Section 47

Thy unexampled woes and pangs have quell’d them all,
And left thee sacred.
In that amid thy many faults, thou ever aimedest highly, In that thou wouldst not really sell thyself, however great the price,
AS A STRONG BIRD ON PINIONS FREE 463
In that thou surely wakedst weeping from thy drugg’d sleep, 20 In that alone, among thy sisters, thou, Giantess, didst rend the ones that shamed thee, In that thou couldst not, wouldst not, wear the usual chains, This cross, thy livid face, thy pierced hands and feet, The spear thrust in thy side. 4
O star! O ship of France, beat back and baffled long! Bear up, O smitten orb! O ship, continue on!
Sure, as the ship of all, the Earth itself, | Product of deathly fire and turbulent chaos,
Forth from its spasms of fury and its poisons,
Issuing at last in perfect power and beauty, 3° Onward, beneath the sun, following its course,
So thee, O ship of France!
Finish’d the days, the clouds dispell’d, The travail o’er, the long-sought extrication, When lo! reborn, high o’er the European world, (In gladness, answering thence, as face afar to face, reflecting ours, Columbia, ) Again thy star, O France—fair, lustrous star, In heavenly peace, clearer, more bright than ever, Shall beam immortal. 5d
VIRGINIA—THE WEST.
First published in ‘‘ As a Strong Bird,” etc., 1872.
I
Tue noble Sire, fallen on evil days,
I saw, with hand uplifted, menacing, brandishing, (Memories of old in abeyance—love and faith in abeyance, ) The insane knife toward the Mother of All.
2
The noble Son, on sinewy feet advancing,
I saw—out of the land of prairies—land of Ohio’s waters, and of Indiana,
To the rescue, the stalwart giant, hurry his plenteous offspring,
Drest in blue, bearing their trusty rifles on their shoulders.
464 LEAVES OF GRASS
3
Then the Mother of All, with calm voice speaking,
As to you, Virginia, (I seemed to hear her say, ) why strive against me—and why seek my life?
When you yourself forever provide to defend me?
For you provided me Washington—and now these also.
a BY BROAD POTOMAC’S SHORE.
First published in ‘‘ As a Strong Bird,” etc., 1872.
I
By broad Potomac’s shore—again, old tongue !
(Still uttering—still ejaculating—canst never cease this babble ?)
Again, old heart so gay—again to you, your sense, the full flush spring returning ;
Again the freshness and the odors—again Virginia’s summer sky, pellucid blue and silver,
Again the forenoon purple >f the hills,
Again the deathless grass, so noiseless, soft and green,
Again the blood-red roses blooming.
2
Perfume this book of mine, O blood-red roses!
Lave subtly with your waters every line, Potomac !
Give me of you, O spring, before I close, to put between its ages |
O forenoon purple of the hills, before I close, of you!
O smiling earth—O summer sun, give me of you!
O deathless grass, of you!
GATHERED LEAVES 405
GATHERED LEAVES.
APOSTROPH. First published in 1860.
O maTER! O fils!
O brood continental !
O flowers of the prairies !
O space boundless! O hum of mighty products!
O you teeming cities! O so invincible, turbulent, proud!
O race of the future! O women!
O fathers! O you men of passion and the storm !
O native power only! O beauty!
O yourself! O God! O divine average !
O you bearded roughs! O bards! O all those slumberers! 10
O arouse! the dawn-bird’s throat sounds shrill! Do you not hear the cock crowing ?
O, as I walk’d the beach, I heard the mournful notes foreboding a tempest—the low, oft-repeated shriek of the diver, the long-lived loon ;
O I heard, and yet hear, angry thunder ;—O you sailors! O ships ! make quick preparation !
O from his masterful sweep, the warning cry of the eagle!
(Give way there, all! It is useless! Give up your spoils ;)
O sarcasms! Propositions! (O if the whole world should prove indeed a sham, a sell!)
