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Leaves of Grass :[1891]

Including Sands at Seventy...1st Annex, Good-Bye my Fancy...2d Annex, A Backward Glance o'er Travel'd Roads, and Portrait from Life
Whitman, Walt (1819-1892)

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INSCRIPTIONS.
  
ONE'S-SELF I SING.
  
AS I PONDER'D IN SILENCE.
  
IN CABIN'D SHIPS AT SEA.
  
TO FOREIGN LANDS.
  
TO A HISTORIAN.
  
TO THEE OLD CAUSE.
  
EIDÓLONS.
  
FOR HIM I SING.
  
WHEN I READ THE BOOK.
  
BEGINNING MY STUDIES.
  
BEGINNERS.
  
TO THE STATES.
  
ON JOURNEYS THROUGH THE STATES.
  
TO A CERTAIN CANTATRICE.
  
ME IMPERTURBE.
  
SAVANTISM.
  
THE SHIP STARTING.
  
I HEAR AMERICA SINGING.
  
WHAT PLACE IS BESIEGED?
  
STILL THOUGH THE ONE I SING.
  
SHUT NOT YOUR DOORS.
  
POETS TO COME.
  
TO YOU.
  
THOU READER.
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STARTING FROM PAUMANOK.
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SONG OF MYSELF.
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CHILDREN OF ADAM.
  
TO THE GARDEN THE WORLD
  
FROM PENT-UP ACHING RIVERS.
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I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC.
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A WOMAN WAITS FOR ME.
  
SPONTANEOUS ME.
  
ONE HOUR TO MADNESS AND JOY.
  
OUT OF THE ROLLING OCEAN THE CROWD.
  
AGES AND AGES RETURNING AT INTERVALS.
  
WE TWO, HOW LONG WE WERE FOOL'D.
  
O HYMEN! O HYMENEE!
  
I AM HE THAT ACHES WITH LOVE.
  
NATIVE MOMENTS.
  
ONCE I PASS'D THROUGH A POPULOUS CITY.
  
I HEARD YOU SOLEMN-SWEET PIPES OF THE ORGAN.
  
FACING WEST FROM CALIFORNIA'S SHORES.
  
AS ADAM EARLY IN THE MORNING.
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CALAMUS.
  
IN PATHS UNTRODDEN.
  
SCENTED HERBAGE OF MY BREAST.
  
WHOEVER YOU ARE HOLDING ME NOW IN HAND.
  
FOR YOU O DEMOCRACY.
  
THESE I SINGING IN SPRING.
  
NOT HEAVING FROM MY RIBB'D BREAST ONLY.
  
OF THE TERRIBLE DOUBT OF APPEARANCES.
  
THE BASE OF ALL METAPHYSICS.
  
RECORDERS AGES HENCE.
  
WHEN I HEARD AT THE CLOSE OF THE DAY.
  
ARE YOU THE NEW PERSON DRAWN TOWARD ME?
  
ROOTS AND LEAVES THEMSELVES ALONE.
  
NOT HEAT FLAMES UP AND CONSUMES.
  
TRICKLE DROPS.
  
CITY OF ORGIES.
  
BEHOLD THIS SWARTHY FACE.
  
I SAW IN LOUISIANA A LIVE-OAK GROWING.
  
TO A STRANGER.
  
THIS MOMENT YEARNING AND THOUGHTFUL.
  
I HEAR IT WAS CHARGED AGAINST ME.
  
THE PRAIRIE-GRASS DIVIDING.
  
WHEN I PERUSE THE CONQUER'D FAME.
  
WE TWO BOYS TOGETHER CLINGING.
  
A PROMISE TO CALIFORNIA.
  
HERE THE FRAILEST LEAVES OF ME.
  
NO LABOR-SAVING MACHINE
  
A GLIMPSE.
  
A LEAF FOR HAND IN HAND.
  
EARTH, MY LIKENESS.
  
I DREAM'D IN A DREAM.
  
WHAT THINK YOU I TAKE MY PEN IN HAND?
  
TO THE EAST AND TO THE WEST.
  
