POEMS EXCLUDED FROM THE “DEATH-BED” EDITION (1891-1892) ⁸

GREAT ARE THE MYTHS

-1-

Great are the myths—I too delight in them;

Great are Adam and Eve—I too look back and accept them;

Great the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages,

inventors, rulers, warriors, and priests.

Great is Liberty! great is Equality! I am their follower;

Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft! where you sail, I sail,

I weather it out with you, or sink with you.

Great is Youth—equally great is Old Age—great are the Day and

Night;

Great is Wealth—great is Poverty—great is Expression—great is

Silence.

Youth, large, lusty, loving—Youth, full of grace, force,

fascination!

Do you know that Old Age may come after you, with equal grace,

force, fascination?

Day, full-blown and splendid—Day of the immense sun, action,

ambition, laughter,

The Night follows close, with millions of suns, and sleep, and

restoring darkness.

Wealth, with the flush hand, fine clothes, hospitality;

But then the Soul’s wealth, which is candor, knowledge, pride,

enfolding love;

(Who goes for men and women showing Poverty richer than

wealth?)

Expression of speech! in what is written or said, forget not that

Silence is also expressive,

That anguish as hot as the hottest, and contempt as cold as the

coldest, may be without words.

-2-

Great is the Earth, and the way it became what it is;

Do you imagine it has stopt at this? the increase

abandon’d?

Understand then that it goes as far onward from this, as this is

from the times when it lay in covering waters and gases,

before man had appear’d.

Great is the quality of Truth in man;

The quality of truth in man supports itself through all

changes,

It is inevitably in the man—he and it are in love, and never leave

each other.

The truth in man is no dictum, it is vital as eyesight;

If there be any Soul, there is truth—if there be man or

woman there is truth—if there be physical or moral,

there is truth;

If there be equilibrium or volition, there is truth—if there be

things at all upon the earth, there is truth.

O truth of the earth! I am determin’d to press my way toward

you;

Sound your voice! I scale mountains, or dive in the sea after

you.

-3-

Great is Language—it is the mightiest of the sciences,

It is the fulness, color, form, diversity of the earth, and of men

and women, and of all qualities and processes;

It is greater than wealth—it is greater than buildings, ships,

religions, paintings, music.

Great is the English speech—what speech is so great as the English?

Great is the English brood—what brood has so vast a destiny as

the English?

It is the mother of the brood that must rule the earth with the

new rule;

The new rule shall rule as the Soul rules, and as the love, justice,

equality in the Soul rule.

Great is Law—great are the few old land-marks of the law,

They are the same in all times, and shall not be disturb’d.

-4-

Great is Justice!

Justice is not settled by legislators and laws—it is in the Soul;

It cannot be varied by statutes, any more than love, pride, the

attraction of gravity, can;

It is immutable—it does not depend on majorities—majorities or

what not, come at last before the same passionless and exact

tribunal.

For justice are the grand natural lawyers, and perfect judges—is it

in their Souls;

It is well assorted—they have not studied for nothing—the great

includes the less;

They rule on the highest grounds—they oversee all eras, states,

administrations.

The perfect judge fears nothing—he could go front to front

before God;

Before the perfect judge all shall stand back—life and death shall

stand back—heaven and hell shall stand back.

-5-

Great is Life, real and mystical, wherever and whoever;

Great is Death—sure as life holds all parts together, Death holds

all parts together.

Has Life much purport?—Ah, Death has the greatest purport.

CHANTS DEMOCRATIC. 6

You just maturing youth! You male or female!

Remember the organic compact of These States,

Remember the pledge of the Old Thirteen thenceforward to the

rights, life, liberty, equality of man,

Remember what was promulged by the founders, ratified by The

States, signed in black and white by the Commissioners, and

read by Washington at the head of the army,

Remember the purposes of the founders,—Remember

Washington;

Remember the copious humanity streaming from every direction

toward America;

Remember the hospitality that belongs to nations and

men; (Cursed be nation, woman, man, without

hospitality!)

Remember, government is to subserve individuals,

Not any, not the President, is to have one jot more than you or

me,

Not any habitan of America is to have one jot less than you

or me.

Anticipate when the thirty or fifty millions, are to become the

hundred, or two hundred millions, of equal freemen and

freewomen, amicably joined.

Recall ages—One age is but a part—ages are but a part;

Recall the angers, bickerings, delusions, superstitions, of the idea

of caste,

Recall the bloody cruelties and crimes.

Anticipate the best women;

I say an unnumbered new race of hardy and well-defined women

are to spread through all These States,

I say a girl fit for These States must be free, capable, dauntless,

just the same as a boy.

