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I do not press my finger across my mouth, I keep as delicate around the bowels as around the head and
Amelioration is my lesson, he says with calm voice, and progress is my lesson and the lesson of all things
I am the teacher of athletes, He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own proves the width of my
own, He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.
"The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affec- tions affections They scorn the best I can
my respects.
my respects.
My Soul!
We closed with him . . . . the yards entangled . . . . the cannon touched, My captain lashed fast with
I laughed content when I heard the voice of my little captain, We have not struck, he composedly cried
Now I laugh content, for I hear the voice of my little captain,(says my grandmother's father;) We have
my Captain!
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! 1 O CAPTAIN! my captain!
Leave you not the little spot, Where on the deck my captain lies.
Fallen cold and dead. 2 O captain! my captain!
my best as for a purpose, Unbuttoning my clothes and holding me by the bare waist, Deluding my confusion
My Soul!
We closed with him . . . . the yards entangled . . . . the cannon touched, My captain lashed fast with
I laughed content when I heard the voice of my little captain, We have not struck, he composedly cried
Come my children, Come my boys and girls, and my women and household and intimates, Now the performer
He swears to his art, I will not be meddlesome, I will not have in my writing any elegance or effect
What I experience or portray shall go from my composition without a shred of my composition.
You shall stand by my side and look in the mirror with me.
Is it uniform with my country? Are its disposals without ignominious distinctions?
what answers for me an American must answer for any individual or nation that serves for a part of my
my best as for a purpose, Unbuttoning my clothes and holding me by the bare waist, Deluding my confusion
My Soul!
We closed with him . . . . the yards entangled . . . . the cannon touched, My captain lashed fast with
I laughed content when I heard the voice of my little captain, We have not struck, he composedly cried
Come my children, Come my boys and girls, and my women and household and intimates, Now the performer
COME closer to me, Push close my lovers and take the best I possess, Yield closer and closer and give
I will have my own whoever enjoys me, I will be even with you, and you shall be even with me.
become so for your sake; If you remember your foolish and outlawed deeds, do you think I cannot remember my
am this day just as much in love with them as you, But I am eternally in love with you and with all my
friendly companions, I intend to reach them my hand and make as much of them as I do of men and women
How perfect is my soul! How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!
O my soul! if I realize you I have satisfaction, Animals and vegetables!
I cannot define my satisfaction . . yet it is so, I cannot define my life . . yet it is so.
Leaves of Grass, "I Wander All Night in My Vision," Leaves of Grass.
My hands are spread forth . .
I descend my western course . . . . my sinews are flaccid, Perfume and youth course through me, and I
darn my grandson's stockings.
though I lie so sleepy and sluggish, my tap is death.
curious breathing laughing flesh is enough, To pass among them . . to touch any one . . . . to rest my
As I see my soul reflected in nature . . . . as I see through a mist one with inexpress- ible inexpressible
Features of my equals, would you trick me with your creased and cadaverous march?
I saw the face of the most smeared and slobbering idiot they had at the asylum, And I knew for my consolation
what they knew not; I knew of the agents that emptied and broke my brother, The same wait to clear the
Come nigh to me limber-hip'd man and give me your finger and thumb, Stand at my side till I lean as high
Fill me with albescent honey . . . . bend down to me, Rub to me with your chafing beard . . rub to my
And I stood before the young man face to face, and took his right hand in my left hand and his left hand
in my right hand, And I answered for his brother and for men . . . . and I answered for the poet, and
to the President at his levee, And he says Good day my brother, to Cudge that hoes in the sugarfield;
Then the mechanics take him for a mechanic, And the soldiers suppose him to be a captain . . . . and
Leaves of Grass, "Who Learns My Lesson Complete?" WHO learns my lesson complete?
as every one is immortal, I know it is wonderful . . . . but my eyesight is equally wonderful . . . .
and how I was conceived in my mother's womb is equally wonderful, And how I was not palpable once but
thirty-six years old in 1855 . . . . and that I am here anyhow—are all equally wonderful; And that my
Orleans, San Francisco, The departing ships, when the sailors heave at the capstan; —Evening—me in my
room—the setting sun, The setting summer sun shining in my open window, showing the swarm of flies,
, futurity, In space, the sporades, the scatter'd islands, the stars— on the firm earth, the lands, my
thereof—and no less in myself than the whole of the Mannahatta in itself, Singing the song of These, my
my lands are inevitably united, and made ONE IDENTITY; Nativities, climates, the grass of the great
untrodden and mouldy—I see no longer any axe upon it; I see the mighty and friendly emblem of the power of my
I do not vaunt my love for you; I have what I have.) The axe leaps!
