing,)
15906The stretch of North and South arous'd--sea-board and inland--
15907    Texas to Maine--the Prairie States--Vermont, Virginia, California,
15908The final ballot-shower from East to West--the paradox and conflict,
15909The countless snow-flakes falling--(a swordless conflict,
15910Yet more than all Rome's wars of old, or modern Napoleon's:) the
15911    peaceful choice of all,
15912Or good or ill humanity--welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
15913--Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify--while the heart
15914    pants, life glows:
15915These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
15916Swell'd Washington's, Jefferson's, Lincoln's sails.
15917
15918
15919
15920
15921With husky-haughty lips, O sea!
15922Where day and night I wend thy surf-beat shore,
15923Imaging to my sense thy varied strange suggestions,
15924(I see and plainly list thy talk and conference here,)
15925Thy troops of white-maned racers racing to the goal,
15926Thy ample, smiling face, dash'd with the sparkling dimples of the sun,
15927Thy brooding scowl and murk--thy unloos'd hurricanes,
15928Thy unsubduedness, caprices, wilfulness;
15929Great as thou art above the rest, thy many tears--a lack from all
15930    eternity in thy content,
15931(Naught but the greatest struggles, wrongs, defeats, could make thee
15932    greatest--no less could make thee,)
15933Thy lonely state--something thou ever seek'st and seek'st, yet
15934    never gain'st,
15935Surely some right withheld--some voice, in huge monotonous rage, of
15936    freedom-lover pent,
15937Some vast heart, like a planet's, chain'd and chafing in those breakers,
15938By lengthen'd swell, and spasm, and panting breath,
15939And rhythmic rasping of thy sands and waves,
15940And serpent hiss, and savage peals of laughter,
15941And undertones of distant lion roar,
15942(Sounding, appealing to the sky's deaf ear--but now, rapport for once,
15943A phantom in the night thy confidant for once,)
15944The first and last confession of the globe,
15945Outsurging, muttering from thy soul's abysms,
15946The tale of cosmic elemental passion,
15947Thou tellest to a kindred soul.
15948
15949
15950
15951
15952As one by one withdraw the lofty actors,
15953From that great play on history's stage eterne,
15954That lurid, partial act of war and peace--of old and new contending,
15955Fought out through wrath, fears, dark dismays, and many a long suspense;
15956All past--and since, in countless graves receding, mellowing,
15957Victor's and vanquish'd--Lincoln's and Lee's--now thou with them,
15958Man of the mighty days--and equal to the days!
15959Thou from the prairies!--tangled and many-vein'd and hard has been thy part,
15960To admiration has it been enacted!
15961
15962
15963
15964
15965Upon this scene, this show,
15966Yielded to-day by fashion, learning, wealth,
15967(Nor in caprice alone--some grains of deepest meaning,)
15968Haply, aloft, (who knows?) from distant sky-clouds' blended shapes,
15969As some old tree, or rock or cliff, thrill'd with its soul,
15970Product of Nature's sun, stars, earth direct--a towering human form,
15971In hunting-shirt of film, arm'd with the rifle, a half-ironical
15972    smile curving its phantom lips,
15973Like one of Ossian's ghosts looks down.
15974
15975
15976
15977
15978Ah, not this marble, dead and cold:
15979Far from its base and shaft expanding--the round zones circling,
15980    comprehending,
15981Thou, Washington, art all the world's, the continents' entire--not
15982    yours alone, America,
15983Europe's as well, in every part, castle of lord or laborer's cot,
15984Or frozen North, or sultry South--the African's--the Arab's in his tent,
15985Old Asia's there with venerable smile, seated amid her ruins;
15986(Greets the antique the hero new? 'tis but the same--the heir
15987    legitimate, continued ever,
15988The indomitable heart and arm--proofs of the never-broken line,
15989Courage, alertness, patience, faith, the same--e'en in defeat
15990    defeated not, the same:)
15991Wherever sails a ship, or house is built on land, or day or night,
15992Through teeming cities' streets, indoors or out, factories or farms,
15993Now, or to come, or past--where patriot wills existed or exist,
15994Wherever Freedom, pois'd by Toleration, sway'd by Law,
15995Stands or is rising thy true monument.
15996
15997
15998
15999
16000Of that blithe throat of thine from arctic bleak and blank,
16001I'll mind the lesson, solitary bird--let me too welcome chilling drifts,
16002E'en the profoundest chill, as now--a torpid pulse, a brain unnerv'd,
16003Old age land-lock'd within its winter bay--(cold, cold, O cold!)
16004These snowy hairs, my feeble arm, my frozen feet,
16005For them thy faith, thy rule I take, and grave it to the last;
16006Not summer's zones alone--not chants of youth, or south's warm tides alone,
16007But held by sluggish floes, pack'd in the northern ice, the cumulus
16008    of years,
16009These with gay heart I also sing.
16010
16011
16012
16013
16014What hurrying human tides, or day or night!
16015What passions, winnings, losses, ardors, swim thy waters!
16016What whirls of evil, bliss and sorrow, stem thee!
16017What curious questioning glances--glints of love!
16018Leer, envy, scorn, contempt, hope, aspiration!
16019Thou portal--thou arena--thou of the myriad long-drawn lines and groups!
16020(Could but thy flagstones, curbs, facades, tell their inimitable tales;
16021Thy windows rich, and huge hotels--thy side-walks wide;)
16022Thou of the endless sliding, mincing, shuffling feet!
16023Thou, like the parti-colored world itself--like infinite, teeming,
16024    mocking life!