Anticipate your own life—retract with merciless power,

Shirk nothing—retract in time—Do you see those errors, diseases,

weaknesses, lies, thefts?

Do you see that lost character?—Do you see decay, consumption,

rum-drinking, dropsy, fever, mortal cancer or inflammation?

Do you see death, and the approach of death?

THINK OF THE SOUL

Think of the Soul;

I swear to you that body of yours gives proportions to your Soul

somehow to live in other spheres;

I do not know how, but I know it is so.

Think of loving and being loved;

I swear to you, whoever you are, you can interfuse yourself with

such things that everybody that sees you shall look longingly

upon you.

Think of the past;

I warn you that in a little while others will find their past in you

and your times.

The race is never separated—nor man nor woman escapes;

All is inextricable—things, spirits, Nature, nations, you too—from

precedents you come.

Recall the ever-welcome defiers, (The mothers precede them;)

Recall the sages, poets, saviors, inventors, lawgivers, of the earth;

Recall Christ, brother of rejected persons—brother of slaves,

felons, idiots, and of insane and diseas’d persons.

Think of the time when you were not yet born;

Think of times you stood at the side of the dying;

Think of the time when your own body will be dying.

Think of spiritual results,

Sure as the earth swims through the heavens, does every one of its

objects pass into spiritual results.

Think of manhood, and you to be a man;

Do you count manhood, and the sweet of manhood, nothing?

Think of womanhood, and you to be a woman;

The creation is womanhood;

Have I not said that womanhood involves all?

Have I not told how the universe has nothing better than the best

womanhood?

RESPONDEZ!

Respondez! Respondez!

(The war is completed—the price is paid—the title is settled

beyond recall;)

Let every one answer! let those who sleep be waked! let none

evade!

Must we still go on with our affectations and sneaking?

Let me bring this to a close—I pronounce openly for a new

distribution of roles;

Let that which stood in front go behind! and let that which was

behind advance to the front and speak;

Let murderers, bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new

propositions!

Let the old propositions be postponed!

Let faces and theories be turn’d inside out! let meanings be freely

criminal, as well as results!

Let there be no suggestion above the suggestion of drudgery!

Let none be pointed toward his destination! (Say! do you know

your destination?)

Let men and women be mock’d with bodies and mock’d with

Souls!

Let the love that waits in them, wait! let it die, or pass still-born to

other spheres!

Let the sympathy that waits in every man, wait! or let it also pass,

a dwarf, to other spheres!

Let contradictions prevail! let one thing contradict another! and

let one line of my poems contradict another!

Let the people sprawl with yearning, aimless hands! let their

tongues be broken! let their eyes be discouraged! let none

descend into their hearts with the fresh lusciousness of love!

(Stifled, O days! O lands! in every public and private

corruption!

Smother’d in thievery, impotence, shamelessness,

mountain-high;

Brazen effrontery, scheming, rolling like ocean’s waves around

and upon you, O my days! my lands!

For not even those thunderstorms, nor fiercest lightnings of the

war, have purified the atmosphere;)

—Let the theory of America still be management, caste,

comparison! (Say! what other theory would you?)

Let them that distrust birth and death still lead the rest! (Say! why

shall they not lead you?)

Let the crust of hell be neared and trod on! let the days be darker

than the nights! let slumber bring less slumber than waking

time brings!

Let the world never appear to him or her for whom it was all

made!

Let the heart of the young man still exile itself from the heart of

the old man! and let the heart of the old man be exiled from

that of the young man!

Let the sun and moon go! let scenery take the applause of the

audience! let there be apathy under the stars!

Let freedom prove no man’s inalienable right! every one who can

tyrannize, let him tyrannize to his satisfaction!

Let none but infidels be countenanced!

Let the eminence of meanness, treachery, sarcasm, hate, greed,

indecency, impotence, lust, be taken for granted above all! let

writers, judges, governments, households, religions,

philosophies, take such for granted above all!

Let the worst men beget children out of the worst women!

Let the priest still play at immortality!

Let death be inaugurated!

Let nothing remain but the ashes of teachers, artists, moralists,

lawyers, and learn’d and polite persons!

Let him who is without my poems be assassinated!

Let the cow, the horse, the camel, the garden-bee—let the

mud-fish, the lobster, the mussel, eel, the sting-ray, and the

grunting pig-fish—let these, and the like of these, be put on a

perfect equality with man and woman!

Let churches accommodate serpents, vermin, and the corpses of

those who have died of the most filthy of diseases!

Let marriage slip down among fools, and be for none but fools!

Let men among themselves talk and think forever obscenely of

women! and let women among themselves talk and think

obscenely of men!

Let us all, without missing one, be exposed in public, naked,

monthly, at the peril of our lives! let our bodies be freely

handled and examined by whoever chooses!

