Section 23

Well do they do their jobs, those journeymen divine,
Only from me can they hide nothing, and would not if they could,
I reckon I am their boss, and they make me a pet besides,
And surround me and lead me, and run ahead when I walk,
To lift their cunning covers, to signify me with stretch’d arms, and resume the way ; 40
Onward we move! a gay gang of blackguards! with mirth- shouting music, and wild-flapping pennants of joy!
1 2 185556 read ‘‘I stand with drooping eyes by the worst suffering and
restless.’’ ; 3 Line 26 added in 1860.
Die LEAVES OF GRASS
4 I am the actor, the actress, the voter, the politician ; The emigrant and the exile, the criminal that stood in the box, He-who has been famous, and he who shall be famous after to-day, The stammerer, the well-form’d person, the wasted or feeble person.
5
IT am she who adorn’d herself and folded her hair expectantly, My truant lover has come, and it is dark.
Double yourself and receive me, darkness ! Receive me and my lover too—he will not let me go without him.
I roll myself upon you, as upon a bed—lI resign myself to the dusk. 5° 6
He whom I call answers me, and takes the place of my lover, He rises with me silently from the bed.
Darkness! you are gentler than my lover—his flesh was sweaty and panting, I feel the hot moisture yet that he left me.
My hands are spread forth, I pass them in all directions, I would sound up the shadowy shore to which you are journey- ing.
Be careful, darkness! already, what was it touch’d me? I thought my lover had gone, else darkness and he are one, I hear the heart-beat—I follow, I fade away.
7 O hot-cheek’d and blushing! O foolish hectic ! 60 O for pity’s sake, no one must see me now! my clothes were stolen while I was abed, Now I am thrust forth, where shall I run?
Pier that I saw dimly last night, when I look’d from the win- dows !
THE SLEEPERS 213
Pier out from the main, let me catch myself with you, and stay —I will not chafe you, I feel ashamed to go naked about the world.
Iam curious to know. where my feet stand—and what this is flooding me, childhood or manhood—and the hunger that crosses the bridge between.
8
The cloth laps a first sweet eating and drinking,
Laps life-swelling yolks—laps ear of rose-corn, milky and just ripen’d ;
The white teeth stay, and the boss-tooth advances in darkness,
And liquor is spill’d on lips and bosoms by touching glasses, and the best liquor afterward. 40
9
I descend my western course, my sinews are flaccid, Perfume and youth course through me, and I am their wake.
It is my face yellow and wrinkled, instead of the old woman’s, I sit low in a straw-bottom chair, and carefully darn my grand- son’s stockings.
It is I too, the sleepless widow, looking out on the winter mid- night, I see the sparkles of starshine on the icy and pallid earth.
A shroud I see, and I am the shroud—I wrap a body, and lie in the coffin,
It is dark here under ground—it is not evil or pain here—it is blank here, for reasons.
It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be
happy, Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough. 80
Io
I see a beautiful gigantic swimmer, swimming naked through the eddies of the sea,
His brown hair lies close and even to his head—he strikes out with courageous arms—he urges himself with his legs,
214 LEAVES OF GRASS
I see his white body—I see his undaunted eyes, I hate the swift-running eddies that would dash him head-fore- most on the rocks.
What are you doing, you ruffianly red-trickled waves ? Will you kill the courageous giant? Will you kill him in the prime of his middle age?
Steady and long he struggles,
He is baffled, bang’d, bruis’d—he holds out while his strength holds out,
The slapping eddies are spotted with his blood—they bear him away—they roll him, swing him, turn him,
His beautiful body is borne in the circling eddies, it is continu- ally bruis’d on rocks, go
Swiftly and out of sight is borne the brave corpse.
It
I turn, but do not extricate myself, Confused, a past-reading, another, but with darkness yet.
The beach is cut by the razory ice-wind—the wreck-guns sound, The tempest lulls—the moon comes floundering through the drifts.
I look where the ship helplessly heads end on—I hear the burst as she strikes—I hear the howls of dismay—they grow fainter and fainter.
I cannot aid with my wringing fingers, T can but rush to the surf, and let it drench me and freeze upon — me.
I search with the crowd—not one of the company is wash’d to us alive ; In the morning I help pick up the dead and lay them in rows in
a barn. Ioo
12 Now of the older war-days, the defeat at Brooklyn,
Washington stands inside the lines—he stands on the intrench’d hills, amid a crowd of officers,
THE SLEEPERS 215
His face is cold and damp—he cannot repress the weeping drops,
He lifts the glass perpetually to his eyes—the color is blanch’d from his cheeks,
He sees the slaughter of the southern braves confided to him by their parents.
The same, at last and at last, when peace is declared,
He stands in the room of the old tavern—the well-belov’d sol- diers all pass through,
The officers speechless and slow draw near in their turns,
The chief encircles their necks with his arm, and kisses them on the cheek,
He kisses lightly the wet cheeks one after another—he shakes
hands, and bids good-by to the army. ILO 13 Now I tell what my mother told me to-day as we sat at dinner together,
Of when she was a nearly grown girl, living home with her parents on the old homestead.
