Search Results

said in an 1888 conversation about the first edition that "I set up some of it myself: some call it my

tread scares the wood-drake and wood-duck on my distant and daylong ramble" ( [1855], 20).

good will, Not asking the sky to come down to my goodwill, Scattering it freely forever.— Scattering

in a penciled revision into the single line "Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,"

Good-Bye My Fancy: 2D Annex to Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1891. .

They are not in condition to be able to let their accounts lay uncollected without embarrassment, and my

Let me have my own way, Let others promulge the laws, I will make no account of the laws, Let others

I call to the world to distrust the accounts of my friends, but listen to my enemies, as I myself do,

indifferent, but trembling with age and your unheal'd wounds you mounted the scaffold;) I would sing in my

, and singled you out with attachment;) Nor forget I to sing of the wonder, the ship as she swam up my

bay, Well-shaped and stately the Great Eastern swam up my bay, she was 600 feet long, Her moving swiftly

WITH ANTECEDENTS. 1 WITH antecedents, With my fathers and mothers and the accumulations of past ages,

to-day and America could no-how be better than they are. 3 In the name of these States and in your and my

name, the Past, And in the name of these States and in your and my name, the Present time.

salutes, When the fire-flashing guns have fully alerted me, and heaven- clouds heaven-clouds canopy my

To us, my city, Where our tall-topt marble and iron beauties range on opposite sides, to walk in the

See my cantabile!

, I chant the world on my Western sea, I chant copious the islands beyond, thick as stars in the sky,

sail-ships and steam-ships threading the archipelagoes, My stars and stripes fluttering in the wind,

do I not see my love fluttering out among the breakers?

Loud I call to you, my love!

who I am, my love.

Hither my love! Here I am! here!

But my mate no more, no more with me! We two together no more.

Fascinated, my eyes reverting from the south, dropt, to follow those slender windrows, Chaff, straw,

O baffled, balk'd, bent to the very earth, Oppress'd with myself that I have dared to open my mouth,

whose echoes recoil upon me I have not once had the least idea who or what I am, But that before all my

sight of the sea taking advantage of me to dart upon me and sting me, Because I have dared to open my

Me and mine, loose windrows, little corpses, Froth, snowy white, and bubbles, (See, from my dead lips

That sport'st amid the lightning-flash and thunder-cloud, In them, in thy experiences, had'st thou my

Weep not, child, Weep not, my darling, With these kisses let me remove your tears, The ravening clouds

Something there is, (With my lips soothing thee, adding I whisper, I give thee the first suggestion,

Of sea-captains young or old, and the mates, and of all intrepid sailors, Of the few, very choice, taciturn

rest, A spiritual woven signal for all nations, emblem of man elate above death, Token of all brave captains

and mates, And all that went down doing their duty, Reminiscent of them, twined from all intrepid captains

LOVER divine and perfect Comrade, Waiting content, invisible yet, but certain, Be thou my God.

Ideal Man, Fair, able, beautiful, content, and loving, Complete in body and dilate in spirit, Be thou my

O Death, (for Life has served its turn,) Opener and usher to the heavenly mansion, Be thou my God.

All great ideas, the races' aspirations, All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts, Be ye my Gods.

and wondrous, Or some fair shape I viewing, worship, Or lustrous orb of sun or star by night, Be ye my

good as such-like, visible here or anywhere, stand provided for in a handful of space, which I extend my

arm and half enclose with my hand, That containing the start of each and all, the virtue, the germs

cheerfully accept, A little sustenance, a hut and garden, a little money, as I rendez- vous rendezvous with my

SKIRTING the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,) Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance

it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself—as if it were not indispensable to my

FIRST O songs for a prelude, Lightly strike on the stretch'd tympanum pride and joy in my city, How she

O Manhattan, my own, my peerless! O strongest you in the hour of danger, in crisis!