Let nothing but copies at second hand be permitted to exist upon

the earth!

Let the earth desert God, nor let there ever henceforth be

mention’d the name of God!

Let there be no God!

Let there be money, business, imports, exports, custom,

authority, precedents, pallor, dyspepsia, smut, ignorance,

unbelief!

Let judges and criminals be transposed! let the prison-keepers be

put in prison! let those that were prisoners take the keys! Say!

why might they not just as well be transposed?)

Let the slaves be masters! let the masters become slaves!

Let the reformers descend from the stands where they are forever

bawling! let an idiot or insane person appear on each of the

stands!

Let the Asiatic, the African, the European, the American, and the

Australian, go armed against the murderous stealthiness of

each other! let them sleep armed! let none believe in good

will!

Let there be no unfashionable wisdom! let such be scorn’d and

derided off from the earth!

Let a floating cloud in the sky—let a wave of the sea—let growing

mint, spinach, onions, tomatoes—let these be exhibited as

shows, at a great price for admission!

Let all the men of These States stand aside for a few smouchers!

let the few seize on what they choose! let the rest gawk,

giggle, starve, obey!

Let shadows be furnish’d with genitals! let substances be deprived

of their genitals!

Let there be wealthy and immense cities—but still through any of

them, not a single poet, savior, knower, lover!

Let the infidels of These States laugh all faith away!

If one man be found who has faith, let the rest set upon him!

Let them affright faith! let them destroy the power of breeding

faith!

Let the she-harlots and the he-harlots be prudent! let them dance

on, while seeming lasts! (O seeming! seeming! seeming!)

Let the preachers recite creeds! let them still teach only what they

have been taught!

Let insanity still have charge of sanity!

Let books take the place of trees, animals, rivers, clouds!

Let the daub’d portraits of heroes supersede heroes!

Let the manhood of man never take steps after itself!

Let it take steps after eunuchs, and after consumptive and genteel

persons!

Let the white person again tread the black person under his heel!

(Say! which is trodden under heel, after all?)

Let the reflections of the things of the world be studied in mirrors!

let the things themselves still continue unstudied!

Let a man seek pleasure everywhere except in himself!

With Nigel and Catherine Jeanette Chomeley-Jones—68 years old, 1887,

photo taken by George C. Cox in New York, New York. Courtesy of the

Library of Congress, Charles E. Feinberg Collection. Saunders #97.3.

Let a woman seek happiness everywhere except in herself!

(What real happiness have you had one single hour through your

whole life?)

Let the limited years of life do nothing for the limitless years of

death! (What do you suppose death will do, then?)

ENFANS D‘ADAM. 11

In the new garden, in all the parts,

In cities now, modern, I wander,

Though the second or third result, or still further, primitive yet,

Days, places, indifferent—though various, the same,

Time, Paradise, the Mannahatta, the prairies, finding me

unchanged,

Death indifferent—Is it that I lived long since? Was I buried very

long ago?

For all that, I may now be watching you here, this moment;

For the future, with determined will, I seek—the woman of the

future,

You, born years, centuries after me, I seek.

CALAMUS. 16

Who is now reading this?

May-be one is now reading this who knows some wrong-doing of

my past life,

Or may-be a stranger is reading this who has secretly loved me,

Or may-be one who meets all my grand assumptions and egotisms

with derision,

Or may-be one who is puzzled at me.

As if I were not puzzled at myself!

Or as if I never deride myself! (O conscience-struck! O self-

convicted!)

Or as if I do not secretly love strangers! (O tenderly, a long time,

and never avow it;)

Or as if I did not see, perfectly well, interior in myself, the stuff of

wrong-doing,

Or as if it could cease transpiring from me until it must cease.

CALAMUS. 8

Long I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me—O if I

could but obtain knowledge!

Then my lands engrossed me—Lands of the prairies, Ohio’s land,

the southern savannas, engrossed me—For them I would

live—I would be their orator;

Then I met the examples of old and new heroes—I heard of

warriors, sailors, and all dauntless persons—And it seemed to

me that I too had it in me to be as dauntless as any—and

would be so;

And then, to enclose all, it came to me to strike up the songs of

the New World—And then I believed my life must be spent

in singing;

But now take notice, land of the prairies, land of the south

savannas, Ohio’s land,

Take notice, you Kanuck woods—and you Lake Huron—and all

that with you roll toward Niagara—and you Niagara also,

And you, Californian mountains—That you each and all find

somebody else to be your singer of songs,

For I can be your singer of songs no longer—One who loves me

is jealous of me, and withdraws me from all but love,

With the rest I dispense—I sever from what I thought would

suffice me, for it does not—it is now empty and tasteless to

me,

I heed knowledge, and the grandeur of The States, and the

example of heroes, no more,

I am indifferent to my own songs—I will go with him I love,

It is to be enough for us that we are together—We never separate

again.

