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Leaves of Grass: First and Death-Bed Editions

Page 93

by Walt Whitman


  I Hear It Was Charged Against Me

  I heard that you ask’d for something to prove this puzzle the New World

  I Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the Organ

  I heard you solemn-sweet pipes of the organ as last Sunday morn I pass’d the church

  I met a seer

  I need no assurances, I am a man who is pre-occupied of his own soul

  I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing

  I Saw Old General at Bay

  I say whatever tastes sweet to the most perfect person, that is finally right.

  I see before me now a traveling army halting

  I see in you the estuary that enlarges and spreads itself grandly as it pours in the great sea.

  I see the sleeping babe nestling the breast of its mother

  [I Sing the Body Electric]

  I Sing the Body Electric

  I Sit and Look Out

  I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame

  I stand as on some mighty eagle’s beak

  I wander all night in my vision

  I wander’d all night in my vision

  I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city

  I Was Looking a Long While

  I was looking a long while for Intentions

  If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show

  If thou art balked, O Freedom

  In a far-away northern county in the placid pastoral region

  In a little house keep I pictures suspended, it is not a fix’d house

  In Cabin’d Ships at Sea

  In dreams I was a ship, and sail’d the boundless seas

  In Former Songs

  In former songs Pride have I sung, and Love, and passionate, joyful Life

  In midnight sleep of many a face of anguish

  In Paths Untrodden

  In softness, languor, bloom, and growth

  In some unused lagoon, some nameless bay

  In the new garden, in all the parts

  Inca’s Daughter, The

  INSCRIPTIONS

  Interpolation Sounds

  Is reform needed? is it through you?

  Italian Music in Dakota

  J

  Joy, Shipmate, Joy!

  K

  Kiss to the Bride

  Kosmos

  L

  L of G

  L. of G.’s Purport

  Lady, accept a birth-day thought—haply and idle gift and token

  [Last Droplets]

  Last droplets of and after spontaneous rain

  Last Invocation, The

  Last of Ebb, and Daylight Waning

  Laws for Creations

  Leaf for Hand in Hand, A

  Leaflets

  Leaves of Grass.

  Lessons

  Let that which stood in front go behind

  Let the reformers descend from the stands where they are forever bawling—let an idiot or insane person appear on each of the stands

  Let us twain walk aside from the rest;

  Life and Death

  Life

  Lingering Last Drops

  Lo, the unbounded sea

  Lo, Victress on the Peaks

  Locations and Times

  Locations and times—what is it in me that meets them all, whenever and wherever, and makes me at home?

  Long I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me—O if I could but obtain knowledge!

  Long, Long Hence

  Long, Too Long America

  Look down fair moon and bathe this scene

  Look Down Fair Moon

  Love That Is Hereafter, The

  Lover divine and perfect Comrade

  M

  Manhattan’s streets I saunter’d pondering

  Mannahatta

  Mannahatta

  Many things to absorb I teach to help you become eleve of mine

  March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown, A

  Me Imperturbe

  Me imperturbe, standing at ease in Nature

  Mediums

  Memories

  MEMORIES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN

  Miracles

  Mirages

  Mississippi at Midnight, The

  More experiences and sights, stranger, than you’d think for;

  Mother and Babe

  My 71st Year

  My Canary Bird

  My city’s fit and noble name resumed

  My Departure

  My Legacy

  My Picture-Gallery

  My science-friend, my noblest woman-friend

  My spirit to yours dear brother

  Myself and Mine

  Myself and mine gymnastic ever

  Mystic Trumpeter, The

  N

  Nations ten thousand years before these States, and many times ten thousand years before these States

  Native Moments

  Native moments—when you come upon me—ah you are here now

  Nay, do not dream, designer dark

  Nay, Tell Me Not To-day the Publish’d Shame

  Night on the Prairies

  No Labor-saving Machine

  Noiseless Patient Spider, A

  Not a sigh was heard, not a tear was shed

  Not alone those camps of white, old comrades of the wars

  Not from successful love alone

  Not Heat Flames up and Consumes

  Not Heaving from My Ribb’d Breast Only

  Not in a gorgeous hall of pride

  Not in a gorgeous hall of pride

  Not Meagre, Latent Boughs Alone

  Not meagre, latent boughs alone, O songs! (scaly and bare, like eagles’ talons)

  Not My Enemies Ever Invade Me

  Not my enemies ever invade me—no harm to my pride from them I fear;

  Not the Pilot

  Not the pilot has charged himself to bring his ship into port, though beaten back and many times baffled

  Not to exclude or demarcate, or pick out evils from their formidable masses (even to expose them,)

  Not Youth Pertains to Me

  Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost

  Now Finalé to the Shore

  Now Lift Me Close

  Now lift me close to your face till I whisper

  Now list to my morning’s romanza, I tell the signs of the Answerer

  Now Precedent Songs, Farewell

  Now, dearest comrade, lift me to your face

  Now precedent songs, farewell—by every name farewell

  O

  O a new song, a free song

  O, beauteous is the earth! and fair

  O Captain! My Captain!

