Calamus 4

Part of the cluster CALAMUS.

4.

THESE I, singing in spring, collect for lovers, (For who but I should understand lovers, and all their
sorrow and joy? And who but I should be the poet of comrades?) Collecting, I traverse the garden, the world—but
soon I pass the gates, Now along the pond-side—now wading in a little,
fearing not the wet, Now by the post-and-rail fences, where the old stones
thrown there, picked from the fields, have accu-
mulated, Wild-flowers and vines and weeds come up through
the stones, and partly cover them—Beyond these
I pass, Far, far in the forest, before I think where I get, Solitary, smelling the earthy smell, stopping now and
then in the silence, Alone I had thought—yet soon a silent troop gathers
around me, Some walk by my side, and some behind, and some
embrace my arms or neck, They, the spirits of friends, dead or alive—thicker
they come, a great crowd, and I in the middle, Collecting, dispensing, singing in spring, there I wan-
der with them, Plucking something for tokens—something for these,
till I hit upon a name—tossing toward whoever
is near me, [ begin page 348 ]

ppp.01500.356.jpg Here! lilac, with a branch of pine, Here, out of my pocket, some moss which I pulled off
a live-oak in Florida, as it hung trailing down, Here, some pinks and laurel leaves, and a handful of
sage, And here what I now draw from the water, wading in
the pond-side, (O here I last saw him that tenderly loves me—and
returns again, never to separate from me, And this, O this shall henceforth be the token of
comrades—this calamus-root shall, Interchange it, youths, with each other! Let none
render it back!) And twigs of maple, and a bunch of wild orange, and
chestnut, And stems of currants, and plum-blows, and the
aromatic cedar; These I, compassed around by a thick cloud of
spirits, Wandering, point to, or touch as I pass, or throw them
loosely from me, Indicating to each one what he shall have—giving
something to each, But what I drew from the water by the pond-side, that
I reserve, I will give of it—but only to them that love, as I
myself am capable of loving.

Part of the cluster CALAMUS.