CALAMUS. 9

Hours continuing long, sore and heavy-hearted,

Hours of the dusk, when I withdraw to a lonesome and

unfrequented spot, seating myself, leaning my face in my

hands;

Hours sleepless, deep in the night, when I go forth, speeding

swiftly the country roads, or through the city streets, or pacing

miles and miles, stifling plaintive cries;

Hours discouraged, distracted—for the one I cannot content

myself without, soon I saw him content himself without me;

Hours when I am forgotten, (O weeks and months are passing,

but I believe I am never to forget!)

Sullen and suffering hours! (I am ashamed—but it is useless—I

am what I am;)

Hours of my torment—I wonder if other men ever have the like,

out of the like feelings?

Is there even one other like me—distracted—his friend, his lover,

lost to him?

Is he too as I am now? Does he still rise in the morning, dejected,

thinking who is lost to him? and at night, awaking, think who

is lost?

Does he too harbor his friendship silent and endless? harbor his

anguish and passion?

Does some stray reminder, or the casual mention of a name,

bring the fit back upon him, taciturn and deprest?

Does he see himself reflected in me? In these hours, does he see

the face of his hours reflected?

LEAVES OF GRASS. 20

So far, and so far, and on toward the end,

Singing what is sung in this book, from the irresistible impulses

of me;

But whether I continue beyond this book, to maturity,

Whether I shall dart forth the true rays, the ones that wait unfired,

(Did you think the sun was shining its brightest?

No—it has not yet fully risen;)

Whether I shall complete what is here started,

Whether I shall attain my own height, to justify these, yet

unfinished,

Whether I shall make THE POEM OF THE NEW WORLD,

transcending all others—depends, rich persons, upon you,

Depends, whoever you are now filling the current Presidentiad,

upon you,

Upon you, Governor, Mayor, Congressman,

And you, contemporary America.

THOUGHTS. 1

Of the visages of things—And of piercing through to the accepted

hells beneath;

Of ugliness—To me there is just as much in it as there is in

beauty—And now the ugliness of human beings is acceptable

to me;

Of detected persons—To me, detected persons are not, in any

respect, worse than undetected persons—and are not in any

respect worse than I am myself;

Of criminals—To me, any judge, or any juror, is equally

criminal—and any reputable person is also—and the

President is also.

THOUGHT

Of what I write from myself—As if that were not the resume;

Of Histories—As if such, however complete, were not less

complete than the preceding poems;

As if those shreds, the records of nations, could possibly be as

lasting as the preceding poems;

As if here were not the amount of all nations, and of all the lives

of heroes.

SAYS

-1-

I say whatever tastes sweet to the most perfect person, that is finally right.

-2-

I say nourish a great intellect, a great brain;

If I have said anything to the contrary, I hereby retract it.

-3-

I say man shall not hold property in man;

I say the least developed person on earth is just as important and

sacred to himself or herself, as the most developed person is

to himself or herself.

-4-

I say where liberty draws not the blood out of slavery, there slavery

draws the blood out of liberty,

I say the word of the good old cause in These States, and resound

it hence over the world.

-5-

I say the human shape or face is so great, it must never be made

ridiculous;

I say for ornaments nothing outre can be allowed,

And that anything is most beautiful without ornament,

And that exaggerations will be sternly revenged in your own

physiology, and in other persons’ physiology also;

And I say that clean-shaped children can be jetted and conceived

only where natural forms prevail in public, and the human

face and form are never caricatured;

And I say that genius need never more be turned to romances,

(For facts properly told, how mean appear all romances.)

-6-

I say the word of lands fearing nothing—I will have no other land;

I say discuss all and expose all—I am for every topic openly;

I say there can be no salvation for These States without

innovators—without free tongues, and ears willing to hear the

tongues;

And I announce as a glory of These States, that they respectfully

listen to propositions, reforms, fresh views and doctrines, from

successions of men and women,

Each age with its own growth.

-7-

I have said many times that materials and the Soul are great, and

that all depends on physique;

Now I reverse what I said, and affirm that all depends on the

aesthetic or intellectual,

And that criticism is great—and that refinement is greatest of all;

And I affirm now that the mind governs—and that all depends on

the mind.

-8-

With one man or woman—(no matter which one—I even pick

out the lowest,)

With him or her I now illustrate the whole law;

I say that every right, in politics or what-not, shall be eligible to

that one man or woman, on the same terms as any.

APOSTROPH

O mater! O fils!

