Cluster: Thoughts. (1860)

Poems in this cluster

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 per-
sons—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.

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; [ begin page 409 ]

ppp.01500.417.jpg (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.

3.

OF persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies,
wealth, scholarships, and the like, To me, all that those persons have arrived at, sinks
away from them, except as it results to their
bodies and Souls, So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked, And often, to me, each one mocks the others, and
mocks himself or herself, And of each one, the core of life, namely happiness,
is full of the rotten excrement of maggots, And often, to me, those men and women pass un-
wittingly the true realities of life, and go toward
false realities, And often, to me, they are alive after what custom
has served them, but nothing more, And often, to me, they are sad, hasty, unwaked son-
nambules, walking the dusk. 35 [ begin page 410 ]

ppp.01500.418.jpg

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.

5.

AS I sit with others, at a great feast, suddenly, while
the music is playing, To my mind, (whence it comes I know not,) spectral,
in mist, of a wreck at sea, Of the flower of the marine science of fifty genera-
tions, foundered off the Northeast coast, and
going down—Of the steamship Arctic going
down, Of the veiled tableau—Women gathered together
on deck, pale, heroic, waiting the moment that
draws so close—O the moment! [ begin page 411 ]

ppp.01500.419.jpg O the huge sob—A few bubbles—the white foam
spirting up—And then the women gone, Sinking there, while the passionless wet flows on—
And I now pondering, Are those women indeed
gone? Are Souls drowned and destroyed so? Is only matter triumphant?

6.

OF what I write from myself—As if that were not
the resumé; Of Histories—As if such, however complete, were
not less complete than my poems; As if the shreds, the records of nations, could possibly
be as lasting as my poems; As if here were not the amount of all nations, and of
all the lives of heroes.

7.

OF obedience, faith, adhesiveness; As I stand aloof and look, there is to me something
profoundly affecting in large masses of men, fol-
lowing the lead of those who do not believe in
men.

Table of Contents (1860–1861)