 | Leaves of grass. |  |
LEAVES OF GRASS.
1.
O HASTENING light!
O free and extatic! O what I here, preparing, warble for!
O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height — and you too will ascend!
O so amazing and broad — up there resplendent, dart- ing and burning!
O vision prophetic, stagger'd with weight of light! with pouring glories!
O lips of my soul, already becoming powerless!
O ample and grand Presidentiads!
New history! new heroes! I project you!
Visions of poets! only you really last! O sweep on! sweep on!
O heights too swift and dizzy yet!
O purged and luminous! you threaten me more than I can stand!
(I must not venture — the ground under my feet men- aces me — it will not support me;)
O present! I return to you while yet I may!
O free and extatic! O what I here, preparing, warble for!
O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height — and you too will ascend!
O so amazing and broad — up there resplendent, dart- ing and burning!
O vision prophetic, stagger'd with weight of light! with pouring glories!
O lips of my soul, already becoming powerless!
O ample and grand Presidentiads!
New history! new heroes! I project you!
Visions of poets! only you really last! O sweep on! sweep on!
O heights too swift and dizzy yet!
O purged and luminous! you threaten me more than I can stand!
(I must not venture — the ground under my feet men- aces me — it will not support me;)
O present! I return to you while yet I may!
2.
TEARS! tears! tears!
In the night, in solitude, tears;
On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck'd in by the sand;
Tears — not a star shining — all dark and desolate;
Moist tears from the eyes of a muffled head:
— O who is that ghost? — that form in the dark, with tears?
What shapeless lump is that, bent, crouch'd there on
the sand?
Streaming tears — sobbing tears — throes, choked with wild cries;
O storm, embodied, rising, careering, with swift steps along the beach;
O wild and dismal night storm, with wind! O belch- ing and desperate!
O shade, so sedate and decorous by day, with calm countenance and regulated pace;
But away, at night, as you fly, none looking — O then the unloosen'd ocean,
Of tears! tears! tears!
In the night, in solitude, tears;
On the white shore dripping, dripping, suck'd in by the sand;
Tears — not a star shining — all dark and desolate;
Moist tears from the eyes of a muffled head:
— O who is that ghost? — that form in the dark, with tears?
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Streaming tears — sobbing tears — throes, choked with wild cries;
O storm, embodied, rising, careering, with swift steps along the beach;
O wild and dismal night storm, with wind! O belch- ing and desperate!
O shade, so sedate and decorous by day, with calm countenance and regulated pace;
But away, at night, as you fly, none looking — O then the unloosen'd ocean,
Of tears! tears! tears!
3.
1 ABOARD, at the ship's helm,
A young steersman, steering with care.
2 A bell through fog on a sea-coast dolefully ringing,
An ocean-bell — O a warning bell, rock'd by the waves.
3 O you give good notice indeed, you bell by the sea- reefs ringing,
Ringing, ringing, to warn the ship from its wreck- place.
4 For, as on the alert, O steersman, you mind the bell's admonition,
The bows turn, — the freighted ship, tacking, speeds away under her gray sails,
The beautiful and noble ship, with all her precious wealth, speeds away gaily and safe.
5 But O the ship, the immortal ship! O ship aboard the ship!
O ship of the body — ship of the soul — voyaging, voy- aging, voyaging.
A young steersman, steering with care.
2 A bell through fog on a sea-coast dolefully ringing,
An ocean-bell — O a warning bell, rock'd by the waves.
3 O you give good notice indeed, you bell by the sea- reefs ringing,
Ringing, ringing, to warn the ship from its wreck- place.
4 For, as on the alert, O steersman, you mind the bell's admonition,
The bows turn, — the freighted ship, tacking, speeds away under her gray sails,
The beautiful and noble ship, with all her precious wealth, speeds away gaily and safe.
5 But O the ship, the immortal ship! O ship aboard the ship!
O ship of the body — ship of the soul — voyaging, voy- aging, voyaging.
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| Leaves of grass. | |