16025Thou visor'd, vast, unspeakable show and lesson!
16026
16027
16028
16029
16030To get the final lilt of songs,
16031To penetrate the inmost lore of poets--to know the mighty ones,
16032Job, Homer, Eschylus, Dante, Shakespere, Tennyson, Emerson;
16033To diagnose the shifting-delicate tints of love and pride and doubt--
16034    to truly understand,
16035To encompass these, the last keen faculty and entrance-price,
16036Old age, and what it brings from all its past experiences.
16037
16038
16039
16040
16041Far back, related on my mother's side,
16042Old Salt Kossabone, I'll tell you how he died:
16043(Had been a sailor all his life--was nearly --lived with his
16044    married grandchild, Jenny;
16045House on a hill, with view of bay at hand, and distant cape, and
16046    stretch to open sea;)
16047The last of afternoons, the evening hours, for many a year his
16048    regular custom,
16049In his great arm chair by the window seated,
16050(Sometimes, indeed, through half the day,)
16051Watching the coming, going of the vessels, he mutters to himself--
16052    And now the close of all:
16053One struggling outbound brig, one day, baffled for long--cross-tides
16054    and much wrong going,
16055At last at nightfall strikes the breeze aright, her whole luck veering,
16056And swiftly bending round the cape, the darkness proudly entering,
16057    cleaving, as he watches,
16058"She's free--she's on her destination"--these the last words--when
16059    Jenny came, he sat there dead,
16060Dutch Kossabone, Old Salt, related on my mother's side, far back.
16061
16062
16063
16064
16065As down the stage again,
16066With Spanish hat and plumes, and gait inimitable,
16067Back from the fading lessons of the past, I'd call, I'd tell and own,
16068How much from thee! the revelation of the singing voice from thee!
16069(So firm--so liquid-soft--again that tremulous, manly timbre!
16070The perfect singing voice--deepest of all to me the lesson--trial
16071    and test of all:)
16072How through those strains distill'd--how the rapt ears, the soul of
16073    me, absorbing
16074Fernando's heart, Manrico's passionate call, Ernani's, sweet Gennaro's,
16075I fold thenceforth, or seek to fold, within my chants transmuting,
16076Freedom's and Love's and Faith's unloos'd cantabile,
16077(As perfume's, color's, sunlight's correlation:)
16078From these, for these, with these, a hurried line, dead tenor,
16079A wafted autumn leaf, dropt in the closing grave, the shovel'd earth,
16080To memory of thee.
16081
16082
16083
16084
16085Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost,
16086No birth, identity, form--no object of the world.
16087Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing;
16088Appearance must not foil, nor shifted sphere confuse thy brain.
16089Ample are time and space--ample the fields of Nature.
16090The body, sluggish, aged, cold--the embers left from earlier fires,
16091The light in the eye grown dim, shall duly flame again;
16092The sun now low in the west rises for mornings and for noons continual;
16093To frozen clods ever the spring's invisible law returns,
16094With grass and flowers and summer fruits and corn.
16095
16096
16097
16098
16099A song, a poem of itself--the word itself a dirge,
16100Amid the wilds, the rocks, the storm and wintry night,
16101To me such misty, strange tableaux the syllables calling up;
16102Yonnondio--I see, far in the west or north, a limitless ravine, with
16103    plains and mountains dark,
16104I see swarms of stalwart chieftains, medicine-men, and warriors,
16105As flitting by like clouds of ghosts, they pass and are gone in the
16106    twilight,
16107(Race of the woods, the landscapes free, and the falls!
16108No picture, poem, statement, passing them to the future:)
16109Yonnondio! Yonnondio!--unlimn'd they disappear;
16110To-day gives place, and fades--the cities, farms, factories fade;
16111A muffled sonorous sound, a wailing word is borne through the air
16112    for a moment,
16113Then blank and gone and still, and utterly lost.
16114
16115
16116
16117
16118Ever the undiscouraged, resolute, struggling soul of man;
16119(Have former armies fail'd? then we send fresh armies--and fresh again;)
16120Ever the grappled mystery of all earth's ages old or new;
16121Ever the eager eyes, hurrahs, the welcome-clapping hands, the loud
16122    applause;
16123Ever the soul dissatisfied, curious, unconvinced at last;
16124Struggling to-day the same--battling the same.
16125
16126
16127
16128
16129My science-friend, my noblest woman-friend,
16130(Now buried in an English grave--and this a memory-leaf for her dear sake,)
16131Ended our talk--"The sum, concluding all we know of old or modern
16132    learning, intuitions deep,
16133"Of all Geologies--Histories--of all Astronomy--of Evolution,
16134    Metaphysics all,
16135"Is, that we all are onward, onward, speeding slowly, surely bettering,
16136"Life, life an endless march, an endless army, (no halt, but it is
16137    duly over,)
16138"The world, the race, the soul--in space and time the universes,
16139"All bound as is befitting each--all surely going somewhere."
16140
16141
16142
16143
16144Small the theme of my Chant, yet the greatest--namely, One's-Self--
16145    a simple, separate person. That, for the use of the New World, I sing.
16146Man's physiology complete, from top to toe, I sing. Not physiognomy alone,
16147    nor brain alone, is worthy for the Muse;--I say the Form complete
16148    is worthier far. The Female equally with the Male, I sing.
16149Nor cease at the theme of One's-Self. I speak the word of the
16150    modern, the word En-Masse.
16151My Days I sing, and the Lands--with interstice I knew of hapless War.