SOMETIMES WITH ONE I LOVE.
  
TO A WESTERN BOY.
  
FAST ANCHOR'D ETERNAL O LOVE!
  
AMONG THE MULTITUDE.
  
O YOU WHOM I OFTEN AND SILENTLY COME.
  
THAT SHADOW MY LIKENESS.
  
FULL OF LIFE NOW.
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SALUT AU MONDE!
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SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD.
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CROSSING BROOKLYN FERRY.
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SONG OF THE ANSWERER.
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OUR OLD FEUILLAGE.
  
A SONG OF JOYS.
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SONG OF THE BROAD-AXE.
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SONG OF THE EXPOSITION.
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SONG OF THE REDWOOD-TREE.
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A SONG FOR OCCUPATIONS.
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A SONG OF THE ROLLING EARTH.
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YOUTH, DAY, OLD AGE AND NIGHT.
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BIRDS OF PASSAGE.
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SONG OF THE UNIVERSAL.
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PIONEERS! O PIONEERS!
  
TO YOU.
  
FRANCE,
  
MYSELF AND MINE.
  
YEAR OF METEORS.
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WITH ANTECEDENTS.
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A BROADWAY PAGEANT.
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SEA-DRIFT.
  
OUT OF THE CRADLE ENDLESSLY ROCKING.
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AS I EBB'D WITH THE OCEAN OF LIFE.
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TEARS.
  
TO THE MAN-OF-WAR-BIRD.
  
ABOARD AT A SHIP'S HELM.
  
ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT.
  
THE WORLD BELOW THE BRINE.
  
ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE.
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SONG FOR ALL SEAS, ALL SHIPS.
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PATROLING BARNEGAT.
  
AFTER THE SEA-SHIP.
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BY THE ROADSIDE.
  
A BOSTON BALLAD.
  
EUROPE,
  
A HAND-MIRROR.
  
GODS.
  
GERMS.
  
THOUGHTS.
  
WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER.
  
PERFECTIONS.
  
O ME! O LIFE!
  
TO A PRESIDENT.
  
I SIT AND LOOK OUT.
  
TO RICH GIVERS.
  
THE DALLIANCE OF THE EAGLES.
  
ROAMING IN THOUGHT.
  
A FARM PICTURE.
  
A CHILD'S AMAZE.
  
THE RUNNER.
  
BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.
  
MOTHER AND BABE.
  
THOUGHT.
  
VISOR'D.
  
THOUGHT.
  
GLIDING O'ER ALL.
  
HAST NEVER COME TO THEE AN HOUR.
  
THOUGHT.
  
TO OLD AGE.
  
LOCATIONS AND TIMES.
  
OFFERINGS.
  
TO THE STATES,
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DRUM-TAPS.
  
FIRST O SONGS FOR A PRELUDE.
  
EIGHTEEN SIXTY-ONE.
  
BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS!
  
FROM PAUMANOK STARTING I FLY LIKE A BIRD.
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SONG OF THE BANNER AT DAYBREAK.
  
Poet.
  
Pennant.
  
Child.
  
Father.
  
Poet.
  
Child.
  
Father.
  
Banner and Pennant.
  
Poet.
  
Banner and Pennant.
  
Child.
  
Father.
  
Banner.
  
Poet.
  
RISE O DAYS FROM YOUR FATHOMLESS DEEPS.
  
VIRGINIA—THE WEST.
  
CITY OF SHIPS.
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THE CENTENARIAN'S STORY.
  
Volunteer of 1861–2, (at Washington Park, Brooklyn, assisting the Centenarian.)
  
The Centenarian.
  
Terminus.
  
CAVALRY CROSSING A FORD.
  
BIVOUAC ON A MOUNTAIN SIDE.
  
AN ARMY CORPS ON THE MARCH.
  
BY THE BIVOUAC'S FITFUL FLAME.
  
COME UP FROM THE FIELDS FATHER.
  
VIGIL STRANGE I KEPT ON THE FIELD ONE NIGHT.
  
