Section 22

If you were not breathing and walking here, where would they all be? ;
The most renown’d poems would be ashes, orations and plays would be vacuums.
All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it ; (Did you think it was in the white or gray stone? or the lines of the arches and cornices ?) IIo
All music is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments ;
It is not the violins and the cornets—it is not the oboe nor the beating drums, nor the score® of the baritone singer singing his sweet romanza—nor that of the men’s chorus, nor that of the women’s chorus,
It is nearer and farther than they.
6
Will the whole come back then ?
Can each see signs of the best by a look in the looking-glass ? is there nothing greater or more? ;
Does all sit there with you, with the mystic, unseen Soul ?*
Strange and hard that paradox true I give ;* Objects gross and the unseen Soul are one.
1 4855756, For ‘¢ Twelfth-month’’ read ‘‘ December.”’
2 Line 103. Added in 1867.
8 1855. For ‘‘score’’ reads notes.’’
4 1855 5660 read “ Does all sit there with you, and here with me?”’
5 From line 117 to end is the reading adopted in 1867. The readings of 1855 ’56’60 differ a little from each other, but in the main are the same as that of 1860, which is as follows :
204 LEAVES OF GRASS
House-building, measuring, sawing the boards ; Blacksmithing, glass-blowing, nail-making, coopering, tin-roof- ing, shingle-dressing, J 320
The old, forever-new things—you foolish child! the closest, simplest things, this moment with you,
Your person, and every particle that relates to your person,
The pulses of your brain, waiting their chance and encouragement at every deed or sight,
Anything you do in public by day, and anything you do in secret between- days,
What is called right and what is called wrong—what you behold or touch, or what causes your anger or wonder,
The ankle-chain of the slave, the bed of the bed-house, the cards of the gam- bler, the plates of the forger,
What is seen or learnt in the street, or intuitively learnt,
What is learnt in the public school, spelling, reading, writing, ciphering; the black-board, the teacher’s diagrams,
The panes of the windows, all that appears through them, the going forth in the morning, the aimless spending of the day,
Ones is it that you made money? What is it that you got what you wanted ?)
he usual routine, the work-shop, factory, yard, office, store, desk,
The jaunt of hunting or fishing, and the life of hunting or fishing,
Pasture-life, foddering, milking, herding, and all the personnel and usages,
The plum-orchard, apple-orchard, gardening, seedlings, cuttings, flowers, vines,
Grains, manures, marl, clay, loam, the subsoil plough, the shovel, pick, rake, hoe, irrigation, draining,
The curry-comb, the horse-cloth, the halter, bridle, bits, the very wisps of straw,
The barn and barn-yard, the bins, mangers, mows, racks,
Manufactures, commerce, engineering, the building of cities, every trade carried on there, and the implements of every trade,
The anvil, tongs, hammer, the axe and wedge, the square, mitre, jointer, smoothing-plane,
The plumbob, trowel, level, the wall-scaffold, the work of walls and ceilings, or any mason-work,
The steam-engine, lever, crank, axle, piston, shaft, air-pump, boiler, beam, pulley, hinge, flange, band, bolt, throttle, governors, up and down rods,
The ship’s compass, the sailor’s tarpaulin, the stays and lanyards, the ground tackle for anchoring or mooring, the life-boat for wrecks,
The sloop’s tiller, the pilot’s wheel and bell, the yacht or fish-smack—the great gay-pennanted three-hundred-foot steamboat, under full headway, with her proud fat breasts, and her delicate swift-flashing paddles,
The trail, line, hooks, sinkers, and the seine, and hauling the seine,
The arsenal, small-arms, rifles, gunpowder, shot, caps, wadding, ordnance for war, and carriages ;
Every-day objects, house-chairs, carpet, bed, counterpane of the bed, him or her sleeping at night, wind blowing, indefinite noises,
The snow-storm or rain-storm, the tow-trowsers, the lodge-hut in the woods the still-hunt, ;
City and country, fire-place, candle, gas-light, heater, aqueduct,
CAROL OF OCCUPATIONS 205
Ship-joining, dock-building, fish-curing, ferrying, flagging of side-walks by flaggers, The pump, the pile-driver, the great derrick, the coal-kiln and brick-kiln,
The message of the Governor, Mayor, Chief of Police—the dishes of breakfast, dinner, supper,
The bunk-room, the fire-engine, the string-team, the car or truck behind,
The paper I write on or you write on, every word we write, every cross and aa of the pen, and the curious way we write what we think, yet very aintly,