16152(O friend, whoe'er you are, at last arriving hither to commence, I
16153    feel through every leaf the pressure of your hand, which I return.
16154And thus upon our journey, footing the road, and more than once, and
16155    link'd together let us go.)
16156
16157
16158
16159
16160Old farmers, travelers, workmen (no matter how crippled or bent,)
16161Old sailors, out of many a perilous voyage, storm and wreck,
16162Old soldiers from campaigns, with all their wounds, defeats and scars;
16163Enough that they've survived at all--long life's unflinching ones!
16164Forth from their struggles, trials, fights, to have emerged at all--
16165    in that alone,
16166True conquerors o'er all the rest.
16167
16168
16169
16170
16171Here first the duties of to-day, the lessons of the concrete,
16172Wealth, order, travel, shelter, products, plenty;
16173As of the building of some varied, vast, perpetual edifice,
16174Whence to arise inevitable in time, the towering roofs, the lamps,
16175The solid-planted spires tall shooting to the stars.
16176
16177
16178
16179
16180That coursing on, whate'er men's speculations,
16181Amid the changing schools, theologies, philosophies,
16182Amid the bawling presentations new and old,
16183The round earth's silent vital laws, facts, modes continue.
16184
16185
16186
16187
16188Thanks in old age--thanks ere I go,
16189For health, the midday sun, the impalpable air--for life, mere life,
16190For precious ever-lingering memories, (of you my mother dear--you,
16191    father--you, brothers, sisters, friends,)
16192For all my days--not those of peace alone--the days of war the same,
16193For gentle words, caresses, gifts from foreign lands,
16194For shelter, wine and meat--for sweet appreciation,
16195(You distant, dim unknown--or young or old--countless, unspecified,
16196    readers belov'd,
16197We never met, and neer shall meet--and yet our souls embrace, long,
16198    close and long;)
16199For beings, groups, love, deeds, words, books--for colors, forms,
16200For all the brave strong men--devoted, hardy men--who've forward
16201    sprung in freedom's help, all years, all lands
16202For braver, stronger, more devoted men--(a special laurel ere I go,
16203    to life's war's chosen ones,
16204The cannoneers of song and thought--the great artillerists--the
16205    foremost leaders, captains of the soul:)
16206As soldier from an ended war return'd--As traveler out of myriads,
16207    to the long procession retrospective,
16208Thanks--joyful thanks!--a soldier's, traveler's thanks.
16209
16210
16211
16212
16213The two old, simple problems ever intertwined,
16214Close home, elusive, present, baffled, grappled.
16215By each successive age insoluble, pass'd on,
16216To ours to-day--and we pass on the same.
16217
16218
16219
16220
16221And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
16222Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:
16223I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
16224Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
16225Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely form'd, altogether changed, and
16226    yet the same,
16227I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
16228And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
16229And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
16230    and make pure and beautify it;
16231(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering,
16232Reck'd or unreck'd, duly with love returns.)
16233
16234
16235
16236
16237Soon shall the winter's foil be here;
16238Soon shall these icy ligatures unbind and melt--A little while,
16239And air, soil, wave, suffused shall be in softness, bloom and
16240    growth--a thousand forms shall rise
16241From these dead clods and chills as from low burial graves.
16242
16243Thine eyes, ears--all thy best attributes--all that takes cognizance
16244    of natural beauty,
16245Shall wake and fill. Thou shalt perceive the simple shows, the
16246    delicate miracles of earth,
16247Dandelions, clover, the emerald grass, the early scents and flowers,
16248The arbutus under foot, the willow's yellow-green, the blossoming
16249    plum and cherry;
16250With these the robin, lark and thrush, singing their songs--the
16251    flitting bluebird;
16252For such the scenes the annual play brings on.
16253
16254
16255
16256
16257While not the past forgetting,
16258To-day, at least, contention sunk entire--peace, brotherhood uprisen;
16259For sign reciprocal our Northern, Southern hands,
16260Lay on the graves of all dead soldiers, North or South,
16261(Nor for the past alone--for meanings to the future,)
16262Wreaths of roses and branches of palm.
16263
16264
16265
16266
16267Amid these days of order, ease, prosperity,
16268Amid the current songs of beauty, peace, decorum,
16269I cast a reminiscence--(likely 'twill offend you,
16270I heard it in my boyhood;)--More than a generation since,
16271A queer old savage man, a fighter under Washington himself,
16272(Large, brave, cleanly, hot-blooded, no talker, rather spiritualistic,
16273Had fought in the ranks--fought well--had been all through the
16274    Revolutionary war,)
16275Lay dying--sons, daughters, church-deacons, lovingly tending him,
16276Sharping their sense, their ears, towards his murmuring, half-caught words:
16277"Let me return again to my war-days,
16278To the sights and scenes--to forming the line of battle,
16279To the scouts ahead reconnoitering,
16280To the cannons, the grim artillery,
16281To the galloping aides, carrying orders,
16282To the wounded, the fallen, the heat, the suspense,
16283The perfume strong, the smoke, the deafening noise;
16284Away with your life of peace!--your joys of peace!
16285Give me my old wild battle-life again!"
16286
16287
16288
16289
16290Have you learn'd lessons only of those who admired you, and were
16291    tender with you, and stood aside for you?
16292Have you not learn'd great lessons from those who reject you, and
16293    brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt,
16294    or dispute the passage with you?
