 |
|
|
|
 | Leaves of grass. |  |
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?
250
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!
| Leaves of grass. | |