A red squaw came one breakfast time to the old homestead,
On her back she carried a bundle of rushes for rush-bottoming chairs,
Her hair, straight, shiny, coarse, black, profuse, half-envelop’d her face,
Her step was free and elastic, and her voice sounded exquisitely as she spoke.
My mother look’d in delight and amazement at the stranger,
She look’d at the freshness of her tall-borne face, and full and pliant limbs,
The more she look’d upon her, she loved her,
Never before had she seen such wonderful beauty and pu- rity, 120
She made her sit on a bench by the jamb of the fireplace—she cook’d food for her,
She had no work to give her, but she gave her remembrance and fondness.
The red squaw staid all the forenoon, and toward the middle of the afternoon she went away,
216 LEAVES OF GRASS
O my mother was loth to have her go away !
All the week she thought of her—she watch’d for her many a month,
She remember’d her many a winter and many a summer,
But the red squaw never came, nor was heard of there again.
14
Now Lucifer was not dead—or if he was, Iam his sorrowful terrible heir ;
I have been wrong’d—I am oppress’d—I hate him that oppresses me,
I will either destroy him, or he shall release me. 130
Damn him! how he does defile me !
How he informs against my brother and sister, and takes pay for their blood !
How he laughs when I look down the bend, after the steamboat that carries away my woman !
Now the vast dusk bulk that is the whale’s bulk, it seems mine ; Warily, sportsman ! though I lie so sleepy and sluggish, the tap of my flukes is death.’
a5 A show of the summer softness! a contact of something unseen! an amour of the light and air! IT am jealous, and overwhelm’d with friendliness, And will go gallivant with the light and air myself, And have an unseen something to be in contact with them also.
O love and summer! you are in the dreams, and inme! 140 Autumn and winter are in the dreams—the farmer goes with his thrift,
The droves and crops increase, and the barns are well-fill’d.
16
Elements merge in the night—ships make tacks in the dreams,
The sailor sails—the exile returns home,
The fugitive returns unharm’d—the immigrant is back beyond months and years,
The poor Irishman lives in the simple house of his childhood, with the well-known neighbors and faces,
1 1855 ’56’60 ’67 read ‘‘ my tap is death.”’
THE SLEEPERS 217
They warmly welcome him—he is barefoot again, he forgets he is well off ;
The Dutchman voyages home, and the Scotchman and Welshman voyage home, and the native of the Mediterranean voy- ages home,
To every port of England, France, Spain, enter well-fill’d ships,
The Swiss foots it toward his hills—the Prussian goes his way, the Hungarian his way, and the Pole his way, 150
The Swede returns, and the Dane and Norwegian return.
17
The homeward bound, and the outward bound,
The beautiful lost swimmer, the ennuyé, the onanist, the female that loves unrequited, the money-maker,
The actor and actress, those through with their parts, and those waiting to commence,
The affectionate boy, the husband and wife, the voter, the nom- inee that is chosen, and the nominee that has fail’d,
The great already known, and the great any time after to-day,
The stammerer, the sick, the perfect-form’d, the homely,
The criminal that stood in the box, the judge that sat and sen- tenced him, the fluent lawyers, the jury, the audience,
The laugher and weeper, the dancer, the midnight widow, the red squaw, 159
The consumptive, the erysipelite, the idiot, he that is wrong’d,
The antipodes, and every one between this and them in the dark,
I swear they are averaged now—one is no better than the other,
The night and sleep have liken’d them and restored them.
I swear they are all beautiful ;
Every one that sleeps is beautiful—everything in the dim light is beautiful,
The wildest and bloodiest is over, and all is peace.
18 Peace is always beautiful, The myth of heaven indicates peace and night.
The myth of heaven indicates the Soul ; The Soul is always beautiful—it appears more or it appears less —it comes, or it lags behind, 170
215 LEAVES OF GRASS
It comes from its embower’d garden, and looks pleasantly on itself, and encloses the world,
Perfect and clean the genitals previously jetting, and perfect and clean the womb cohering,
The head well-grown, proportion’d and plumb, and the bowels and joints proportion’d and plumb.