16295
16296
16297
16298
16299Shot gold, maroon and violet, dazzling silver, emerald, fawn,
16300The earth's whole amplitude and Nature's multiform power consign'd
16301    for once to colors;
16302The light, the general air possess'd by them--colors till now unknown,
16303No limit, confine--not the Western sky alone--the high meridian--
16304    North, South, all,
16305Pure luminous color fighting the silent shadows to the last.
16306
16307
16308
16309
16310Down on the ancient wharf, the sand, I sit, with a new-comer chatting:
16311He shipp'd as green-hand boy, and sail'd away, (took some sudden,
16312    vehement notion;)
16313Since, twenty years and more have circled round and round,
16314While he the globe was circling round and round, --and now returns:
16315How changed the place--all the old land-marks gone--the parents dead;
16316(Yes, he comes back to lay in port for good--to settle--has a
16317    well-fill'd purse--no spot will do but this;)
16318The little boat that scull'd him from the sloop, now held in leash I see,
16319I hear the slapping waves, the restless keel, the rocking in the sand,
16320I see the sailor kit, the canvas bag, the great box bound with brass,
16321I scan the face all berry-brown and bearded--the stout-strong frame,
16322Dress'd in its russet suit of good Scotch cloth:
16323(Then what the told-out story of those twenty years? What of the future?)
16324
16325
16326
16327
16328A lesser proof than old Voltaire's, yet greater,
16329Proof of this present time, and thee, thy broad expanse, America,
16330To my plain Northern hut, in outside clouds and snow,
16331Brought safely for a thousand miles o'er land and tide,
16332Some three days since on their own soil live-sprouting,
16333Now here their sweetness through my room unfolding,
16334A bunch of orange buds by mall from Florida.
16335
16336
16337
16338
16339The soft voluptuous opiate shades,
16340The sun just gone, the eager light dispell'd--(I too will soon be
16341    gone, dispell'd,)
16342A haze--nirwana--rest and night--oblivion.
16343
16344
16345
16346
16347You lingering sparse leaves of me on winter-nearing boughs,
16348And I some well-shorn tree of field or orchard-row;
16349You tokens diminute and lorn--(not now the flush of May, or July
16350    clover-bloom--no grain of August now;)
16351You pallid banner-staves--you pennants valueless--you overstay'd of time,
16352Yet my soul-dearest leaves confirming all the rest,
16353The faithfulest--hardiest--last.
16354
16355
16356
16357
16358Not meagre, latent boughs alone, O songs! (scaly and bare, like
16359    eagles' talons,)
16360But haply for some sunny day (who knows?) some future spring, some
16361    summer--bursting forth,
16362To verdant leaves, or sheltering shade--to nourishing fruit,
16363Apples and grapes--the stalwart limbs of trees emerging--the fresh,
16364    free, open air,
16365And love and faith, like scented roses blooming.
16366
16367
16368
16369
16370To-day, with bending head and eyes, thou, too, Columbia,
16371Less for the mighty crown laid low in sorrow--less for the Emperor,
16372Thy true condolence breathest, sendest out o'er many a salt sea mile,
16373Mourning a good old man--a faithful shepherd, patriot.
16374
16375
16376
16377
16378As the Greek's signal flame, by antique records told,
16379Rose from the hill-top, like applause and glory,
16380Welcoming in fame some special veteran, hero,
16381With rosy tinge reddening the land he'd served,
16382So I aloft from Mannahatta's ship-fringed shore,
16383Lift high a kindled brand for thee, Old Poet.
16384
16385
16386
16387
16388In some unused lagoon, some nameless bay,
16389On sluggish, lonesome waters, anchor'd near the shore,
16390An old, dismasted, gray and batter'd ship, disabled, done,
16391After free voyages to all the seas of earth, haul'd up at last and
16392    hawser'd tight,
16393Lies rusting, mouldering.
16394
16395
16396
16397
16398Now precedent songs, farewell--by every name farewell,
16399(Trains of a staggering line in many a strange procession, waggons,
16400From ups and downs--with intervals--from elder years, mid-age, or youth,)
16401"In Cabin'd Ships, or Thee Old Cause or Poets to Come
16402Or Paumanok, Song of Myself, Calamus, or Adam,
16403Or Beat! Beat! Drums! or To the Leaven'd Soil they Trod,
16404Or Captain! My Captain! Kosmos, Quicksand Years, or Thoughts,
16405Thou Mother with thy Equal Brood," and many, many more unspecified,
16406From fibre heart of mine--from throat and tongue--(My life's hot
16407    pulsing blood,
16408The personal urge and form for me--not merely paper, automatic type
16409    and ink,)
16410Each song of mine--each utterance in the past--having its long, long
16411    history,
16412Of life or death, or soldier's wound, of country's loss or safety,
16413(O heaven! what flash and started endless train of all! compared
16414    indeed to that!
16415What wretched shred e'en at the best of all!)
16416
16417
16418
16419
16420After a week of physical anguish,
16421Unrest and pain, and feverish heat,
16422Toward the ending day a calm and lull comes on,
16423Three hours of peace and soothing rest of brain.
16424
16425
16426
16427
16428The touch of flame--the illuminating fire--the loftiest look at last,
16429O'er city, passion, sea--o'er prairie, mountain, wood--the earth itself,
16430The airy, different, changing hues of all, in failing twilight,
16431Objects and groups, bearings, faces, reminiscences;
16432The calmer sight--the golden setting, clear and broad:
16433So much i' the atmosphere, the points of view, the situations whence
16434    we scan,
16435Bro't out by them alone--so much (perhaps the best) unreck'd before;
16436The lights indeed from them--old age's lambent peaks.
