Title: From the tips of his
Creator: Walt Whitman
Date: Between 1853 and 1855
Whitman Archive ID: loc.05705
Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Transcribed from digital images of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of manuscripts, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note: This manuscript was probably written between 1853 and 1855, while Whitman was working on the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass. Versions of these cancelled and fragmentary lines were used in the first poem in that edition, eventually titled "Song of Myself."
Related items: This manuscript leaf originally formed part of a larger notebook. We have made composite images that show the continuation of the text on this leaf with text on the notebook leaf from which it was cut, and the manuscripts have been transcribed in separate files. See loc.05704 and loc.00024.
Contributors to digital file: Kirsten Clawson, Nicole Gray, Janel Cayer, and Kenneth M. Price
From the tips of his fingers
from the breaths of his lungs
from the sparkle of his eyes,
from the odor of his body
[cut away]