Laws for Creations
LAWS for Creations, For strong artists and leaders-for fresh broods of teachers, and perfect literats for America, For noble savans, and coming musicians. All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and
To Rich Givers
WHAT you give me, I cheerfully accept, A little sustenance, a hut and garden, a little money-these, as I rendezvous with my poems; A traveler’s lodging and breakfast as I journey through The States-Why
Runner, The
ON a flat road runs the well-train’d runner; He is lean and sinewy, with muscular legs; He is thinly clothed-he leans forward as he runs, With lightly closed fists, and arms partially rais’d.
Cavalry Crossing a Ford
A LINE in long array, where they wind betwixt green islands; They take a serpentine course-their arms flash in the sun-Hark to the musical clank; Behold the silvery river-in it the splashing horses, loitering,
O Me! O Life!
O ME! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; Of the endless trains of the faithless-of cities fill’d with the foolish; Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and
Spirit That Form'd This Scene
SPIRIT that form’d this scene, These tumbled rock-piles grim and red, These reckless heaven-ambitious peaks, These gorges, turbulent-clear streams, this naked freshness, These formless wild arrays, for reasons of their own, I know thee,
Over the Carnage
OVER the carnage rose prophetic a voice, Be not dishearten’d-Affection shall solve the problems of Freedom yet; Those who love each other shall become invincible-they shall yet make Columbia victorious. Sons of the Mother
France, the 18th year of These States
1 A GREAT year and place; A harsh, discordant, natal scream out-sounding, to touch the mother’s heart closer than any yet. I walk’d the shores of my Eastern Sea, Heard over the waves the
Starting from Paumanok
1 STARTING from fish-shape Paumanok, where I was born, Well-begotten, and rais’d by a perfect mother; After roaming many lands-lover of populous pavements; Dweller in Mannahatta, my city-or on southern savannas; Or a soldier
Of the Visage of Things
OF the visages of things-And of piercing through to the accepted hells beneath; Of ugliness-To me there is just as much in it as there is in beauty-And now the ugliness of human beings
American Feuillage
AMERICA always! Always our own feuillage! Always Florida’s green peninsula! Always the priceless delta of Louisiana! Always the cotton-fields of Alabama and Texas! Always California’s golden hills and hollows-and the silver mountains of New
To the Reader at Parting
NOW, dearest comrade, lift me to your face, We must separate awhile-Here! take from my lips this kiss. Whoever you are, I give it especially to you; So long!-And I hope we shall meet
Hast Never Come to Thee an Hour
HAST never come to thee an hour, A sudden gleam divine, precipitating, bursting all these bubbles, fashions, wealth? These eager business aims-books, politics, art, amours, To utter nothingness?
No Labor-Saving Machine
NO labor-saving machine, Nor discovery have I made; Nor will I be able to leave behind me any wealthy bequest to found a hospital or library, Nor reminiscence of any deed of courage, for
To the Garden the World
TO the garden, the world, anew ascending, Potent mates, daughters, sons, preluding, The love, the life of their bodies, meaning and being, Curious, here behold my resurrection, after slumber; The revolving cycles, in their