16437
16438
16439
16440
16441After the supper and talk--after the day is done,
16442As a friend from friends his final withdrawal prolonging,
16443Good-bye and Good-bye with emotional lips repeating,
16444(So hard for his hand to release those hands--no more will they meet,
16445No more for communion of sorrow and joy, of old and young,
16446A far-stretching journey awaits him, to return no more,)
16447Shunning, postponing severance--seeking to ward off the last word
16448    ever so little,
16449E'en at the exit-door turning--charges superfluous calling back--
16450    e'en as he descends the steps,
16451Something to eke out a minute additional--shadows of nightfall deepening,
16452Farewells, messages lessening--dimmer the forthgoer's visage and form,
16453Soon to be lost for aye in the darkness--loth, O so loth to depart!
16454Garrulous to the very last.
16455
16456
16457
16458
16459
16460Heave the anchor short!
16461Raise main-sail and jib--steer forth,
16462O little white-hull'd sloop, now speed on really deep waters,
16463(I will not call it our concluding voyage,
16464But outset and sure entrance to the truest, best, maturest;)
16465Depart, depart from solid earth--no more returning to these shores,
16466Now on for aye our infinite free venture wending,
16467Spurning all yet tried ports, seas, hawsers, densities, gravitation,
16468Sail out for good, eidolon yacht of me!
16469
16470
16471
16472
16473And whence and why come you?
16474
16475We know not whence, (was the answer,)
16476We only know that we drift here with the rest,
16477That we linger'd and lagg'd--but were wafted at last, and are now here,
16478To make the passing shower's concluding drops.
16479
16480
16481
16482
16483Good-bye my fancy--(I had a word to say,
16484But 'tis not quite the time--The best of any man's word or say,
16485Is when its proper place arrives--and for its meaning,
16486I keep mine till the last.)
16487
16488
16489
16490
16491On, on the same, ye jocund twain!
16492My life and recitative, containing birth, youth, mid-age years,
16493Fitful as motley-tongues of flame, inseparably twined and merged in
16494    one--combining all,
16495My single soul--aims, confirmations, failures, joys--Nor single soul alone,
16496I chant my nation's crucial stage, (America's, haply humanity's)--
16497    the trial great, the victory great,
16498A strange eclaircissement of all the masses past, the eastern world,
16499    the ancient, medieval,
16500Here, here from wanderings, strayings, lessons, wars, defeats--here
16501    at the west a voice triumphant--justifying all,
16502A gladsome pealing cry--a song for once of utmost pride and satisfaction;
16503I chant from it the common bulk, the general average horde, (the
16504    best sooner than the worst)--And now I chant old age,
16505(My verses, written first for forenoon life, and for the summer's,
16506    autumn's spread,
16507I pass to snow-white hairs the same, and give to pulses
16508    winter-cool'd the same;)
16509As here in careless trill, I and my recitatives, with faith and love,
16510wafting to other work, to unknown songs, conditions,
16511On, on ye jocund twain! continue on the same!
16512
16513
16514
16515
16516After surmounting three-score and ten,
16517With all their chances, changes, losses, sorrows,
16518My parents' deaths, the vagaries of my life, the many tearing
16519    passions of me, the war of ' and ',
16520As some old broken soldier, after a long, hot, wearying march, or
16521    haply after battle,
16522To-day at twilight, hobbling, answering company roll-call, Here,
16523    with vital voice,
16524Reporting yet, saluting yet the Officer over all.
16525
16526
16527
16528
16529A vague mist hanging 'round half the pages:
16530(Sometimes how strange and clear to the soul,
16531That all these solid things are indeed but apparitions, concepts,
16532    non-realities.)
16533
16534
16535
16536
16537Somehow I cannot let it go yet, funeral though it is,
16538Let it remain back there on its nail suspended,
16539With pink, blue, yellow, all blanch'd, and the white now gray and ashy,
16540One wither'd rose put years ago for thee, dear friend;
16541But I do not forget thee. Hast thou then faded?
16542Is the odor exhaled? Are the colors, vitalities, dead?
16543No, while memories subtly play--the past vivid as ever;
16544For but last night I woke, and in that spectral ring saw thee,
16545Thy smile, eyes, face, calm, silent, loving as ever:
16546So let the wreath hang still awhile within my eye-reach,
16547It is not yet dead to me, nor even pallid.
16548
16549
16550
16551
16552The soothing sanity and blitheness of completion,
16553The pomp and hurried contest-glare and rush are done;
16554Now triumph! transformation! jubilate!
16555
16556
16557
16558
16559From east and west across the horizon's edge,
16560Two mighty masterful vessels sailers steal upon us:
16561But we'll make race a-time upon the seas--a battle-contest yet! bear
16562    lively there!
16563(Our joys of strife and derring-do to the last!)
16564Put on the old ship all her power to-day!
16565Crowd top-sail, top-gallant and royal studding-sails,
16566Out challenge and defiance--flags and flaunting pennants added,
16567As we take to the open--take to the deepest, freest waters.
16568
16569
16570
16571
16572Have I no weapon-word for thee--some message brief and fierce?
16573(Have I fought out and done indeed the battle?) Is there no shot left,
16574For all thy affectations, lisps, scorns, manifold silliness?
16575Nor for myself--my own rebellious self in thee?
16576
16577Down, down, proud gorge!--though choking thee;
16578Thy bearded throat and high-borne forehead to the gutter;
16579Crouch low thy neck to eleemosynary gifts.
