I Hear America Singing
I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear; Those of mechanics-each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong; The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam, The
Quicksand Years
QUICKSAND years that whirl me I know not whither, Your schemes, politics, fail-lines give way-substances mock and elude me; Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess’d Soul, eludes not; One’s-self must never
Song of the Open Road
1 AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose. Henceforth I ask not good-fortune-I myself am good
As At Thy Portals Also Death
AS at thy portals also death, Entering thy sovereign, dim, illimitable grounds, To memories of my mother, to the divine blending, maternity, To her, buried and gone, yet buried not, gone not from me,
This Moment, Yearning and Thoughtful
THIS moment yearning and thoughtful, sitting alone, It seems to me there are other men in other lands, yearning and thoughtful; It seems to me I can look over and behold them, in Germany,
Song of the Redwood-Tree
1 A CALIFORNIA song! A prophecy and indirection-a thought impalpable, to breathe, as air; A chorus of dryads, fading, departing-or hamadryads departing; A murmuring, fateful, giant voice, out of the earth and sky, Voice
Germs
FORMS, qualities, lives, humanity, language, thoughts, The ones known, and the ones unknown-the ones on the stars, The stars themselves, some shaped, others unshaped, Wonders as of those countries-the soil, trees, cities, inhabitants, whatever
Pensive and Faltering
PENSIVE and faltering, The words, the dead, I write; For living are the Dead; (Haply the only living, only real, And I the apparition-I the spectre.) 5
To a Locomotive in Winter
THEE for my recitative! Thee in the driving storm, even as now-the snow-the winter-day declining; Thee in thy panoply, thy measured dual throbbing, and thy beat convulsive; Thy black cylindric body, golden brass, and
Two Rivulets
TWO Rivulets side by side, Two blended, parallel, strolling tides, Companions, travelers, gossiping as they journey. For the Eternal Ocean bound, These ripples, passing surges, streams of Death and Life, Object and Subject hurrying,
I was Looking a Long While
I WAS looking a long while for a clue to the history of the past for myself, and for these chants-and now I have found it; It is not in those paged fables in
One's-Self I Sing
ONE’S-SELF I sing-a simple, separate Person; Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-masse. Of Physiology from top to toe I sing; Not physiognomy alone, nor brain alone, is worthy for the muse-I say
As I Ponder'd in Silence
1 AS I ponder’d in silence, Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long, A Phantom arose before me, with distrustful aspect, Terrible in beauty, age, and power, The genius of poets of old lands,
Weave in, Weave in, My Hardy Life
WEAVE in! weave in, my hardy life! Weave yet a soldier strong and full, for great campaigns to come; Weave in red blood! weave sinews in, like ropes! the senses, sight weave in! Weave
As Adam, Early in the Morning
AS Adam, early in the morning, Walking forth from the bower, refresh’d with sleep; Behold me where I pass-hear my voice-approach, Touch me-touch the palm of your hand to my Body as I pass;