 | Leaves of grass. |  |
POET.
(Finale.)
18 My limbs, my veins
dilate;
The blood of the world has fill'd me full — my theme is clear at last :
— Banner so broad, advancing out of the night, I sing you haughty and resolute;
I burst through where I waited long, too long, deafen'd and blinded;
My sight, my hearing and tongue, are come to me, (a little child taught me;)
I hear from above, O pennant of war, your ironical call and demand;
Insensate! insensate! (yet I at any rate chant you,) O banner!
Not houses of peace are you, nor any nor all their pros- perity, (if need be, you shall have every one of those houses to destroy them;
You thought not to destroy those valuable houses, stand- ing fast, full of comfort, built with money;
May they stand fast, then? Not an hour, unless you, above them and all, stand fast;)
— O banner! not money so precious are you, nor farm produce you, nor the material good nutriment,
Nor excellent stores, nor landed on wharves from the ships;
Not the superb ships, with sail-power or steam-power, fetching and carrying cargoes,
Nor machinery, vehicles, trade, nor revenues, — But you, as henceforth I see you,
Running up out of the night, bringing your cluster of stars, (ever-enlarging stars;)
Divider of day-break you, cutting the air, touch'd by the sun, measuring the sky,
(Passionately seen and yearn'd for by one poor little child,
While others remain busy, or smartly talking, forever teaching thrift, thrift;)
O you up there! O pennant! where you undulate like a snake, hissing so curious,
Out of reach — an ides only — yet furiously
fought for,
risking
bloody death — loved by me!
So loved ! O you banner leading the day, with stars brought from the night!
Valueless, object of eyes, over all and demanding all — O banner and pennant!
I too leave the rest — great as it is, itis nothing — house, machines are nothing
— I see them not;
I see but you, O warlike pennant! O Banner so broad, with stripes, I sing you only,
Flapping up there in the wind.
The blood of the world has fill'd me full — my theme is clear at last :
— Banner so broad, advancing out of the night, I sing you haughty and resolute;
I burst through where I waited long, too long, deafen'd and blinded;
My sight, my hearing and tongue, are come to me, (a little child taught me;)
I hear from above, O pennant of war, your ironical call and demand;
Insensate! insensate! (yet I at any rate chant you,) O banner!
Not houses of peace are you, nor any nor all their pros- perity, (if need be, you shall have every one of those houses to destroy them;
You thought not to destroy those valuable houses, stand- ing fast, full of comfort, built with money;
May they stand fast, then? Not an hour, unless you, above them and all, stand fast;)
— O banner! not money so precious are you, nor farm produce you, nor the material good nutriment,
Nor excellent stores, nor landed on wharves from the ships;
Not the superb ships, with sail-power or steam-power, fetching and carrying cargoes,
Nor machinery, vehicles, trade, nor revenues, — But you, as henceforth I see you,
Running up out of the night, bringing your cluster of stars, (ever-enlarging stars;)
Divider of day-break you, cutting the air, touch'd by the sun, measuring the sky,
(Passionately seen and yearn'd for by one poor little child,
While others remain busy, or smartly talking, forever teaching thrift, thrift;)
O you up there! O pennant! where you undulate like a snake, hissing so curious,
16a
So loved ! O you banner leading the day, with stars brought from the night!
Valueless, object of eyes, over all and demanding all — O banner and pennant!
I too leave the rest — great as it is, itis nothing — house, machines are nothing
— I see them not;
I see but you, O warlike pennant! O Banner so broad, with stripes, I sing you only,
Flapping up there in the wind.
| Leaves of grass. | |