O brood continental!

O flowers of the prairies!

O space boundless! O hum of mighty products!

O you teeming cities! O so invincible, turbulent, proud!

O race of the future! O women!

O fathers! O you men of passion and the storm!

O native power only! O beauty!

O yourself! O God! O divine average!

O you bearded roughs! O bards! O all those slumberers!

O arouse! the dawn-bird’s throat sounds shrill! Do you not hear

the cock crowing?

O, as I walk’d the beach, I heard the mournful notes foreboding a

tempest—the low, oft-repeated shriek of the diver, the long

lived loon;

O I heard, and yet hear, angry thunder;—0 you sailors! O ships!

make quick preparation!

O from his masterful sweep, the warning cry of the eagle!

(Give way there, all! It is useless! Give up your spoils;)

O sarcasms! Propositions! (O if the whole world should prove

indeed a sham, a sell!)

O I believe there is nothing real but America and freedom!

O to sternly reject all except Democracy!

O imperator! O who dare confront you and me?

O to promulgate our own! O to build for that which builds for

mankind!

O feuillage! O North! O the slope drained by the

Mexican sea!

O all, all inseparable—ages, ages, ages!

O a curse on him that would dissever this Union for any reason

whatever!

O climates, labors! O good and evil! O death!

O you strong with iron and wood! O Personality!

O the village or place which has the greatest man or woman!

even if it be only a few ragged huts;

O the city where women walk in public processions in the streets,

the same as the men;

O a wan and terrible emblem, by me adopted!

O shapes arising! shapes of the future centuries!

O muscle and pluck forever for me!

O workmen and workwomen forever for me!

O farmers and sailors! O drivers of horses forever for me!

O I will make the new bardic list of trades and tools!

O you coarse and wilful! I love you!

O South! O longings for my dear home! O soft and sunny airs!

O pensive! O I must return where the palm grows and the

mocking-bird sings, or else I die!

O equality! O organic compacts! I am come to be your born

poet!

O whirl, contest, sounding and resounding! I am your poet,

because I am part of you;

O days by-gone! Enthusiasts! Antecedents!

O vast preparations for These States! O years!

O what is now being sent forward thousands of years to

come!

O mediums! O to teach! to convey the invisible faith!

To promulge real things! to journey through all The States!

O creation! O to-day! O laws! O unmitigated adoration!

O for mightier broods of orators, artists, and singers!

O for native songs! carpenter‘s, boatman’, ploughman’s songs!

shoemaker’s songs!

O haughtiest growth of time! O free and extatic!

O what I, here, preparing, warble for!

O you hastening light! O the sun of the world will ascend,

dazzling, and take his height—and you too will ascend;

O so amazing and so broad! up there resplendent, darting and

burning;

O prophetic! O vision staggered with weight of light! with

pouring glories!

O copious! O hitherto unequalled!

O Libertad! O compact! O union impossible to dissever!

O my Soul! O lips becoming tremulous, powerless!

O centuries, centuries yet ahead!

O voices of greater orators! I pause—I listen for you

O you States! Cities! defiant of all outside authority! I spring at

once into your arms! you I most love!

O you grand Presidentiads! I wait for you!

New history! New heroes! I project you!

Visions of poets! only you really last! O sweep on! sweep on!

O Death! O you striding there! O I cannot yet!

O heights! O infinitely too swift and dizzy yet!

O purged lumine! you threaten me more than I can stand!

O present! I return while yet I may to you!

O poets to come, I depend upon you!

O SUN OF REAL PEACE

O sun of real peace! O hastening light!

O free and extatic! O what I here, preparing, warble for!

O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his

height—and you too, O my Ideal, will surely ascend!

O so amazing and broad—up there resplendent, darting and

burning!

O vision prophetic, stagger’d with weight of light! with pouring

glories!

O lips of my soul, already becoming powerless!

O ample and grand Presidentiads! Now the war, the war

is over!

New history! new heroes! I project you!

Visions of poets! only you really last! sweep on! sweep on!

O heights too swift and dizzy yet!

O purged and luminous! you threaten me more than I can

stand!

(I must not venture—the ground under my feet menaces me—it

will not support me:

O future too immense,)—O present, I return, while yet I may,

to you.

PRIMEVAL MY LOVE FOR THE WOMAN I LOVE

Primeval my love for the woman I love,

O bride! O wife! more resistless, more enduring than I can tell,

the thought of you!

Then separate, as disembodied, the purest born,

The ethereal, the last athletic reality, my consolation,

I ascend—I float in the regions of your love, O man,

O sharer of my roving life.