16580
16581
16582
16583
16584I doubt it not--then more, far more;
16585In each old song bequeath'd--in every noble page or text,
16586(Different--something unreck'd before--some unsuspected author,)
16587In every object, mountain, tree, and star--in every birth and life,
16588As part of each--evolv'd from each--meaning, behind the ostent,
16589A mystic cipher waits infolded.
16590
16591
16592
16593
16594After a long, long course, hundreds of years, denials,
16595Accumulations, rous'd love and joy and thought,
16596Hopes, wishes, aspirations, ponderings, victories, myriads of readers,
16597Coating, compassing, covering--after ages' and ages' encrustations,
16598Then only may these songs reach fruition.
16599
16600
16601
16602
16603Add to your show, before you close it, France,
16604With all the rest, visible, concrete, temples, towers, goods,
16605    machines and ores,
16606Our sentiment wafted from many million heart-throbs, ethereal but solid,
16607(We grand-sons and great-grandsons do not forget your grandsires,)
16608From fifty Nations and nebulous Nations, compacted, sent oversea to-day,
16609America's applause, love, memories and good-will.
16610
16611
16612
16613
16614Over and through the burial chant,
16615Organ and solemn service, sermon, bending priests,
16616To me come interpolation sounds not in the show--plainly to me,
16617    crowding up the aisle and from the window,
16618Of sudden battle's hurry and harsh noises--war's grim game to sight
16619    and ear in earnest;
16620The scout call'd up and forward--the general mounted and his aides
16621    around him--the new-brought word--the instantaneous order issued;
16622The rifle crack--the cannon thud--the rushing forth of men from their
16623    tents;
16624The clank of cavalry--the strange celerity of forming ranks--the
16625    slender bugle note;
16626The sound of horses' hoofs departing--saddles, arms, accoutrements.
16627
16628
16629
16630
16631Ah, whispering, something again, unseen,
16632Where late this heated day thou enterest at my window, door,
16633Thou, laving, tempering all, cool-freshing, gently vitalizing
16634Me, old, alone, sick, weak-down, melted-worn with sweat;
16635Thou, nestling, folding close and firm yet soft, companion better
16636    than talk, book, art,
16637(Thou hast, O Nature! elements! utterance to my heart beyond the
16638    rest--and this is of them,)
16639So sweet thy primitive taste to breathe within--thy soothing fingers
16640    my face and hands,
16641Thou, messenger--magical strange bringer to body and spirit of me,
16642(Distances balk'd--occult medicines penetrating me from head to foot,)
16643I feel the sky, the prairies vast--I feel the mighty northern lakes,
16644I feel the ocean and the forest--somehow I feel the globe itself
16645    swift-swimming in space;
16646Thou blown from lips so loved, now gone--haply from endless store,
16647    God-sent,
16648(For thou art spiritual, Godly, most of all known to my sense,)
16649Minister to speak to me, here and now, what word has never told, and
16650    cannot tell,
16651Art thou not universal concrete's distillation? Law's, all
16652    Astronomy's last refinement?
16653Hast thou no soul? Can I not know, identify thee?
16654
16655
16656
16657
16658An ancient song, reciting, ending,
16659Once gazing toward thee, Mother of All,
16660Musing, seeking themes fitted for thee,
16661Accept me, thou saidst, the elder ballads,
16662And name for me before thou goest each ancient poet.
16663
16664(Of many debts incalculable,
16665Haply our New World's chieftest debt is to old poems.)
16666
16667Ever so far back, preluding thee, America,
16668Old chants, Egyptian priests, and those of Ethiopia,
16669The Hindu epics, the Grecian, Chinese, Persian,
16670The Biblic books and prophets, and deep idyls of the Nazarene,
16671The Iliad, Odyssey, plots, doings, wanderings of Eneas,
16672Hesiod, Eschylus, Sophocles, Merlin, Arthur,
16673The Cid, Roland at Roncesvalles, the Nibelungen,
16674The troubadours, minstrels, minnesingers, skalds,
16675Chaucer, Dante, flocks of singing birds,
16676The Border Minstrelsy, the bye-gone ballads, feudal tales, essays, plays,
16677Shakespere, Schiller, Walter Scott, Tennyson,
16678As some vast wondrous weird dream-presences,
16679The great shadowy groups gathering around,
16680Darting their mighty masterful eyes forward at thee,
16681Thou! with as now thy bending neck and head, with courteous hand
16682    and word, ascending,
16683Thou! pausing a moment, drooping thine eyes upon them, blent
16684    with their music,
16685Well pleased, accepting all, curiously prepared for by them,
16686Thou enterest at thy entrance porch.
16687
16688
16689
16690
16691Welcome, Brazilian brother--thy ample place is ready;
16692A loving hand--a smile from the north--a sunny instant hall!
16693(Let the future care for itself, where it reveals its troubles,
16694    impedimentas,
16695Ours, ours the present throe, the democratic aim, the acceptance and
16696    the faith;)
16697To thee to-day our reaching arm, our turning neck--to thee from us
16698    the expectant eye,
16699Thou cluster free! thou brilliant lustrous one! thou, learning well,
16700The true lesson of a nation's light in the sky,
16701(More shining than the Cross, more than the Crown,)
16702The height to be superb humanity.
16703
16704
16705
16706
16707Sounds of the winter too,
16708Sunshine upon the mountains--many a distant strain
16709From cheery railroad train--from nearer field, barn, house,
16710The whispering air--even the mute crops, garner'd apples, corn,
16711Children's and women's tones--rhythm of many a farmer and of flail,
16712An old man's garrulous lips among the rest, Think not we give out yet,
16713Forth from these snowy hairs we keep up yet the lilt.