The directory, the detector, the ledger, the books in ranks on the book-shelves, the clock attached to the wall,
The ring on your finger, the lady’s wristlet, the scent-powder, the druggist’s vials and jars, the draught of lager-beer,
The etui of surgical instruments, the etui of oculist’s or aurist’s instruments, or dentist’s instruments,
The permutating lock that-can be turned and locked as many different ways as there are minutes in a year,
Glass-blowing, nail-making, salt-making, tin-roofing, shingle-dressing, candle- making, lock-making and hanging,
Ship-carpentering, dock-building, fish-curing, ferrying, stone-breaking, flag- ging of side-walks by flaggers,
The pump, the pile-driver, the great derrick, the coal-kiln and brick-kiln,
Coal-mines, all that is down there, the lamps in the darkness, echoes, songs, what meditations, what vast native thoughts looking through smutch’d faces,
Iron-works, forge-fires in the mountains, or by river-banks, men around feel- ing the melt with huge crowbars—lumps of ore, the due combining of ore, limestone, coal—the blast-furnace and the puddling-furnace, the loup-lump at the bottom of the melt at last—the rolling-mill, the stumpy bars of pig-iron, the strong clean-shaped T rail for railroads,
Oil-works, silk-works, white-lead-works, the sugar-house, steam-saws, the great mills and factories,
Lead-mines, and all that is done in lead-mines, or with the lead afterward,
Copper-mines, the sheets of copper, and what is formed out of the sheets, and all the work in forming it,
Stone-cutting, shapely trimmings for fagades, or window or door lintels—the mallet, the tooth-chisel, the jib to protect the thumb,
Oakum, the oakum-chisel, the caulking-iron—the kettle of boiling vault-cement, and the fire under the kettle,
The cotton-bale, the stevedore’s hook, the saw and buck of the sawyer, the screen of the coal-screener, the mould of the moulder, the working- knife of the butcher, the ice-saw, and all the work with ice,
The four-double cylinder press, the hand-press, the frisket and tympan, the compositor’s stick and rule, type-setting, making up the forms, all the work of newspaper counters, folders, carriers, news-men,
The implements for daguerreotyping—the tools of the rigger, grappler, sail-
maker, block-maker,
Goods of gutta-percha, papier-maché, colors, brushes, brush-making, glazier’s implements,
The veneer and glue-pot, the confectioner’s ornaments, the decanter and glasses, the shears and flat-iron, ,
206 LEAVES OF GRASS
Coal-mines, and all that is down there,—the lamps in the dark- ness, echoes, songs, what meditations, what vast native thoughts looking through smutch’d faces,
The awl and knee-strap, the pint measure and quart measure, the counter and stool, the writing-pen of quill or metal—the making of all sorts of edged tools,
The ladders and hanging-ropes of the gymnasium, manly exercises, the game of base-ball, running, leaping, pitching quoits,
The designs for wall-papers, oil-cloths, carpets, the fancies for goods for women, the book-binder’s stamps,
The brewery, brewing, the malt, the vats, every thing that is done by brewers, also by wine-makers, also vinegar-makers,
Leather-dressing, coach-making, boiler-making, rope-twisting, distilling, sign- painting, lime-burning, coopering, cotton-picking—electro plating, elec- trotyping, stereotyping,
Stave-machines, planing-machines, reaping-machines, ploughing-machines, thrashing-machines, steam-wagons,
The cart of the carman, the omnibus, the ponderous dray,
The wires of the electric telegraph stretched on land, or laid at the bottom of the sea, and then the message in an instant from a thousand miles off,
The snow-plough, and two engines pushing it—the ride in the express-train of only one car, the swift go through a howling storm—the locomotive, and all that is done about a locomotive,
The bear-hunt or coon-hunt—the bonfire of shavings in the open lot in the city, and the crowd of children watching,
The blows of the fighting-man, the upper-cut, and one-two-three,
Pyrotechny, letting off colored fire-works at night, fancy figures and jets,
Shop-windows, coffins in the sexton’s ware-room, fruit on the fruit-stand— beef in the butcher’s stall, the slaughter-house of the butcher, the butcher in his killing-clothes,
The area of pens of live pork, the killing-hammer, the hog-hook, the scalder’s tub, gutting, the cutter’s cleaver, the packer’s maul, and the plenteous winter-work of pork-packing,
Flour-works, grinding of wheat, rye, maize, rice—the barrels and the half and quarter barrels, the loaded barges, the high piles on wharves and levees,
Bread and cakes in the bakery, the milliner’s ribbons, the dress-maker’s pat- terns, the tea-table, the home-made sweetmeats ;
