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 | Leaves of grass. |  |
CITY OF ORGIES.
CITY of orgies, walks and joys!
City whom that I have lived and sung in your midst will one day make you illustrious,
Not the pageants of you — not your shifting tableaux, your spectacles, repay me;
Not the interminable rows of your houses — nor the ships at the wharves,
Nor the processions in the streets, nor the bright win- dows, with goods in them;
Nor to converse with learn'd persons, or bear my share in the soiree or feast;
Not those — but, as I pass, O Manhattan! your fre- quent and swift flash of eyes offering me love,
Offering response to my own — these repay me;
Lovers, continual lovers, only repay me.
City whom that I have lived and sung in your midst will one day make you illustrious,
Not the pageants of you — not your shifting tableaux, your spectacles, repay me;
Not the interminable rows of your houses — nor the ships at the wharves,
Nor the processions in the streets, nor the bright win- dows, with goods in them;
Nor to converse with learn'd persons, or bear my share in the soiree or feast;
Not those — but, as I pass, O Manhattan! your fre- quent and swift flash of eyes offering me love,
Offering response to my own — these repay me;
Lovers, continual lovers, only repay me.
| Leaves of grass. | |