O I believe there is nothing real but America and freedom !
O to sternly reject all except Democracy !
O imperator ! O who dare confront you and me?
O to promulgate our own! O to build for that which builds for
mankind ! 20 O feuillage! O North! O the slope drained by the Mexican sea !
O all, all inseparable—ages, ages, ages ! O a curse on him that would dissever this Union for any reason whatever ! O climates, labors! O good and evil! O death! O you strong with iron and wood! O Personality ! 30
466 LEAVES OF GRASS
O the village or place which has the greatest man or woman ! even if it be only a few ragged huts ;
O the city where women walk in public processions in the streets, the same as the men ;
O a wan and terrible emblem, by me adopted !
O shapes arising! shapes of the future centuries !
O muscle and pluck forever for me ! 30
© workmen and workwomen forever for me!
O farmers and sailors! O drivers of horses forever for me!
O I will make the new bardic list of trades and tools!
O you coarse and wilful! I love you!
O South! O longings for my dear home! O soft and sunny airs!
O pensive ! O I must return where the palm grows and the mock- ing-bird sings, or else I die!
O equality! O organic compacts! I am come to be your born poet!
O whirl, contest, sounding and resounding! I am your poet, be- cause I am part of you;
O days by-gone! Enthusiasts! Antecedents !
O vast preparations for These States! O years! 40
O what is now being sent forward thousands of years to come!
O mediums! O to teach! to convey the invisible faith !
To promulge real things! to journey through all The States!
O creation! O to-day! O laws! O unmitigated adoration!
O for mightier broods of orators, artists, and singers!
O for native songs! carpenter’s, boatman’s, ploughman’s songs! shoemaker’s songs!
O haughtiest growth of time! O free and extatic!
O what I, here, preparing, warble for!
O you hastening light! O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height—and you too will ascend ;
O so amazing and so broad! up there resplendent, darting and burning ; 50
O prophetic! O vision staggered with weight of light! with pouring glories !
O copious! O hitherto unequalled !
O Libertad! O compact! O union impossible to dissever !
O my Soul! O lips becoming tremulous, powerless !
O centuries, centuries yet ahead !
O voices of greater orators! I pause—I listen for you
O you States | Cities! defiant of all outside authority! I spring at once into your arms! you I most love!
O you grand Presidentiads! I wait for you!
GATHERED LEAVES 467
New history! New heroes! I project you!
Visions of poets! only you really last! O sweep on! sweep on! 60
O Death! O you striding there! O I cannot yet!
O heights! O infinitely too swift and dizzy yet!
O purged lumine! you threaten me more than I can stand!
O present! I return while yet I may to you!
O poets to come, I depend upon you!
&*
O SUN OF REAL PEACE.
First published in 1860 as part of ‘‘ Apostroph.’”’ See line 49 of that poem. Published under present title in 1867.
O sun of real peace !" O hastening light !
O free and extatic ! O what I here, preparing, warble for !
O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height —and you too, O my Ideal,’ will surely ascend !
O so amazing and broad—up there resplendent, darting and burning !
O vision prophetic, stagger’d with weight of light ! with pouring glories !
O lips of my soul, already becoming powerless !
O ample and grand Presidentiads! Now the war, the war is over !*
New history ! new heroes ! I project you!
Visions of poets! only you really last ! sweep on! sweep on!
O heights too swift and dizzy yet!, 10 O purged and luminous! you threaten me more than I can stand !
(I must not venture—the ground under my feet menaces me— it will not support me:
O future too immense, )*—O present, I return, while yet I may, to you.
1 «
2 «© my Ideal” added in 1870.
3 4 «© O future too immense” added in 1870,
468 LEAVES OF GRASS
O BITTER SPRIG! CONFESSION SPRIG!
In 1860 these verses begin the Poem ‘‘ You Felons on Trial in Courts.’’ See page 238.
O BITTER sprig ! Confession sprig !
