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Leaves of Grass (1871-72)
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THE INDICATIONS.
1 THE indications, and tally of time; |
Perfect sanity shows the master among philosophs; |
Time, always without flaw, indicates itself in parts; |
What always indicates the poet, is the crowd of the
pleasant company of singers, and their words;
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The words of the singers are the hours or minutes of
the light or dark—but the words of the maker
of poems are the general light and dark;
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The maker of poems settles justice, reality, immor-
tality,
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His insight and power encircle things and the human
race,
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He is the glory and extract thus far, of things, and of
the human race.
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2 The singers do not beget—only the POET begets; |
The singers are welcom'd, understood, appear often
enough—but rare has the day been, likewise the
spot, of the birth of the maker of poems, the
Answerer,
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(Not every century, or every five centuries, has con-
tain'd such a day, for all its names.)
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3 The singers of successive hours of centuries may have
ostensible names, but the name of each of them
is one of the singers,
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The name of each is, eye-singer, ear-singer, head-
singer, sweet-singer, echo-singer, parlor-singer,
love-singer, or something else.
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4 All this time, and at all times, wait the words of true
poems;
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The words of true poems do not merely please, |
The true poets are not followers of beauty, but the
august masters of beauty;
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The greatness of sons is the exuding of the greatness
of mothers and fathers,
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The words of poems are the tuft and final applause of
science.
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5 Divine instinct, breadth of vision, the law of reason,
health, rudeness of body, withdrawnness,
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Gayety, sun-tan, air-sweetness—such are some of the
words of poems.
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6 The sailor and traveler underlie the maker of poems,
the answerer;
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The builder, geometer, chemist, anatomist, phrenolo-
gist, artist—all these underlie the maker of
poems, the answerer.
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7 The words of the true poems give you more than
poems,
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They give you to form for yourself, poems, religions,
politics, war, peace, behavior, histories, essays,
romances, and everything else,
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They balance ranks, colors, races, creeds, and the
sexes,
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They do not seek beauty—they are sought, |
Forever touching them, or close upon them, follows
beauty, longing, fain, love-sick.
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3 They prepare for death—yet are they not the finish,
but rather the outset,
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They bring none to his or her terminus, or to be con-
tent and full;
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Whom they take, they take into space, to behold the
birth of stars, to learn one of the meanings,
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To launch off with absolute faith—to sweep through the
ceaseless rings, and never be quiet again.
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