Cheap literature, maps, charts, lithographs, daily and weekly newspapers,
The column of wants in the one-cent paper, the news by telegraph, amuse- ments, operas, shows,
The business parts of a city, the trottoirs of a city when thousands of well- dressed people walk up and down,
The cotton, woollen, linen you wear, the money you make and spend,
Your room and bed-room, your piano-forte, the stove and cook-pans,
The house you live in, the rent, the other tenants, the deposit in the savings- bank, the trade at the grocery,
The pay on Seventh Day night, the going home, and the purchases ;
In them the heft of the heaviest—in them far more than you estimated, and far less also,
In them realities for you and me—in them poems for you and me,
In them, not yourself—you and your Soul enclose all things, regardless of es- timation,
CAROL OF OCCUPATIONS 207
Iron-works, forge-fires in the mountains, or by the river-banks— men around feeling the melt with huge crowbars— lumps of ore, the due combining of ore, limestone, coal —the blast-furnace and the puddling-furnace, the loup- lump at the bottom of the melt at last—the rolling-mill, the stumpy bars of pig-iron, the strong, clean-shaped T- rail for railroads ;
Oil-works, silk-works, white-lead-works, the sugar-house, steam- saws, the great mills and factories ;
Stone-cutting, shapely trimmings for facades, or window or door- lintels—the mallet, the tooth-chisel, the jib to protect the thumb,
Oakum, the oakum-chisel, the caulking-iron—the kettle of boil- ing vault-cement, and the fire under the kettle,
The cotton-bale, the stevedore’s hook, the saw and buck of the sawyer, the mould of the moulder, the working-knife of the butcher, the ice-saw, and all the work with ice,
The implements for daguerreotyping—the tools of the rigger,
, grappler, sail-maker, block-maker,
Goods of gutta-percha, papier-maché, colors, brushes, brush-
making, glazier’s implements, 130
In them themes, hints, provokers—if not, the whole earth has no themes, hints, provokers, and never had,
I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile—I do not advise you to stop,
I do not say leadings you thought great are not great, But I say that none lead to greater, sadder, happier, than those lead to.
Will you seek afar off? You surely come back at last,
In things best known to you, finding the best, or as good as the best,
In folks nearest to you finding also the sweetest, strongest, lovingest,
Happiness, knowledge, not in another place, but this place—not for another hour, but this hour,
Man in the first you see or touch—always in your friend, brother, nighest neighbor—Woman in your mother, lover, wife, ;
The popular tastes and occupations taking precedence in poems or any where,
You workwomen and workmen of These States having your own divine and strong life, ;
Looking the President always sternly in the face, unbending, nonchalant, ;
Understanding that he is to be kept by you to short and sharp account of him- self,
And all else thus far giving place to men and women like you.
O you robust, sacred ! I cannot tell you how I love you; _ : All I love America for, is contained in men and women like you.
208 LEAVES OF GRASS
The veneer and glue-pot, the confectioner’s ornaments, the decanter and glasses, the shears and flat-iron,
The awl and knee-strap, the pint measure and quart measure, the counter and stool, the writing-pen of quill or metal—the making of all sorts of edged tools,
The brewery, brewing, the malt, the vats, every thing that is done by brewers, also by wine-makers, also vinegar- makers,
Leather-dressing, coach-making, boiler-making, rope-twisting,
* distilling, sign-painting, lime-burning, cotton-picking— electro-plating, electrotyping, stereotyping,
Stave-machines, planing-machines, reaping-machines, ploughing- machines, thrashing-machines, steam wagons,
The cart of the carman, the omnibus, the ponderous dray ;
Pyrotechny, letting off color’d fire-works at night, fancy figures and jets ; ;
Beef on the butcher’s stall, the slaughter-house of the butcher, the butcher in his killing-clothes,
The pens of live pork, the killing-hammer, the hog-hook, the scalder’s tub, gutting, the cutter’s cleaver, the packer’s maul, and the plenteous winter-work of pork-packing ;
Flour-works, grinding of wheat, rye, maize, rice—the barrels and the half and quarter barrels, the loaded barges, the high piles on wharves and levees ; 140
The men, and the work of the men, on railroads, coasters, fish- boats, canals ;
The daily routine of your own or any man’s life—the shop, yard, store, or factory ;
These shows all near you by day and night—workman ! whoever you are, your daily life!
