Publisher: Poemhunter com The World's Poetry Archive

614
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This Dust Was Once The Man
THIS dust was once the Man,
Gentle, plain, just and resolute--under whose cautious hand,
Against the foulest crime in history known in any land or age,
Was saved the Union of These States.
Walt Whitman
615
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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, Italy,
France, Spain--or far, far away, in China, or in Russia or
India--talking other dialects;
And it seems to me if I could know those men, I should become
attached to them, as I do to men in my own lands;
O I know we should be brethren and lovers,
I know I should be happy with them.
Walt Whitman
616
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Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling
THOU orb aloft full-dazzling! thou hot October noon!
Flooding with sheeny light the gray beach sand,
The sibilant near sea with vistas far and foam,
And tawny streaks and shades and spreading blue;
O sun of noon rufulgent! my special word to thee.
Hear me illustrious!
Thy lover me, for always I have loved thee,
Even as basking babe, then happy boy alone by some wood edge, thy
touching-distant beams enough,
Or man matured, or young or old, as now to thee I launch my
invocation.
(Thou canst not with thy dumbness me deceive, 10
I know before the fitting man all Nature yields,
Though answering not in words, the skies, trees, hear his voice--and
thou O sun,
As for thy throes, thy perturbations, sudden breaks and shafts of
flame gigantic,
I understand them, I know those flames, those perturbations well.)
Thou that with fructifying heat and light,
O'er myriad farms, o'er lands and waters North and South,
O'er Mississippi's endless course, o'er Texas' grassy plains,
Kanada's woods,
O'er all the globe that turns its face to thee shining in space,
Thou that impartially infoldest all, not only continents, seas,
Thou that to grapes and weeds and little wild flowers givest so
liberally, 20
Shed, shed thyself on mine and me, with but a fleeting ray out of thy
million millions,
Strike through these chants.
Nor only launch thy subtle dazzle and thy strength for these,
Prepare the later afternoon of me myself--prepare my lengthening
shadows,
Prepare my starry nights.
617
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Walt Whitman
618
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Thou Reader
THOU reader throbbest life and pride and love the same as I,
Therefore for thee the following chants.
Walt Whitman
619
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Thought
OF obedience, faith, adhesiveness;
As I stand aloof and look, there is to me something profoundly
affecting in large masses of men, following the lead of those
who do not believe in men.
Walt Whitman
620
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Thoughts
OF ownership--As if one fit to own things could not at pleasure enter
upon all, and incorporate them into himself or herself.
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;)
--Of what was once lacking on earth, and in due time has become
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.
Walt Whitman