In the bouquet I give you place also—I bind you in, Proceeding no further till, humbled publicly,
I give fair warning, once for all.
I own that I have been sly, thievish, mean, a prevaricator, greedy,” derelict, And I own that I remain so yet.
What foul thought but I think it—or have in me the stuff out of which it is thought P What in darkness in bed at night, alone or with a companion ?
&*
SO FAR AND SO FAR, AND ON TOWARD THE END.
Published in edition of 1860.
So far, and so far, and on toward the end,
Singing what is sung in this book, from the irresistible impulses of me;
But whether I continue beyond this book, to maturity,
Whether I shall dart forth the true rays, the ones that wait un- fired,
(Did you think the sun was shining its brightest ?
No—it has not yet fully risen ;)
Whether I shall complete what is here started,
Whether I shall attain my own height, to justify these, yet un- finished,
Whether I shall make THE Po—EM or THE NEw Wor Lb, trans- cending all others—depends, rich persons, upon you,
Depends, whoever you are now filling the current Presidentiad, upon you, 10
Upon you, Governor, Mayor, Congressman,
And you, contemporary America.
GATHERED LEAVES 469
IN THE NEW GARDEN IN ALL THE PARTS. Published in edition of 1860,
In the new garden, in all the parts,
In cities now, modern, I wander,
Though the second or third result, or still further, primitive yet,
Days, places, indifferent—though various, the same,
Time, Paradise, the Mannahatta, the prairies, finding me un- changed,
Death indifferent—Is it that I lived long since? Was I buried very long ago?
For all that, I may now be watching you here, this moment ;
For the future, with determined will, I seek—the woman of the future,
You, born years, centuries after me, I seek.
&
STATES!
Published in 1860, in which edition the poem concludes with verses published in 1870 under title‘of ‘‘ A Song.’”’ See page 123.
STATES ! Were you looking to be held together by the lawyers? By an agreement on a paper? Or by arms?
Away ! I arrive, bringing these, beyond all the forces of courts and arms, These! to hold you together as firmly as the earth itself is held
together.
The old breath of life, ever new, Here! I pass it by contact to you, America.
O mother! have you done much for me? Behold, there shall from me be much done for you. ie)
There shall from me be a new friendship—lIt shall be called after my name,
It shall circulate through The States, indifferent of place,
It shall twist and intertwist them through and around each other —Compact shall they be, showing new signs,
Affection shall solve every one of the problems of freedom,
470 LEAVES OF GRASS
Those who love each other shall be invincible, They shall finally make America completely victorious, in my name.
One from Massachusetts shall be comrade to a Missourian,
One from Maine or Vermont, and a Carolinian and an Oregonese, shall be friends triune, more precious to each other than all the riches of the earth.
To Michigan shall be wafted perfume from Florida,
To the Mannahatta from Cuba or Mexico, 20 Not the perfume of flowers, but sweeter, and wafted beyond death.
No danger shall balk Columbia’s lovers,
If need be, a thousand shall sternly immolate themselves for one,
The Kanuck shall be willing to lay down his life for the Kansian, and the Kansian for the Kanuck, on due need.
It shall be customary in all directions, in the houses and streets, to see manly affection,
The departing brother or friend shall salute the remaining brother or friend with a kiss.
There shall be innovations,
There shall be countless linked hands—namely, the Northeast- erner’s, and the Northwesterner’s, and the Southwestern- er’s, and those of the interior, and all their brood,
These shall be masters of the world under a new power,
They shall laugh to scorn the attacks of all the remainder of the world. 30
The most dauntless and rude shall touch face to face lightly, The dependence of Liberty shall be lovers, The continuance of Equality shall be comrades.
These shall tie and band stronger than hoops of iron, I, extatic, O partners! O lands! henceforth with the love of lovers tie you.
GATHERED LEAVES 471
LONG I THOUGHT THAT KNOWLEDGE. Published in 1860.