A MARCH IN THE RANKS HARD-PREST, AND THE ROAD UNKNOWN.
  
A SIGHT IN CAMP IN THE DAYBREAK GRAY AND DIM.
  
AS TOILSOME I WANDER'D VIRGINIA'S WOODS.
  
NOT THE PILOT.
  
YEAR THAT TREMBLED AND REEL'D BENEATH ME.
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THE WOUND-DRESSER.
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LONG, TOO LONG AMERICA.
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GIVE ME THE SPLENDID SILENT SUN.
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DIRGE FOR TWO VETERANS.
  
OVER THE CARNAGE ROSE PROPHETIC A VOICE.
  
I SAW OLD GENERAL AT BAY.
  
THE ARTILLERYMAN'S VISION.
  
ETHIOPIA SALUTING THE COLORS.
  
NOT YOUTH PERTAINS TO ME.
  
RACE OF VETERANS.
  
WORLD TAKE GOOD NOTICE.
  
O TAN-FACED PRAIRIE-BOY.
  
LOOK DOWN FAIR MOON.
  
RECONCILIATION.
  
HOW SOLEMN AS ONE BY ONE.
  
AS I LAY WITH MY HEAD IN YOUR LAP CAMERADO.
  
DELICATE CLUSTER.
  
TO A CERTAIN CIVILIAN.
  
LO, VICTRESS ON THE PEAKS.
  
SPIRIT WHOSE WORK IS DONE.
  
ADIEU TO A SOLDIER.
  
TURN O LIBERTAD.
  
TO THE LEAVEN'D SOIL THEY TROD.
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MEMORIES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
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WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOORYARD BLOOM'D.
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O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
  
HUSH'D BE THE CAMPS TO-DAY.
  
THIS DUST WAS ONCE THE MAN.
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BY BLUE ONTARIO'S SHORE.
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REVERSALS.
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AUTUMN RIVULETS.
  
AS CONSEQUENT, Etc.
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THE RETURN OF THE HEROES.
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THERE WAS A CHILD WENT FORTH.
  
OLD IRELAND.
  
THE CITY DEAD-HOUSE.
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THIS COMPOST.
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TO A FOIL'D EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONAIRE.
  
UNNAMED LANDS.
  
SONG OF PRUDENCE.
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THE SINGER IN THE PRISON.
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WARBLE FOR LILAC-TIME.
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OUTLINES FOR A TOMB.
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OUT FROM BEHIND THIS MASK.
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VOCALISM.
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TO HIM THAT WAS CRUCIFIED.
  
YOU FELONS ON TRIAL IN COURTS.
  
LAWS FOR CREATIONS.
  
TO A COMMON PROSTITUTE.
  
I WAS LOOKING A LONG WHILE.
  
THOUGHT.
  
MIRACLES.
  
SPARKLES FROM THE WHEEL.
  
TO A PUPIL.
  
UNFOLDED OUT OF THE FOLDS.
  
WHAT AM I AFTER ALL.
  
KOSMOS.
  
OTHERS MAY PRAISE WHAT THEY LIKE.
  
WHO LEARNS MY LESSON COMPLETE?
  
TESTS.
  
THE TORCH.
  
O STAR OF FRANCE.
  
THE OX-TAMER.
  
AN OLD MAN'S THOUGHT OF SCHOOL.
  
WANDERING AT MORN.
  
ITALIAN MUSIC IN DAKOTA.
  
WITH ALL THY GIFTS.
  
MY PICTURE-GALLERY.
  
THE PRAIRIE STATES.
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PROUD MUSIC OF THE STORM.
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PASSAGE TO INDIA.
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PRAYER OF COLUMBUS.
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THE SLEEPERS.
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TRANSPOSITIONS.
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TO THINK OF TIME.
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WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH.
  
DAREST THOU NOW O SOUL.
  
WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH.
  
CHANTING THE SQUARE DEIFIC.
  
OF HIM I LOVE DAY AND NIGHT.
  
YET, YET, YE DOWNCAST HOURS.
  
AS IF A PHANTOM CARESS'D ME.
  