TO YOU

Let us twain walk aside from the rest;

Now we are together privately, do you discard ceremony,

Come! vouchsafe to me what has yet been vouchsafed to none—

Tell me the whole story,

Tell me what you would not tell your brother, wife, husband, or

physician.

NOW LIFT ME CLOSE

Now lift me close to your face till I whisper,

What you are holding is in reality no book, nor part of a

book;

It is man, flush’d and full-blooded-it is I—So long!

—We must separate awhile—Here! Take from my lips this

kiss;

Whoever you are, I give it especially to you;

So long!—And I hope we shall meet again.

TO THE READER AT PARTING

Now, dearest comrade, lift me to your face,

We must separate awhile—Here! take from my lips this kiss.

Whoever you are, I give it especially to you;

So long!—And I hope we shall meet again.

DEBRIS

He is wisest who has the most caution,

He only wins who goes far enough.

Any thing is as good as established, when that is established that will produce it and continue it.

What General has a good army in himself, has a good army;

He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy,

But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than you

can beget or conceive a child by others.

Have you learned lessons only of those who admired you, and

were tender with you, and stood aside for you?

Have you not learned the great lessons of those who rejected you,

and braced themselves against you? or who treated you with

contempt, or disputed the passage with you?

Have you had no practice to receive opponents when they come?

Despairing cries float ceaselessly toward me, day and night,

The sad voice of Death—the call of my nearest lover, putting

forth, alarmed, uncertain,

This sea I am quickly to sail, come tell me,

Come tell me where I am speeding—tell me my destination.

I understand your anguish, but I cannot help you,

I approach, hear, behold—the sad mouth, the look out of the

eyes, your mute inquiry,

Whither I go from the bed I now recline on, come tell me;

Old age, alarmed, uncertain—A young woman’s voice appealing

to me, for comfort,

A young man’s voice, Shall I not escape?

A thousand perfect men and women appear,

Around each gathers a cluster of friends, and gay children and

youths, with offerings.

A mask—a perpetual natural disguiser of herself,

Concealing her face, concealing her form,

Changes and transformations every hour, every moment,

Falling upon her even when she sleeps.

One sweeps by, attended by an immense train,

All emblematic of peace—not a soldier or menial among

them.

One sweeps by, old, with black eyes, and profuse white hair,

He has the simple magnificence of health and strength,

His face strikes as with flashes of lightning whoever it turns

toward.

Three old men slowly pass, followed by three others, and they by

three others,

They are beautiful—the one in the middle of each group holds

his companions by the hand,

As they walk, they give out perfume wherever they walk.

Women sit, or move to and fro—some old, some young,

The young are beautiful—but the old are more beautiful than the

young.

What weeping face is that looking from the window?

Why does it stream those sorrowful tears?

Is it for some burial place, vast and dry?

Is it to wet the soil of graves?

I will take an egg out of the robin’s nest in the orchard,

I will take a branch of gooseberries from the old bush in the

garden, and go and preach to the world;

You shall see I will not meet a single heretic or scorner,

You shall see how I stump clergymen, and confound

them,

You shall see me showing a scarlet tomato, and a white pebble

from the beach.

Behavior—fresh, native, copious, each one for himself or

herself,

Nature and the Soul expressed—America and freedom

expressed—In it the finest art,

In it pride, cleanliness, sympathy, to have their chance,

In it physique, intellect, faith—in it just as much as to

manage an army or a city, or to write a book—perhaps

more,

The youth, the laboring person, the poor person, rivalling all the

rest—perhaps outdoing the rest,

The effects of the universe no greater than its;

For there is nothing in the whole universe that can be

more effective than a man’s or woman’s daily behavior

can be,

In any position, in any one of These States.

Not the pilot has charged himself to bring his ship

into port, though beaten back, and many times

baffled,

Not the path-finder, penetrating inland, weary and long,

By deserts parched, snows chilled, rivers wet, perseveres till he

reaches his destination,

More than I have charged myself, heeded or unheeded, to

compose a free march for These States,

To be exhilarating music to them, years, centuries hence.

I thought I was not alone, walking here by the shore,

But the one I thought was with me, as now I walk by the

shore,

As I lean and look through the glimmering light—that one has

utterly disappeared,

And those appear that perplex me.

LEAFLETS

What General has a good army in himself, has a good army: He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy.

DESPAIRING CRIES

-1-

-2-

CALAMUS. 5

States!

Were you looking to be held together by the lawyers?

By an agreement on a paper? Or by arms?

Away!

I arrive, bringing these, beyond all the forces of courts and

arms,

These! to hold you together as firmly as the earth itself is held

together.

The old breath of life, ever new,

Here! I pass it by contact to you, America.

O mother! have you done much for me?

Behold, there shall from me be much done for you.