  O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done

  O, Death! a black and pierceless pall

  O, God of Coumbia! O, Shield of the Free!

  O Hymen! O Hymenee!

  O hymen! O hymenee! Why do you tantalize me thus?

  O Living Always, Always Dying

  O Magnet-South

  O magnet-South! Oglistening perfumed South! my South!

  O, many a panting, noble heart

  O mater! O fils!

  O Me! OLife!

  O me! O life! of the questions of these recurring

  O me, man of slack faith so long

  O sight of pity, shame and dole!

  O Star of France (1870-71)

  O Sun of Real Peace

  O sun of real peace! O hastening light!

  O take my hand Walt Whitman!

  O Tan-faced Prairie-Boy

  O to make the most jubilant song!

  O You Whom I Often and Silently Come

  O you whom I often and silently come where you are that I may be with you

  Ode

  Of Equality—as if it harm’d 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 heroes, history, grand events, premises, myths,
poems

  Of Him I Love Day and Night

  Of him I love day and night I dream‘d I heard he was dead

  Of Justice—as if Justice could be any thing but the same ample law, expounded by natural judges and saviors

  Of Many a Smutch’d Deed Reminiscent

  Of obedience, faith, adhesiveness;

  Of olden time, when it came to pass

  Of ownership—as if one fit to own things could not at pleasure enter upon all, and incorporate them into himself or herself;

  Of ownership—As if one fit to own things could not at pleasure enter upon all, and incorporate them into himself or herself;

  Of persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies, wealth, scholarships, and the like;

  Of public opinion

  Of That Blithe Throat of Thine

  Of that blithe throat of thing from arctic bleak and blank

  Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances

  Of these years I sing

  Of the visages of things—And of piercing through to the accepted hells beneath;

  Of waters, forests, hills

  Of what I write from myself—As if that were not the resume;

  Offerings

  OLD AGE ECHOES

  Old Age’s Lambent Peaks

  Old Age’s Ship & Crafty Death‘s

  Old Chants

  Old farmers, travelers, workmen (no matter how crippled or bent,)

  Old Ireland

  Old Man’s Thought of School, An

  Old Salt Kossabone

  Old War-Dreams

  On a flat road runs the well-train’d runner

  On a low couch reclining

  On earth are many sights of woe

  On journeys through the States we start

  On Journeys Through the States

  On my Northwest coast in the midst of the night a fishermen’s group stands watching

  On the Beach at Night

  On the Beach at Night Alone

  On the Same Picture

  On, On the Same, Ye Jocund Twain!

  Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City

  Once I pass’d through a populous city imprinting my brain for future use with its shows, architecture, customs, traditions

  Once on his star-gemmed, dazzling throne

  One day, an obscure youth, a wanderer

  One Hour to Madness and Joy

  One hour to madness and joy! O furious! O confine me not!

  One Thought Ever at the Fore

  One‘s-Self I Sing

  One‘s-self I sing, a simple separate person

  Only themselves understand themselves and the like of themselves

  Or from That Sea of Time

  Orange Buds by Mail from Florida

  Osceola

  Others May Praise What They Like

  Our Future Lot

  Our Old Feuillage

  Out from behind this bending rough-cut mask

  Out from Behind This Mask

  Out of May’s Shows Selected

  Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking

  Out of the murk of heaviest clouds

  Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd

  Out of the rolling ocean the crowd came a drop gently to me

  Outlines for a Tomb

  Over and through the burial chant

  Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic a Voice

  Over the Western sea hither from Niphon come

  Ox-tamer, The

  P

  Pallid Wreath, The

  Passage to India

  Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you

  Patroling Bamegat

  Paumanok

  Paumanok Picture, A

  Pensive and Faltering

  Pensive on her dead gazing I heard the Mother of All

  Pensive on Her Dead Gazing

  Perfections

  Persian Lesson, A

  Pilot in the Mist, The

  Pioneers! O Pioneers!

  Play-Ground, The

  Poets to Come

  Poets to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!

  Portals

  Prairie States, The

  Prairie Sunset, A

  Prairie-Grass Dividing, The

  Prayer of Columbus

  [Preface]

  Preface Note to 2d Annex

  Primeval My Love for the Woman I Love

  Promise to California, A

  Proud Music of the Storm

  Proudly the Flood Comes In

  Proudly the flood comes in, shouting, foaming, advancing

  Punishment of Pride, The

  Q

  Queries to My Seventieth Year

  Quicksand Years

  Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither

  R

  Race of Veterans

  Race of veterans—race of victors!