Forty years had I in my city seen soldiers parading, Forty years as a pageant, till unawares the lady

Nothing my babe you see in the sky, And nothing at all to you it says—but look you my babe, Look at these

now the hal- yards halyards have rais'd it, Side of my banner broad and blue, side of my starry banner

Eastern shore, and my Western shore the same, And all between those shores, and my ever running Mississippi

with bends and chutes, And my Illinois fields, and my Kansas fields, and my fields of Missouri, The

My limbs, my veins dilate, my theme is clear at last, Banner so broad advancing out of the night, I sing

FATHOMLESS DEEPS. 1 RISE O days from your fathomless deeps, till you loftier, fiercer sweep, Long for my

O wild as my heart, and powerful!)

you have done me good, My soul prepared in the mountains absorbs your immortal strong nutriment, Long

had I walk'd my cities, my country roads through farms, only half satisfied, One doubt nauseous undulating

like a snake, crawl'd on the ground before me, Continually preceding my steps, turning upon me oft,

voice speaking, As to you Rebellious, (I seemed to hear her say,) why strive against me, and why seek my

yours—yet peace no more, In peace I chanted peace, but now the drum of war is mine, War, red war is my

Why do you tremble and clutch my hand so convulsively?

Aye, this is the ground, My blind eyes even as I speak behold it re-peopled from graves, The years recede

That and here my General's first battle, No women looking on nor sunshine to bask in, it did not conclude

I saw him at the river-side, Down by the ferry lit by torches, hastening the embarcation; My General

But when my General pass'd me, As he stood in his boat and look'd toward the coming sun, I saw something

the silence, Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving, The shrubs and trees, (as I lift my

VIGIL strange I kept on the field one night; When you my son and my comrade dropt at my side that day

battle, the even-contested battle, Till late in the night reliev'd to the place at last again I made my

long-drawn sigh, long, long I gazed, Then on the earth partially reclining sat by your side leaning my

chin in my hands, Passing sweet hours, immortal and mystic hours with you dearest comrade—not a tear

, not a word, Vigil of silence, love and death, vigil for you my son and my soldier, As onward silently

smoke, By these, crowds, groups of forms vaguely I see on the floor, some in the pews laid down, At my

stanch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily,) Then before I depart I sweep my

resume as I chant, I see again the forms, I smell the odor, Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my

A SIGHT in camp in the daybreak gray and dim, As from my tent I emerge so early sleepless, As slow I

Who are you my dear comrade? Then to the second I step—and who are you my child and darling?

AS toilsome I wander'd Virginia's woods, To the music of rustling leaves kick'd by my feet, (for 'twas

this sign left, On a tablet scrawl'd and nail'd on the tree by the grave, Bold, cautious, true, and my

Long, long I muse, then on my way go wandering, Many a changeful season to follow, and many a scene of

soldier's grave, comes the inscrip- tion inscription rude in Virginia's woods, Bold, cautious, true, and my

the air I breathed froze me, A thick gloom fell through the sunshine and darken'd me, Must I change my

that love me, (Arous'd and angry, I'd thought to beat the alarum, and urge relentless war, But soon my

fingers fail'd me, my face droop'd and I resign'd myself, To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or

2 O maidens and young men I love and that love me, What you ask of my days those the strangest and sudden

Bearing the bandages, water and sponge, Straight and swift to my wounded I go, Where they lie on the

thigh, the knee, the wound in the abdomen, These and more I dress with impassive hand, (yet deep in my

noise of the world a rural domestic life, Give me to warble spontaneous songs recluse by myself, for my

excitement, and rack'd by the war-strife,) These to procure incessantly asking, rising in cries from my

heart, While yet incessantly asking still I adhere to my city, Day upon day and year upon year O city

enrich'd of soul, you give me forever faces; (O I see what I sought to escape, confronting, reversing my

cries, I see my own soul trampling down what it ask'd for.) 2 Keep your splendid silent sun, Keep your

O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial! What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light, And the bugles and the drums give you music, And my heart, O my soldiers, my

veterans, My heart gives you love.