There shall from me be a new friendship—It shall be called after

my name,

It shall circulate through The States, indifferent of place,

It shall twist and intertwist them through and around each

other—Compact shall they be, showing new signs,

Affection shall solve every one of the problems of freedom,

Those who love each other shall be invincible,

They shall finally make America completely victorious, in my

name.

One from Massachusetts shall be comrade to a Missourian,

One from Maine or Vermont, and a Carolinian and an

Oregonese, shall be friends triune, more precious to each

other than all the riches of the earth.

To Michigan shall be wafted perfume from Florida,

To the Mannahatta from Cuba or Mexico,

Not the perfume of flowers, but sweeter, and wafted beyond

death.

No danger shall balk Columbia’s lovers,

If need be, a thousand shall sternly immolate themselves for

one,

The Kanuck shall be willing to lay down his life for the Kansian,

and the Kansian for the Kanuck, on due need.

It shall be customary in all directions, in the houses and streets, to

see manly affection,

The departing brother or friend shall salute the remaining brother

or friend with a kiss.

There shall be innovations,

There shall be countless linked hands—namely, the

Northeasterner‘s, and the Northwesterner’s, and the

Southwesterner‘s, and those of the interior, and all their

brood,

These shall be masters of the world under a new power,

They shall laugh to scorn the attacks of all the remainder of the

world.

The most dauntless and rude shall touch face to face lightly,

The dependence of Liberty shall be lovers,

The continuance of Equality shall be comrades.

These shall tie and band stronger than hoops of iron,

I, extatic, O partners! O lands! henceforth with the love of lovers

tie you.

THOUGHTS. 2

Of waters, forests, hills,

Of the earth at large, whispering through medium of me;

Of vista—Suppose some sight in arriere, through the formative

chaos, presuming the growth, fulness, life, now attained on

the journey;

(But I see the road continued, and the journey ever continued;)

Of what was once lacking on the earth, and in due time has

become supplied—And of what will yet be supplied,

Because all I see and know, I believe to have purport in what will

yet be supplied.

THOUGHTS. 4

Of ownership—As if one fit to own things could not at pleasure

enter upon all, and incorporate them into himself or

herself;

Of Equality—As if it harmed me, giving others the same chances

and rights as myself—As if it were not indispensable to my

own rights that others possess the same;

Of Justice—As if Justice could be any thing but the same ample

law, expounded by natural judges and saviours,

As if it might be this thing or that thing, according to decisions.

BATHED IN WAR’S PERFUME

Bathed in war’s perfume—delicate flag!

(Should the days needing armies, needing fleets, come

again,)

O to hear you call the sailors and the soldiers! flag like a beautiful

woman!

O to hear the tramp, tramp, of a million answering men! O the

ships they arm with joy!

O to see you leap and beckon from the tall masts of ships!

O to see you peering down on the sailors on the decks!

Flag like the eyes of women.

SOLID, IRONICAL, ROLLING ORB

Solid, ironical, rolling orb!

Master of all, and matter of fact!—at last I accept your

terms;

Bringing to practical, vulgar tests, of all my ideal dreams,

And of me, as lover and hero.

NOT MY ENEMIES EVER INVADE ME

Not my enemies ever invade me—no harm to my pride from

them I fear;

But the lovers I recklessly love—lo! how they master me!

Lo! me, ever open and helpless, bereft of my strength!

Utterly abject, grovelling on the ground before them.

THIS DAY, O SOUL

This day, O Soul, I give you a wondrous mirror;

Long in the dark, in tarnish and cloud it lay—But the cloud has

pass‘d, and the tarnish gone;

... Behold, O Soul! it is now a clean and bright mirror,

Faithfully showing you all the things of the world.

LESSONS

There are who teach only the sweet lessons of peace and

safety;

But I teach lessons of war and death to those I love,

That they readily meet invasions, when they come.

ASHES OF SOLDIERS: EPIGRAPH

Again a verse for sake of you,

You soldiers in the ranks—you Volunteers,

Who bravely fighting, silent fell,

To fill unmention’d graves.

THE BEAUTY OF THE SHIP

When, staunchly entering port,

After long ventures, hauling up, worn and old,

Batter’d by sea and wind, torn by many a fight,

With the original sails all gone, replaced, or mended,

I only saw, at last, the beauty of the Ship.

AFTER AN INTERVAL

(Nov. 22, 1875, midnight—Saturn and Mars in conjunction.)

After an interval, reading, here in the midnight,

With the great stars looking on—all the stars of Orion looking,

And the silent Pleiades—and the duo looking of Saturn and

ruddy Mars;

Pondering, reading my own songs, after a long interval, (sorrow

and death familiar now,)

Ere closing the book, what pride! what joy! to find them,

Standing so well the test of death and night!

