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 | Leaves of grass. |  |
1
1 EARTH, round,
rolling, compact — suns, moons,
ani- mals
— all these are words to be said;
Watery, vegetable, sauroid advances — beings, premoni- tions, lispings of the future,
Behold! these are vast words to be said.
2 Were you thinking that those were the words — those upright lines? those curves, angles, dots?
No, those are not the words — the substantial words are in the ground and sea,
They are in the air — they are in you.
3 Were you thinking that those were the words — those delicious sounds out of your friends' mouths?
No, the real words are more delicious than they.
4 Human bodies are words, myriads of words;
In the best poems re man's, well-shaped, natural, gay,
Every part able, active, receptive, without shame or the need of shame.
5 Air, soil, water, fire — these are words;
I myself am a word with them — my qualities inter- penetrate with theirs — my name is nothing to them;
Though it were told in the three thousand languages, what would air, soil, water, fire, know of my name?
6 A healthy presence, a
friendly or commanding
ges- ture, are
words, sayings, meanings;
The charms that go with the mere looks of some men and women, are sayings and meanings also.
Watery, vegetable, sauroid advances — beings, premoni- tions, lispings of the future,
Behold! these are vast words to be said.
2 Were you thinking that those were the words — those upright lines? those curves, angles, dots?
No, those are not the words — the substantial words are in the ground and sea,
They are in the air — they are in you.
3 Were you thinking that those were the words — those delicious sounds out of your friends' mouths?
No, the real words are more delicious than they.
4 Human bodies are words, myriads of words;
In the best poems re man's, well-shaped, natural, gay,
Every part able, active, receptive, without shame or the need of shame.
5 Air, soil, water, fire — these are words;
I myself am a word with them — my qualities inter- penetrate with theirs — my name is nothing to them;
Though it were told in the three thousand languages, what would air, soil, water, fire, know of my name?
216
The charms that go with the mere looks of some men and women, are sayings and meanings also.
| Leaves of grass. | |