Lone I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me-——O if I could but obtain knowledge!
Then my lands engrossed me—Lands of the prairies, Ohio’s land, the southern savannas, engrossed me—For them I would live—I would be their orator ;
Then I met the examples of old and new heroes—I heard of warriors, sailors, and all dauntless persons—And it seemed to me that I too had it in me to be as dauntless as any—and would be so ;
And then, to enclose all, it came to me to strike up the songs of the New World—And then I believed my life must be spent in singing ;
But now take notice, land of the prairies, land of the south savannas, Ohio’s land,
Take notice, you Kanuck woods—and you Lake Huron—and all that with you roll toward Niagara—and you Niagara also,
And you, Californian mountains—That you each and all find somebody else to be your singer of songs,
For I can be your singer of songs no longer—One who loves me is jealous of me, and withdraws me from all but love,
With the rest I dispense—I sever from what I thought would suffice me, for it does not—it is now empty and tasteless
to me, I heed knowledge, and the grandeur of The States, and the example of heroes, no more, fe)
I am indifferent to my own songs—I will go with him I love, It is to be enough for us that we are together—We never separate again.
5d HOURS CONTINUING LONG, SORE AND HEAVY-HEARTED.
Published in 1860.
Hours continuing long, sore and heavy-hearted,
Hours of the dusk, when I withdraw to a lonesome and unfre- quented spot, seating myself, leaning my face in my hands ;
Hours sleepless, deep in the night, when I go forth, speeding. swiftly the country roads, or through the city streets, or pacing miles and miles, stifling plaintive cries ;
- 472 LEAVES OF GRASS
Hours discouraged, distracted—for the one I cannot content my- self without, soon I saw him content himself without me ;
Hours when I am forgotten, (O weeks and months are passing, but I believe I am never to forget !)
Sullen and suffering hours! (I am ashamed—but it is useless—I am what I am ;)
Hours of my torment—I wonder if other men ever have the like,
: out of the like feelings ?
Is there even one other like me—distracted—his friend, his lover, lost to him ?
Is he too as Iam now? Does he still rise in the morning, de- jected, thinking who is lost to him? and at night, awak- ing, think who is lost?
Does he too harbor his friendship silent and endless? harbor his anguish and passion ? ste)
Does some stray reminder, or the casual mention of a name, bring the fit back upon him, taciturn and deprest ?
Does he see himself reflected in me? In these hours, does he see the face of his hours reflected ?
&
WHO IS NOW READING THIS? Published in 1860.
Wuo is now reading this?
May-be one is now reading this who knows some wrong-doing of my past life,
Or may-be a stranger is reading this who has secretly loved me,
Or may-be one who meets all my grand assumptions and ego- tisms with derision,
Or may-be one who is puzzled at me.
As if I were not puzzled at myself!
Or as if I never deride myself! (O conscience-struck! O self- convicted ! )
Or as if I do not secretly love strangers! (O tenderly, a long time, and never avow it ;)
Or as if I did not see, perfectly well, interior in myself, the stuff of wrong-doing,
Or as if it could cease transpiring from me until it must cease.
GATHERED LEAVES 473
PRIMEVAL MY LOVE FOR THE WOMAN I LOVE. Published in 860.
PRIMEVAL my love for the woman I love, O bride! O wife! more resistless, more enduring than I can tell, the thought of you!’ Then separate, as disembodied, the purest born, The ethereal, the last athletic reality, my consolation, I ascend—lI float in the regions of your love, O man, O sharer of my roving life. &
1KGY NOG Published in 1860 and 1867,
LET us twain walk aside from the rest ; Now we are together privately, do you discard ceremony, Come! vouchsafe to me what has yet been vouchsafed to none —Tell me the whole. story, Tell me what you would not tell your brother, wife, husband, or physician. &
OF THE VISAGES OF THINGS. Published in 1860 and 1867.