And the duo of Saturn and Mars!

TWO RIVULETS

Two Rivulets side by side,

Two blended, parallel, strolling tides,

Companions, travelers, gossiping as they journey.

For the Eternal Ocean bound,

These ripples, passing surges, streams of Death and Life,

Object and Subject hurrying, whirling by,

The Real and Ideal,

Alternate ebb and flow the Days and Nights,

(Strands of a Trio twining, Present, Future, Past.)

In You, whoe‘er you are, my book perusing,

In I myself—in all the World—these ripples flow,

All, all, toward the mystic Ocean tending.

(O yearnful waves! the kisses of your lips!

Your breast so broad, with open arms, O firm, expanded shore!)

OR FROM THAT SEA OF TIME

-1-

Or, from that Sea of Time,

Spray, blown by the wind—a double winrow-drift of weeds and

shells;

(O little shells, so curious-convolute! so limpid-cold and voiceless!

Yet will you not, to the tympans of temples held,

Murmurs and echoes still bring up—Eternity’s music, faint and far,

Wafted inland, sent from Atlantica’s rim—strains for the Soul of

the Prairies,

Whisper’d reverberations—chords for the ear of the West, joyously

sounding

Your tidings old, yet ever new and untranslatable;)

Infinitessimals out of my life, and many a life,

(For not my life and years alone I give—all, all I give;)

These thoughts and Songs—waifs from the deep—here, cast high

and dry,

Wash’d on America’s shores.

-2-

Currents of starting a Continent new,

Overtures sent to the solid out of the liquid,

Fusion of ocean and land—tender and pensive waves,

(Not safe and peaceful only—waves rous’d and ominous too.

Out of the depths, the storm’s abysms—Who knows whence?

Death’s waves,

Raging over the vast, with many a broken spar and tatter’d sail.)

FROM MY LAST YEARS

From my last years, last thoughts I here bequeath,

Scatter’d and dropt, in seeds, and wafted to the West,

Through moisture of Ohio, prairie soil of Illinois—through

Colorado, California air,

For Time to germinate fully.

IN FORMER SONGS

In former songs Pride have I sung, and Love, and passionate,

joyful Life,

But here I twine the strands of Patriotism and Death.

And now, Life, Pride, Love, Patriotism and Death,

To you, O FREEDOM, purport of all!

(You that elude me most—refusing to be caught in songs of mine,)

I offer all to you.

-2-

‘Tis not for nothing, Death,

I sound out you, and words of you, with daring tone—embodying

you,

In my new Democratic chants—keeping you for a close,

For last impregnable retreat—a citadel and tower,

For my last stand—my pealing, final cry.

AS IN A SWOON

As in a swoon, one instant,

Another sun, ineffable, full-dazzles me,

And all the orbs I knew—and brighter, unknown orbs;

One instant of the future land, Heaven’s land.

[LAST DROPLETS]

Last droplets of and after spontaneous rain,

From many limpid distillations and past showers;

(Will they germinate anything? mere exhalations as they all are—

the land’s and sea‘s—America’s;

Will they filter to any deep emotion? any heart and brain?)

SHIP AHOY!

In dreams I was a ship, and sail’d the boundless seas,

Sailing and ever sailing—all seas and into every port, or out upon

the offing,

Saluting, cheerily hailing each mate, met or pass‘d, little or big,

“Ship ahoy!” thro’ trumpet or by voice—if nothing more, some

friendly merry word at least,

For companionship and good will for ever to all and each.

FOR QUEEN VICTORIA’S BIRTHDAY

An American arbutus bunch to be put in a little vase on the royal breakfast table, May 24th, 1890

Lady, accept a birth-day thought—haply an idle gift and token,

Right from the scented soil’s May-utterance here,

(Smelling of countless blessings, prayers, and old-time thanks,)

A bunch of white and pink arbutus, silent, spicy, shy,

From Hudson‘s, Delaware’s, or Potomac’s woody banks.

L OF G

Thoughts, suggestions, aspirations, pictures,

Cities and farms—by day and night—book of peace and war,

Of platitudes and the commonplace.

For out-door health, the land and sea—for good will,

For America—for all the earth, all nations, the common people,

(Not of one nation only—not America only.)

In it each claim, ideal, line, by all lines, claims, ideals temper’d; Each right and wish by other wishes, rights.

AFTER THE ARGUMENT

A group of little children with their ways and chatter flow in, Like welcome, rippling water oer my heated nerves and flesh.

FOR US TWO, READER DEAR

Simple, spontaneous, curious, two souls interchanging,

With the original testimony for us continued to the last.