In that and them the heft of the heaviest—in them far more than you estimated, and far less also ;
In them realities for you and me—in them poems for you and mien
In them, not yourself—you and your Soul enclose all things, re- gardless of estimation ;
In them the development good—in them, all themes and hints.
I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile—I do not advise you to stop ;
I do not say leadings you thought great are not great ;
But I say that none lead to greater, than those lead to. 150
CAROL OF OCCUPATIONS 209
7
Will you seek afar off ? you surely come back at last,
In things best known to you, finding the best, or as good as the best,
In folks nearest to you finding the sweetest, strongest, lovingest ;
Happiness, knowledge, not in another place, but this place—not for another hour, but this hour ;
Man in the first you see or touch—always in friend, brother, nighest neighbor—Woman in mother, lover, wife ;
The popular tastes and employments taking precedence in poems or any where,
You workwomen and workmen of These States having your own divine and strong life,
And all else giving place to men and women like you.
&
THOUGHTS. First published in 1860, being part of “‘ Thought 4”’ in 1860 and 1867 editions.
I
OF ownership—As if one fit to own things could not at pleasure enter upon all, and incorporate them into himself or her- self.
2
”
First published in 1860, being ‘‘ Thought 2”’ in 1860 and 1867 editions.
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 attain’d on the journey ;
(But I see the road continued, and the journey ever continued ;) —0Of what was once lacking on earth, and in due time has be- come 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.
14
210 LEAVES OF GRASS
THES SLEEPERS.
First published in 1855. In 1856 under title of “Night Poem.’ In 1860 67 under title of «© Sleep-Chasings,””
I
I WANDER all night in my vision,
Stepping with light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping,
Bending with open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers,
Wandering and confused, lost to myself, ill-assorted, contra- dictory,
Pausing, gazing, bending, and stopping.
How solemn they look there, stretch’d and still! How quiet they breathe, the little children in their cradles!
The wretched features of ennuyés, the white features of corpses, the livid faces of drunkards, the sick-gray faces of onan- ists,
The gash’d bodies on battle-fields, the insane in their strong- door’d rooms, the sacred idiots, the new-born emerging from gates, and the dying emerging from gates,
The night pervades them and infolds them. Io
The married couple sleep calmly in their bed—he with his palm on the hip of the wife, and she with her palm on the hip of the husband,
The sisters sleep lovingly side by side in their bed,
The men sleep lovingly side by side in theirs,
And the mother sleeps, with her little child carefully wrapt.
The blind sleep, and the deaf and dumb sleep, The prisoner sleeps well in the prison—the run-away son sleeps ; The murderer that is to be hung next day—how does he sleep ? And the murder’d person—how does he sleep ?
The female that loves unrequited sleeps, And the male that loves unrequited sleeps, 20
THE SLEEPERS 211
The head of the money-maker that plotted all day sleeps, And the enraged and treacherous dispositions—all, all' sleep.
2
I stand in the dark with drooping eyes by the worst-suffering and the most restless,”
I pass my hands soothingly to and fro a few inches from them,
The restless sink in their beds—they fitfully sleep.
Now I pierce the darkness—new beings appear,*®
The earth recedes from me into the night,
I saw that it was beautiful, and I see that what is not the earth is beautiful.
I go from bedside to bedside—I sleep close with the other sleepers, each in turn,
I dream in my dream all the dreams of the other dreamers, 30
And I become the other dreamers.
3 ‘I am a dance—Play up, there! the fit is whirling me fast !
I am the ever-laughing—it is new moon and twilight,
I see the hiding of douceurs—I see nimble ghosts whichever way I look,
Cache, and cache again, deep in the ground and sea, and where it is neither ground or sea.