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Calamus 2

Part of the cluster CALAMUS.

2.

SCENTED herbage of my breast, Leaves from you I yield, I write, to be perused best  
 afterwards,
Tomb-leaves, body-leaves, growing up above me, above  
 death,
Perennial roots, tall leaves—O the winter shall not  
 freeze you, delicate leaves,
Every year shall you bloom again—Out from where  
 you retired, you shall emerge again;
O I do not know whether many, passing by, will dis- 
 cover you, or inhale your faint odor—but I  
 believe a few will;
O slender leaves! O blossoms of my blood! I permit  
 you to tell, in your own way, of the heart that is  
 under you,
O burning and throbbing—surely all will one day be  
 accomplished;
O I do not know what you mean, there underneath  
 yourselves—you are not happiness,
You are often more bitter than I can bear—you burn  
 and sting me,
  [ begin page 343 ]ppp.01500.351.jpg Yet you are very beautiful to me, you faint-tinged  
 roots—you make me think of Death,
Death is beautiful from you—(what indeed is beau- 
 tiful, except Death and Love?)
O I think it is not for life I am chanting here my  
 chant of lovers—I think it must be for Death,
For how calm, how solemn it grows, to ascend to the  
 atmosphere of lovers,
Death or life I am then indifferent—my Soul de- 
 clines to prefer,
I am not sure but the high Soul of lovers welcomes  
 death most;
Indeed, O Death, I think now these leaves mean pre- 
 cisely the same as you mean;
Grow up taller, sweet leaves, that I may see! Grow  
 up out of my breast!
Spring away from the concealed heart there! Do not fold yourselves so in your pink-tinged roots, 
 timid leaves!
Do not remain down there so ashamed, herbage of my  
 breast!
Come, I am determined to unbare this broad breast of  
 mine—I have long enough stifled and choked;
Emblematic and capricious blades, I leave you—now  
 you serve me not,
Away! I will say what I have to say, by itself, I will escape from the sham that was proposed to me, I will sound myself and comrades only—I will never  
 again utter a call, only their call,
I will raise, with it, immortal reverberations through  
 The States,
I will give an example to lovers, to take permanent  
 shape and will through The States;
  [ begin page 344 ]ppp.01500.352.jpg Through me shall the words be said to make death  
 exhilarating,
Give me your tone therefore, O Death, that I may  
 accord with it,
Give me yourself—for I see that you belong to me  
 now above all, and are folded together above all  
 —you Love and Death are,
Nor will I allow you to balk me any more with what  
 I was calling life,
For now it is conveyed to me that you are the pur- 
 ports essential,
That you hide in these shifting forms of life, for  
 reasons—and that they are mainly for you,
That you, beyond them, come forth, to remain, the  
 real reality,
That behind the mask of materials you patiently  
 wait, no matter how long,
That you will one day, perhaps, take control of all, That you will perhaps dissipate this entire show of  
 appearance,
That may be you are what it is all for—but it does  
 not last so very long,
But you will last very long.

Part of the cluster CALAMUS.

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