  Reconciliation

  Recorders Ages Hence

  Red Jacket (From Aloft)

  Respondez!

  Respondez! Respondez!

  Resurgemus

  Return of the Heroes, The

  Reversals

  Riddle Song, A

  Rise O Days from Your Fathomless Deeps

  Rise O Days from your fathomless deeps, till you loftier, fiercer sweep

  Roaming in Thought

  Roaming in thought over the Universe, I saw the little that is Good steadily hastening towards immortality

  Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone

  Roots and leaves themselves alone are these

  “Rounded Catalogue Divine Complete, The”

  Runner, The

  S

  Sacred, blithesome, undenied

  Sail Out for Good, Eidólon Yacht!

  Salut au Monde!

  Sane, random, negligent hours

  Sauntering the pavement or riding the country byroads here then are faces

  Sauntering the pavement or riding the country by-road, lo such faces!

  Savantism

  Says

  Scented Herbage of My Breast

  Sea beauty! stretched and basking!

  SEA-DRIFT

  SECOND ANNEX: GOOD-BYE MY FANCY

  Shakspere-Bacon’s Cipher

  Ship Ahoy!

  Ship Starting, The

  Shot gold, maroon and violet, dazzling silver, emerald, fawn

  Shut Not Your Doors

  Shut not your doors to me proud libraries

  Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim, A

  Silent and amazed even when a little boy

  Simple and fresh and fair from winter’s close emerging

  Simple, spontaneous, curious, two souls interchanging

  Singer in the Prison, The

  Singing my days

  Sketch, A

  Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)

  [Sleepers , The]

  Sleepers, The

  Small the Theme of My Chant

  Small the theme of my Chant, yet the greatest—namely, One‘s-Setf—a simple, separate person.

  So far, and so far, and on toward the end

  So Long!

  Sobbing of the Bells, The

  Solid, Ironical, Rolling Orb

  Somehow I cannot let it go yet, funeral though it is

  Something startles me where I thought I was safest

  Sometimes with One I Love

  Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I effuse unreturn’d love

  Song at Sunset

  Song for All Seas, All Ships

  Song for Certain Congressmen

  [Song for Occupations, A]

  Song for Occupations, A

  Song of Exposition

  Song of Joys, A

  [Song of Myself]

  Song of Myself

  Song of Prudence

  [Song of the Answerer]

  Song of the Answerer

  Song of the Banner at Daybreak

  Song of the Broad-Axe

  Song of the Open
Road

  Song of the Redwood-Tree

  Song of the Rolling Earth, A

  Song of the Universal

  SONGS OF PARTING

  Soon Shall the Winter’s Foil Be Here

  Soon shall the winter’s foil be here;

  Sounds of the Winter

  Sounds of the winter too

  Spain

  Spanish Lady, The

  Sparkles from the Wheel

  Spirit That Form’d This Scene

  Spirit Whose Work Is Done

  Spirit whose work is done—spirit of dreadful hours!

  Splendor of ended day floating and filling me

  Spontaneous Me

  Spontaneous me, Nature

  Starting from fish-shape Paumanok where I was born

  Starting from Paumanok

  States!

  Steaming the northern rapids—(an old St. Lawrence reminiscence)

  Still Though the One I Sing

  Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me? Stronger Lessons

  Suddenly out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves

  Suddenly out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves

  Suddenly, out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves

  Supplement Hours

  T

  Tears

  Tears! tears! tears!

  Tests

  Thanks in Old Age

  Thanks in old age—thanks ere I go

  That coursing on, whate‘er men’s speculations

  That Music Always Round Me

  That music always round me, unceasing, unbeginning, yet long I untadid not hear

  That Shadow My Likeness

  That shadow my likeness that goes to and fro seeking a livelihood, chattering, chaffering

  That which eludes this verse and any verse

  The appointed winners in a long-stretch’ d game;

  The bodies of men and women engirth me, and I engirth them

  The business man the acquirer vast

  The commonplace I sing;

  The devilish and the dark, the dying and diseas‘d

  The last sunbeam

  The mystery of mysteries, the crude and hurried ceaseless flame, spontaneous, bearing on itself

  The noble sire fallen on evil days

  The prairie-grass dividing, its special odor breathing

  The sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news everywhere

  The soft voluptuous opiate shades

  The soothing sanity and blitheness of completion

  The touch of flame—the illuminating fire—the loftiest look at last

  The two old, simple problems ever intertwined

  The untold want by life and land ne‘er granted

  Thee for my recitative

  Then Last of All

  Then Last of All, caught from these shores, this hill

  Then Shall Perceive

  There are who teach only the sweet lessons of peace and safety;

 

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