WHILE my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long, And my head on the pillow rests

night midnight passes, And through the stillness, through the dark, I hear, just hear, the breath of my

with eager calls and orders of officers, While from some distant part of the field the wind wafts to my

far or near, (rousing even in dreams a devilish exultation and all the old mad joy in the depths of my

galloping by or on a full run, With the patter of small arms, the warning s-s-t of the rifles, (these in my

Me master years a hundred since from my parents sunder'd, A little child, they caught me as the savage

of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world; For my

look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin—I draw near, Bend down and touch lightly with my

glance upward out of this page studying you, dear friend, whoever you are,) How solemn the thought of my

As I Lay With My Head in Your Lap Camerado. AS I LAY WITH MY HEAD IN YOUR LAP CAMERADO.

AS I lay with my head in your lap camerado, The confession I made I resume, what I said to you and the

open air I resume, I know I am restless and make others so, I know my words are weapons full of danger

Covering all my lands—all my seashores lining! Flag of death!

Ah my silvery beauty—ah my woolly white and crimson! Ah to sing the song of you, my matron mighty!

My sacred one, my mother.

therefore leave my works, And go lull yourself with what you can understand, and with piano- tunes piano-tunes

Ere departing fade from my eyes your forests of bayonets; Spirit of gloomiest fears and doubts, (yet

steps keep time; Spirit of hours I knew, all hectic red one day, but pale as death next day, Touch my

mouth ere you depart, press my lips close, Leave me your pulses of rage—bequeath them to me—fill me

with currents convulsive, Let them scorch and blister out of my chants when you are gone, Let them identify

TO the leaven'd soil they trod calling I sing for the last, (Forth from my tent emerging for good, loosing

vistas beyond, to the South and the North, To the leaven'd soil of the general Western world to attest my

Northern ice and rain that began me nourish me to the end, But the hot sun of the South is to fully ripen my

And what shall my perfume be for the grave of him I love?

O wild and loose to my soul—O wondrous singer!

voice of my spirit tallied the song of the bird.

While my sight that was bound in my eyes unclosed, As to long panoramas of visions.

I cease from my song for thee, From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, communing with thee

O Captain! My Captain! O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! O CAPTAIN! my Captain!

O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. O Captain!

my Captain!

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse

But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

make the only growth by which I can be appreciated, I reject none, accept all, then reproduce all in my

What is this you bring my America? Is it uniform with my country?

Will it absorb into me as I absorb food, air, to appear again in my strength, gait, face?

rapt verse, my call, mock me not!

You by my charm I invoke.

In you whoe'er you are my book perusing, In I myself, in all the world, these currents flowing, All,

the West joyously sounding, Your tidings old, yet ever new and untranslatable, Infinitesimals out of my

life, and many a life, (For not my life and years alone I give—all, all I give,) These waifs from the

O earth that hast no voice, confide to me a voice, O harvest of my lands—O boundless summer growths,

you dread accruing army, O you regiments so piteous, with your mortal diarrhoea, with your fever, O my

Nor do I forget you Departed, Nor in winter or summer my lost ones, But most in the open air as now when

my soul is rapt and at peace, like pleasing phantoms, Your memories rising glide silently by me. 6 I

All till'd and untill'd fields expand before me, I see the true arenas of my race, or first or last,

BY the city dead-house by the gate, As idly sauntering wending my way from the clangor, I curious pause

Fair, fearful wreck—tenement of a soul—itself a soul, Unclaim'd, avoided house—take one breath from my

the still woods I loved, I will not go now on the pastures to walk, I will not strip the clothes from my

body to meet my lover the sea, I will not touch my flesh to the earth as to other flesh to renew me.

I do not see any of it upon you to-day, or perhaps I am deceiv'd, I will run a furrow with my plough,

I will press my spade through the sod and turn it up underneath, I am sure I shall expose some of the

transparent green-wash of the sea which is so amorous after me, That it is safe to allow it to lick my

COURAGE yet, my brother or my sister!

that was not the end of those nations or any person of them, any more than this shall be the end of my

walk'dst thy years in barter, 'mid the haunts of brokers, Nor heroism thine, nor war, nor glory. 2 Silent, my

trod, by you Patapsco, You Hudson, you endless Mississippi—nor you alone, But to the high seas launch, my