16714
16715
16716
16717
16718As I sit in twilight late alone by the flickering oak-flame,
16719Musing on long-pass'd war-scenes--of the countless buried unknown
16720    soldiers,
16721Of the vacant names, as unindented air's and sea's--the unreturn'd,
16722The brief truce after battle, with grim burial-squads, and the
16723    deep-fill'd trenches
16724Of gather'd from dead all America, North, South, East, West, whence
16725    they came up,
16726From wooded Maine, New-England's farms, from fertile Pennsylvania,
16727    Illinois, Ohio,
16728From the measureless West, Virginia, the South, the Carolinas, Texas,
16729(Even here in my room-shadows and half-lights in the noiseless
16730    flickering flames,
16731Again I see the stalwart ranks on-filing, rising--I hear the
16732    rhythmic tramp of the armies;)
16733You million unwrit names all, all--you dark bequest from all the war,
16734A special verse for you--a flash of duty long neglected--your mystic
16735    roll strangely gather'd here,
16736Each name recall'd by me from out the darkness and death's ashes,
16737Henceforth to be, deep, deep within my heart recording, for many
16738    future year,
16739Your mystic roll entire of unknown names, or North or South,
16740Embalm'd with love in this twilight song.
16741
16742
16743
16744
16745When the full-grown poet came,
16746Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all its
16747    shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine;
16748But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled,
16749    Nay he is mine alone;
16750--Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took each
16751    by the hand;
16752And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands,
16753Which he will never release until he reconciles the two,
16754And wholly and joyously blends them.
16755
16756
16757
16758
16759When his hour for death had come,
16760He slowly rais'd himself from the bed on the floor,
16761Drew on his war-dress, shirt, leggings, and girdled the belt around
16762    his waist,
16763Call'd for vermilion paint (his looking-glass was held before him,)
16764Painted half his face and neck, his wrists, and back-hands.
16765Put the scalp-knife carefully in his belt--then lying down, resting
16766    moment,
16767Rose again, half sitting, smiled, gave in silence his extended hand
16768    to each and all,
16769Sank faintly low to the floor (tightly grasping the tomahawk handle,)
16770Fix'd his look on wife and little children--the last:
16771
16772(And here a line in memory of his name and death.)
16773
16774
16775
16776
16777A voice from Death, solemn and strange, in all his sweep and power,
16778With sudden, indescribable blow--towns drown'd--humanity by
16779    thousands slain,
16780The vaunted work of thrift, goods, dwellings, forge, street, iron bridge,
16781Dash'd pell-mell by the blow--yet usher'd life continuing on,
16782(Amid the rest, amid the rushing, whirling, wild debris,
16783A suffering woman saved--a baby safely born!)
16784
16785Although I come and unannounc'd, in horror and in pang,
16786In pouring flood and fire, and wholesale elemental crash, (this
16787    voice so solemn, strange,)
16788I too a minister of Deity.
16789
16790Yea, Death, we bow our faces, veil our eyes to thee,
16791We mourn the old, the young untimely drawn to thee,
16792The fair, the strong, the good, the capable,
16793The household wreck'd, the husband and the wife, the engulfed forger
16794    in his forge,
16795The corpses in the whelming waters and the mud,
16796The gather'd thousands to their funeral mounds, and thousands never
16797    found or gather'd.
16798
16799Then after burying, mourning the dead,
16800(Faithful to them found or unfound, forgetting not, bearing the
16801    past, here new musing,)
16802A day--a passing moment or an hour--America itself bends low,
16803Silent, resign'd, submissive.
16804
16805War, death, cataclysm like this, America,
16806Take deep to thy proud prosperous heart.
16807
16808E'en as I chant, lo! out of death, and out of ooze and slime,
16809The blossoms rapidly blooming, sympathy, help, love,
16810From West and East, from South and North and over sea,
16811Its hot-spurr'd hearts and hands humanity to human aid moves on;
16812And from within a thought and lesson yet.
16813
16814Thou ever-darting Globe! through Space and Air!
16815Thou waters that encompass us!
16816Thou that in all the life and death of us, in action or in sleep!
16817Thou laws invisible that permeate them and all,
16818Thou that in all, and over all, and through and under all, incessant!
16819Thou! thou! the vital, universal, giant force resistless, sleepless, calm,
16820Holding Humanity as in thy open hand, as some ephemeral toy,
16821How ill to e'er forget thee!
16822
16823For I too have forgotten,
16824(Wrapt in these little potencies of progress, politics, culture,
16825    wealth, inventions, civilization,)
16826Have lost my recognition of your silent ever-swaying power, ye
16827    mighty, elemental throes,
16828In which and upon which we float, and every one of us is buoy'd.
16829
16830
16831
16832
16833For his o'erarching and last lesson the greybeard sufi,
16834In the fresh scent of the morning in the open air,
16835On the slope of a teeming Persian rose-garden,
16836Under an ancient chestnut-tree wide spreading its branches,
16837Spoke to the young priests and students.
16838
16839"Finally my children, to envelop each word, each part of the rest,
16840Allah is all, all,all--immanent in every life and object,
16841May-be at many and many-a-more removes--yet Allah, Allah, Allah is there.
16842
16843"Has the estray wander'd far? Is the reason-why strangely hidden?
16844Would you sound below the restless ocean of the entire world?