ay
The Soul is always beautiful,
The universe is duly in order, everything is in its place,
What has arrived is in its place, and what waits is in its place;
The twisted skull waits, the watery or rotten blood waits,
The child of the glutton or venerealee waits long, and the child of the drunkard waits long, and the drunkard himself waits long,
The sleepers that lived and died wait—the far advanced are to go on in their turns, and the far behind are to come’ on in their turns,
The diverse shall be no less diverse, but they shall flow and unite —they unite now. 180
20
The sleepers are very beautiful as they lie unclothed,
They flow hand in hand over the whole earth, from east to west, as they lie unclothed,
The Asiatic and African are hand in hand—the European and American are hand in hand,
Learn’d and unlearn’d are hand in hand, and male and female are hand in hand,
The bare arm of the girl crosses the bare breast of her lover— they press close without lust—his lips press her neck,
The father holds his grown or ungrown son in his arms with measureless love, and the son holds the father in his arms with measureless love,
The white hair of the mother shines on the white wrist of the daughter,
The breath of the boy goes with the breath of the man, friend is inarm’d by friend,
The scholar kisses the teacher and the teacher kisses the scholar —the wrong’d is made right,
The call of the slave is one with the master’s call, and the master salutes the slave, 190
1 1855 °56’60. For **come on’’ read ‘go on,”
CAROL OF WORDS 219
The felon steps forth from the ptison—the insane becomes sane —the suffering of sick persons is reliev’d,
The sweatings and fevers stop—the throat that was unsound is sound—the lungs of the consumptive are resumed—the poor distress’d head is free,
The joints of the rheumatic move as smoothly as ever, and smoother than ever,
Stiflings and passages open—the paralyzed become supple,
The swell’d and convuls’d and congested awake to themselves in condition,
They pass the invigoration of the night, and the chemistry of the night, and awake.
21
I too pass from the night,
I stay a while away, O night, but I return to you again, and love you.
Why should I be afraid to trust myself to you?
I am not afraid—I have been well brought forward by you; 200
I love the rich running day, but I do not desert her in whom I lay so long,
I know not how I came of you, and I know not where I go with you—but I know I came well, and shall go well.
I will stop only a time with the night, and rise betimes ; I will duly pass the day, O my mother, and duly return to you.
1
CAROL OF WORDS.
First published in 1856 under title of ‘‘ Poem of The Sayers of the Words of The Earth.” In editions of 1860 ’67 under title of ‘‘ To The Sayers of Words.”
it
EartH, round, rolling, compact—suns, moons, animals—all these are words to be said ;”
Watery, vegetable, sauroid advances—beings, premonitions, lispings of the future,
Behold! these are vast words to be said.’
1 1855 adds ‘‘ Not you will yield forth the dawn again more surely than you will yield forth me again, ; Not the womb yields the babe in its time more surely than I shall be yielded from you in my time.’’ 2 3 1856 reads ‘‘ These are vast words.”
220 LEAVES OF GRASS
Were you thinking that those were the words—those upright lines ? those curves, angles, dots ?
No, those are not the words—the substantial words are in the ground and sea,
They are in the air—they are in you.
Were you thinking that those were the words—those delicious sounds out of your friends’ mouths ? No, the real words are more delicious than they.
Human bodies are words, myriads of words ; In the best poems re-appears the body, man’s or woman’s, well-
shaped, natural, gay, Io Every part able, active, receptive, without shame or the need of shame. 2
Air, soil, water, fire—these are words ;
I myself am a word with them—my qualities 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 ?
A healthy presence, a friendly or commanding gesture, are words, sayings, meanings ;
The charms that go with the mere looks of some men and women, are sayings and meanings also.
3
The workmanship of souls is by the inaudible words of the earth ; The great masters’ know the earth’s words, and use them more than the audible words.’
Amelioration is one of the earth’s words ;
The earth neither lags nor hastens ; 20 It has all attributes, growths, effects, latent in itself from the jump ;
It is not half beautiful only—defects and excrescences show just as much as perfections show.
1 1856 ’60 read ‘¢ The great masters, the sayers,’’ etc. 2 After line 18, 1856 reads ‘‘ Syllables are not the earth’s words, Beauty, reality, manhood, time, life,—the realities of such as these are the earth’s words.”’
CAROL OF WORDS 221 -
The earth does not withhold, it is generous enough ;
The truths of the earth continually wait, they are not so con- ceal’d either ;
They are calm, subtle, untransmissible by print ;
They are imbued through all things, conveying themselves will- ingly,
Conveying a sentiment and invitation of the earth—I utter and utter,
I speak not, yet if you hear me not, of what avail am I to you?
To bear—to better—lacking these, of what avail am I?
Accouche! Accouchez ! 30 Will you rot your own fruit in yourself there ? Will you squat and stifle there ?
The earth does not argue,
Is not pathetic, has no arrangements,
Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise, Makes no discriminations, has no conceivable failures, Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out,
Of all the powers, objects, states, it notifies, shuts none out.
5
The earth does not exhibit itself, nor refuse to exhibit itself— possesses still underneath ;
Underneath the ostensible sounds, the august chorus of heroes, the wail of slaves, 40
Persuasions of lovers, curses, gasps of the dying, laughter of young people, accents of bargainers,
Underneath these, possessing the words that never fail.
To her children, the words of the eloquent dumb great mother never fail ;
The true words do not fail, for motion does not fail, and reflec- tion does not fail ;
Also the day and night do not fail, and the voyage we pursue does not fail.
6
Of the interminable sisters,
Of the ceaseless cotillions of sisters,
Of the centripetal and centrifugal sisters, the elder and younger sisters,
The beautiful sister we know dances on with the rest.