You objects that call from diffusion my meanings, and give them shape!
Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me, the sun-light expands my blood!
Why, when they leave me, do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?
It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well. Allons! be not detain'd!
I give you my hand!
all—aplomb in the midst of irrational things, Imbued as they—passive, receptive, silent as they, Finding my
woods, or of any farm-life of These States, or of the coast, or the lakes, or Kanada, Me, wherever 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
walks home late at night, or as I lay in my bed, they came upon me.
; That I was, I knew was of my body—and what I should be, I knew I should be of my body. 7 It is not
mast- hemm'd mast-hemm'd Manhattan, My river and sun-set, and my scallop-edg'd waves of flood-tide,
face, Which fuses me into you now, and pours my meaning into you.
loudly and musically call me by my nighest name! Live, old life!
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.
Now List to My Morning's Romanza.
NOW LIST TO MY MORNING'S ROMANZA. 1 Now list to my morning's romanza—I tell the signs of the Answerer
And I stand before the young man face to face, and take his right hand in my left hand, and his left
hand in my right hand, And I answer for his brother, and for men, and I an- swer answer for him that
to the President at his levee, And he says, Good-day, my brother!
BY the City Dead-House, by the gate, As idly sauntering, wending my way from the clangor, I curious pause—for
take one breath from my tremulous lips; Take one tear, dropt aside as I go, for thought of you, Dead
CAROL OF OCCUPATIONS. 1 COME closer to me; Push close, my lovers, and take the best I possess!
Neither a servant nor a master am I; I take no sooner a large price than a small price—I will have my
become so for your sake; If you remember your foolish and outlaw'd deeds, do you think I cannot remember my
are; I am this day just as much in love with them as you; Then I am in love with you, and with all my
List close, my scholars dear!
Receive me and my lover too—he will not let me go without him.
me, and takes the place of my lover, He rises with me silently from the bed.
my clothes were stolen while I was abed, Now I am thrust forth, where shall I run?
carefully darn my grandson's stockings.
How he informs against my brother and sister, and takes pay for their blood!
shame or the need of shame. 2 Air, soil, water, fire—these are words; I myself am a word with them—my
qualities interpene- trate interpenetrate with theirs—my name is nothing to them; Though it were told
in the three thousand languages, what would air, soil, water, fire, know of my name?
When I undertake to tell the best, I find I cannot, My tongue is ineffectual on its pivots, My breath
(For what is my life, or any man's life, but a conflict with foes—the old, the incessant war?)
painful and choked articulations—you mean- nesses meannesses ; You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my
resolutions, you racking angers, you smoth- er'd smother'd ennuis; Ah, think not you finally triumph—My
indifferent , but trembling with age and your unheal'd wounds, you mounted the scaffold;) —I would sing in my
know not why, but I loved you…(and so go forth little song, Far over sea speed like an arrow, carrying my
love, and drop these lines at his feet;) —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
love, spit their salutes; When the fire-flashing guns have fully alerted me— when heaven-clouds canopy my
To us, my city, Where our tall-topt marble and iron beauties range on opposite sides—to walk in the space
4 See, my cantabile!
chant, projected, a thousand blooming cities yet, in time, on those groups of sea-islands; I chant my
sail-ships and steam-ships threading the archipelagoes; I chant my stars and stripes fluttering in the
I am determin'd to press my way toward you; Sound your voice!
My South! O quick mettle, rich blood, impulse, and love! Good and evil! O all dear to me!