16845Would you know the dissatisfaction? the urge and spur of every life;
16846The something never still'd--never entirely gone? the invisible need
16847    of every seed?
16848
16849"It is the central urge in every atom,
16850(Often unconscious, often evil, downfallen,)
16851To return to its divine source and origin, however distant,
16852Latent the same in subject and in object, without one exception."
16853
16854
16855
16856
16857The commonplace I sing;
16858How cheap is health! how cheap nobility!
16859Abstinence, no falsehood, no gluttony, lust;
16860The open air I sing, freedom, toleration,
16861(Take here the mainest lesson--less from books--less from the schools,)
16862The common day and night--the common earth and waters,
16863Your farm--your work, trade, occupation,
16864The democratic wisdom underneath, like solid ground for all.
16865
16866
16867
16868
16869The devilish and the dark, the dying and diseas'd,
16870The countless (nineteen-twentieths) low and evil, crude and savage,
16871The crazed, prisoners in jail, the horrible, rank, malignant,
16872Venom and filth, serpents, the ravenous sharks, liars, the dissolute;
16873(What is the part the wicked and the loathesome bear within earth's
16874    orbic scheme?)
16875Newts, crawling things in slime and mud, poisons,
16876The barren soil, the evil men, the slag and hideous rot.
16877
16878
16879
16880
16881More experiences and sights, stranger, than you'd think for;
16882Times again, now mostly just after sunrise or before sunset,
16883Sometimes in spring, oftener in autumn, perfectly clear weather, in
16884    plain sight,
16885Camps far or near, the crowded streets of cities and the shopfronts,
16886(Account for it or not--credit or not--it is all true,
16887And my mate there could tell you the like--we have often confab'd
16888    about it,)
16889People and scenes, animals, trees, colors and lines, plain as could be,
16890Farms and dooryards of home, paths border'd with box, lilacs in corners,
16891Weddings in churches, thanksgiving dinners, returns of long-absent sons,
16892Glum funerals, the crape-veil'd mother and the daughters,
16893Trials in courts, jury and judge, the accused in the box,
16894Contestants, battles, crowds, bridges, wharves,
16895Now and then mark'd faces of sorrow or joy,
16896(I could pick them out this moment if I saw them again,)
16897Show'd to me--just to the right in the sky-edge,
16898Or plainly there to the left on the hill-tops.
16899
16900
16901
16902
16903Not to exclude or demarcate, or pick out evils from their formidable
16904    masses (even to expose them,)
16905But add, fuse, complete, extend--and celebrate the immortal and the good.
16906Haughty this song, its words and scope,
16907To span vast realms of space and time,
16908Evolution--the cumulative--growths and generations.
16909
16910Begun in ripen'd youth and steadily pursued,
16911Wandering, peering, dallying with all--war, peace, day and night
16912    absorbing,
16913Never even for one brief hour abandoning my task,
16914I end it here in sickness, poverty, and old age.
16915
16916I sing of life, yet mind me well of death:
16917To-day shadowy Death dogs my steps, my seated shape, and has for years--
16918Draws sometimes close to me, as face to face.
16919
16920
16921
16922
16923How dare one say it?
16924After the cycles, poems, singers, plays,
16925Vaunted Ionia's, India's--Homer, Shakspere--the long, long times'
16926    thick dotted roads, areas,
16927The shining clusters and the Milky Ways of stars--Nature's pulses reap'd,
16928All retrospective passions, heroes, war, love, adoration,
16929All ages' plummets dropt to their utmost depths,
16930All human lives, throats, wishes, brains--all experiences' utterance;
16931After the countless songs, or long or short, all tongues, all lands,
16932Still something not yet told in poesy's voice or print--something lacking,
16933(Who knows? the best yet unexpress'd and lacking.)
16934
16935
16936
16937
16938Grand is the seen, the light, to me--grand are the sky and stars,
16939Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space,
16940And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary;
16941But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those,
16942Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing
16943    the sea,
16944(What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of what
16945    amount without thee?)
16946More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul!
16947More multiform far--more lasting thou than they.
16948
16949
16950
16951
16952Unseen buds, infinite, hidden well,
16953Under the snow and ice, under the darkness, in every square or cubic inch,
16954Germinal, exquisite, in delicate lace, microscopic, unborn,
16955Like babes in wombs, latent, folded, compact, sleeping;
16956Billions of billions, and trillions of trillions of them waiting,
16957(On earth and in the sea--the universe--the stars there in the
16958    heavens,)
16959Urging slowly, surely forward, forming endless,
16960And waiting ever more, forever more behind.
16961
16962
16963
16964
16965Good-bye my Fancy!
16966Farewell dear mate, dear love!
16967I'm going away, I know not where,
16968Or to what fortune, or whether I may ever see you again,
16969So Good-bye my Fancy.
16970
16971Now for my last--let me look back a moment;
16972The slower fainter ticking of the clock is in me,
16973Exit, nightfall, and soon the heart-thud stopping.
16974
16975Long have we lived, joy'd, caress'd together;
16976Delightful!--now separation--Good-bye my Fancy.
16977
16978Yet let me not be too hasty,
16979Long indeed have we lived, slept, filter'd, become really blended
16980    into one;
16981Then if we die we die together, (yes, we'll remain one,)
16982If we go anywhere we'll go together to meet what happens,
16983May-be we'll be better off and blither, and learn something,
16984May-be it is yourself now really ushering me to the true songs, (who
16985    knows?)
16986May-be it is you the mortal knob really undoing, turning--so now finally,
16987Good-bye--and hail! my Fancy.