ASSURANCES.
  
QUICKSAND YEARS.
  
THAT MUSIC ALWAYS ROUND ME.
  
WHAT SHIP PUZZLED AT SEA.
  
A NOISELESS PATIENT SPIDER.
  
O LIVING ALWAYS, ALWAYS DYING.
  
TO ONE SHORTLY TO DIE.
  
NIGHT ON THE PRAIRIES.
  
THOUGHT.
  
THE LAST INVOCATION.
  
AS I WATCH'D THE PLOUGHMAN PLOUGHING.
  
PENSIVE AND FALTERING.
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THOU MOTHER WITH THY EQUAL BROOD.
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A PAUMANOK PICTURE.
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FROM NOON TO STARRY NIGHT.
  
THOU ORB ALOFT FULL-DAZZLING.
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FACES.
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THE MYSTIC TRUMPETER.
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TO A LOCOMOTIVE IN WINTER.
  
O MAGNET-SOUTH.
  
MANNAHATTA.
  
ALL IS TRUTH.
  
A RIDDLE SONG.
  
EXCELSIOR.
  
AH POVERTIES, WINCINGS, AND SULKY RETREATS.
  
THOUGHTS.
  
MEDIUMS.
  
WEAVE IN, MY HARDY LIFE.
  
SPAIN, 1873–74.
  
BY BROAD POTOMAC'S SHORE.
  
FROM FAR DAKOTA'S CAÑONS.
  
OLD WAR-DREAMS.
  
THICK-SPRINKLED BUNTING.
  
WHAT BEST I SEE IN THEE.
  
SPIRIT THAT FORM'D THIS SCENE.
  
AS I WALK THESE BROAD MAJESTIC DAYS.
  
A CLEAR MIDNIGHT.
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SONGS OF PARTING.
  
AS THE TIME DRAWS NIGH.
  
YEARS OF THE MODERN.
  
ASHES OF SOLDIERS.
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THOUGHTS.
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SONG AT SUNSET.
  
AS AT THY PORTALS ALSO DEATH.
  
MY LEGACY.
  
PENSIVE ON HER DEAD GAZING.
  
CAMPS OF GREEN.
  
THE SOBBING OF THE BELLS.
  
AS THEY DRAW TO A CLOSE.
  
JOY, SHIPMATE, JOY!
  
THE UNTOLD WANT.
  
PORTALS.
  
THESE CAROLS.
  
NOW FINALÈ TO THE SHORE.
  
SO LONG!
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ANNEX TO PRECEDING PAGES. Sands at Seventy.
  
MANNAHATTA.
  
PAUMANOK.
  
FROM MONTAUK POINT.
  
TO THOSE WHO'VE FAIL'D.
  
A CAROL CLOSING SIXTY-NINE.
  
THE BRAVEST SOLDIERS.
  
A FONT OF TYPE.
  
AS I SIT WRITING HERE.
  
MY CANARY BIRD.
  
QUERIES TO MY SEVENTIETH YEAR.
  
THE WALLABOUT MARTYRS.
  
THE FIRST DANDELION.
  
AMERICA.
  
MEMORIES.
  
TO-DAY AND THEE.
  
AFTER THE DAZZLE OF DAY.
  
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BORN FEB. 12, 1809.
  
OUT OF MAY'S SHOWS SELECTED.
  
HALCYON DAYS.
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FANCIES AT NAVESINK.
  
THE PILOT IN THE MIST.
  
HAD I THE CHOICE.
  
YOU TIDES WITH CEASELESS SWELL.
  
LAST OF EBB, AND DAYLIGHT WANING.
  
AND YET NOT YOU ALONE.
  
PROUDLY THE FLOOD COMES IN.
  
BY THAT LONG SCAN OF WAVES.
  
THEN LAST OF ALL.
  
ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER, 1884.
  
WITH HUSKY-HAUGHTY LIPS, O SEA!
  
DEATH OF GENERAL GRANT.
  
RED JACKET (FROM ALOFT.)
  