O dear to me my birth-things—All moving things, and the trees where I was born—the grains, plants, rivers
; Dear to me my own slow sluggish rivers where they flow, distant, over flats of silvery sands, or through
the Tombigbee, the Santee, the Coosa, and the Sabine; O pensive, far away wandering, I return with my
the graceful palmetto; I pass rude sea-headlands and enter Pamlico Sound through an inlet, and dart my
Me, ruthless and devilish as any, that my wrists are not chain'd with iron, or my ankles with iron?
I exclude you; Not till the waters refuse to glisten for you, and the leaves to rustle for you, do my
My girl, I appoint with you an appointment—and I charge you that you make preparation to be worthy to
DRUM-TAPS. 1 FIRST, O songs, for a prelude, Lightly strike on the stretch'd tympanum, pride and joy in my
O Manhattan, my own, my peerless! O strongest you in the hour of danger, in crisis!
for our pre- lude prelude , songs of soldiers,) How Manhattan drum-taps led. 2 Forty years had I in my
Long for my soul, hungering gymnastic, I devour'd what the earth gave me; Long I roam'd the woods of
O wild as my heart, and powerful!)
wonder, yet pensive and masterful; All the menacing might of the globe uprisen around me; Yet there with my
; —Long had I walk'd my cities, my country roads, through farms, only half satisfied; One doubt, nauseous
longer wait—I am fully satisfied—I am glutted; I have witness'd the true lightning—I have witness'd 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 convul- sively convulsively ?
Aye, this is the ground; My blind eyes, even as I speak, behold it re-peopled from graves; The years
night of that, mist lifting, rain ceasing, Silent as a ghost, while they thought they were sure of him, my
him at the river-side, Down by the ferry, lit by torches, hastening the embar- cation embarcation ; My
But when my General pass'd me, As he stood in his boat, and look'd toward the coming sun, I saw something
fire—the silence; Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving; The shrubs and trees, (as I left 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
staunch 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
I call to the world to distrust the accounts of my friends, but listen to my enemies—as I myself do;
WHO learns my lesson complete?
as every one is immortal; I know it is wonderful—but my eye-sight is equally wonderful, and how I was
And that my Soul embraces you this hour, and we affect each other without ever seeing each other, and
Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem; I whisper with my lips close to your
O lips of my soul, already becoming powerless! O ample and grand Presidentiads! New history!
(I must not venture—the ground under my feet men- aces menaces me—it will not support me;) O present!
it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself—As if it were not indispensable to my
AS I sit with others, at a great feast, suddenly, while the music is playing, To my mind, (whence it
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
only out of the inimitable poem of the wo- man woman , can come the poems of man—(only thence have my
arrive, or pass'd on farther than those of the earth, I henceforth no more ignore them, than I ignore 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 contains the start of each and all—the virtue, the germs of
WHAT am I, after all, but a child, pleased with the sound of my own name?
sake, Of departing—of the growth of a mightier race than any yet, Of myself, soon, perhaps, closing up my
My Days I sing, and the Lands—with interstice I knew of hapless War.
; Or rude in my home in Dakotah's woods, my diet meat, my drink from the spring; Or withdrawn to muse
place, with my own day, here.
My comrade!
my intrepid nations! O I at any rate include you all with perfect love!
steamers steaming through my poems!
to my bare-stript heart, And reach'd till you felt my beard, and reach'd till you held my feet.
My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach; With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds, and volumes
My ties and ballasts leave me—I travel—I sail—my elbows rest in the sea-gaps; I skirt the sierras—my
We closed with him—the yards entangled—the cannon touch'd; My captain lash'd fast with his own hands.
Now I laugh content, for I hear the voice of my little captain,(says my grandmother's father;) We have
daughters, sons, preluding, The love, the life of their bodies, meaning and being, Curious, here behold my
cycles, in their wide sweep, having brought me again, Amorous, mature—all beautiful to me—all wondrous; My
wondrous; Existing, I peer and penetrate still, Content with the present—content with the past, By my
I were nothing; From what I am determin'd to make illustrious, even if I stand sole among men; From my
The oath of the inseparableness of two together—of the woman that loves me, and whom I love more than my
warp and from the woof; (To talk to the perfect girl who understands me, To waft to her these from my
own lips—to effuse them from my own body;) From privacy—from frequent repinings alone; From plenty of
the right person not near; From the soft sliding of hands over me, and thrusting of fingers through my