WASHINGTON'S MONUMENT, FEBRUARY, 1885.
  
OF THAT BLITHE THROAT OF THINE.
  
BROADWAY.
  
TO GET THE FINAL LILT OF SONGS.
  
OLD SALT KOSSABONE.
  
THE DEAD TENOR.
  
CONTINUITIES.
  
YONNONDIO.
  
LIFE.
  
“GOING SOMEWHERE.”
  
SMALL THE THEME OF MY CHANT.
  
TRUE CONQUERORS.
  
THE UNITED STATES TO OLD WORLD CRITICS.
  
THE CALMING THOUGHT OF ALL.
  
THANKS IN OLD AGE.
  
LIFE AND DEATH.
  
THE VOICE OF THE RAIN.
  
SOON SHALL THE WINTER'S FOIL BE HERE.
  
WHILE NOT THE PAST FORGETTING.
  
THE DYING VETERAN.
  
STRONGER LESSONS.
  
A PRAIRIE SUNSET.
  
TWENTY YEARS.
  
ORANGE BUDS BY MAIL FROM FLORIDA.
  
TWILIGHT.
  
YOU LINGERING SPARSE LEAVES OF ME.
  
NOT MEAGRE, LATENT BOUGHS ALONE.
  
THE DEAD EMPEROR.
  
AS THE GREEK'S SIGNAL FLAME.
  
THE DISMANTLED SHIP.
  
NOW PRECEDENT SONGS, FAREWELL.
  
AN EVENING LULL.
  
OLD AGE'S LAMBENT PEAKS.
  
AFTER THE SUPPER AND TALK.
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2D ANNEX. Good-Bye my Fancy.
  
SAIL OUT FOR GOOD, EIDÓLON YACHT!
  
LINGERING LAST DROPS.
  
GOOD-BYE MY FANCY.
  
ON, ON THE SAME, YE JOCUND TWAIN!
  
MY 71st YEAR.
  
APPARITIONS.
  
THE PALLID WREATH.
  
AN ENDED DAY.
  
OLD AGE'S SHIP & CRAFTY DEATH'S.
  
TO THE PENDING YEAR.
  
SHAKSPERE-BACON'S CIPHER.
  
LONG, LONG HENCE.
  
BRAVO, PARIS EXPOSITION!
  
INTERPOLATION SOUNDS.
  
TO THE SUN-SET BREEZE.
  
OLD CHANTS.
  
A CHRISTMAS GREETING.
  
SOUNDS OF THE WINTER.
  
A TWILIGHT SONG.
  
WHEN THE FULL-GROWN POET CAME.
  
OSCEOLA.
  
A VOICE FROM DEATH.
  
A PERSIAN LESSON.
  
THE COMMONPLACE.
  
“THE ROUNDED CATALOGUE DIVINE COMPLETE”
  
MIRAGES.
  
L. OF G.'S PURPORT.
  
THE UNEXPRESS'D.
  
GRAND IS THE SEEN.
  
UNSEEN BUDS.
  
GOOD-BYE MY FANCY!

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2

As I wend to the shores I know not,
As I list to the dirge, the voices of men and women wreck'd,
As I inhale the impalpable breezes that set in upon me,
As the ocean so mysterious rolls toward me closer and closer,
I too but signify at the utmost a little wash'd-up drift,
A few sands and dead leaves to gather,
Gather, and merge myself as part of the sands and drift.
O baffled, balk'd, bent to the very earth,
Oppress'd with myself that I have dared to open my mouth,
Aware now that amid all that blab whose echoes recoil upon me I have not once had the least idea who or what I am,
But that before all my arrogant poems the real Me stands yet untouch'd, untold, altogether unreach'd,
Withdrawn far, mocking me with mock-congratulatory signs and bows,
With peals of distant ironical laughter at every word I have written,
Pointing in silence to these songs, and then to the sand beneath.
203

I perceive I have not really understood any thing, not a single object, and that no man ever can,
Nature here in sight of the sea taking advantage of me to dart upon me and sting me,
Because I have dared to open my mouth to sing at all.
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