University of Virginia Library

1   Now list to my morning's romanza;
To the cities and farms I sing, as they spread in the      sunshine before me.
2  A young man came to me bearing a message from      his brother;
How should the young man know the whether and      when of his brother?
Tell him to send me the signs.
3  And I stood before the young man face to face, and      took his right hand in my left hand, and his left      hand in my right hand,
And I answer'd for his brother, and for men, and I      answer'd for THE POET, and sent these signs.
4  Him all wait for — him all yield up to — his word is      decisive and final,
Him they accept, in him lave, in him perceive them-     selves, as amid light,
Him they immerse, and he immerses them.
5  Beautiful women, the haughtiest nations, laws, the      landscape, people, animals,
The profound earth and its attributes, and the unquiet      ocean, (so tell I my morning's romanza;)
All enjoyments and properties, and money, and what-     ever money will buy,
The best farms — others toiling and planting, and he      unavoidably reaps,
The noblest and costliest cities — others grading and      building, and he domiciles there,
Nothing for any one, but what is for him — near and      far are for him, the ships in the offing,
The perpetual shows and marches on land, are for him,      if they are for any body.
6  He puts things in their attitudes;
He puts to-day out of himself, with plasticity and      love;
He places his own city, times, reminiscences, parents,      brothers and sisters, associations, employment,      politics, so that the rest never shame them after-     ward, nor assume to command them.
7  He is the answerer;
What can be answer'd he answers — and what cannot      be answer'd, he shows how it cannot be answer'd.
8  A man is a summons and challenge;
(It is vain to skulk — Do you hear that mocking and      laughter? Do you hear the ironical echoes?)
9  Books, friendships, philosophers, priests, action,      pleasure, pride, beat up and down, seeking to      give satisfaction;
He indicates the satisfaction, and indicates them that      beat up and down also.
10  Whichever the sex, whatever the season or place, he      may go freshly and gently and safely, by day or      by night;
He has the pass-key of hearts — to him the response      of the prying of hands on the knobs.
11  His welcome is universal — the flow of beauty is not      more welcome or universal than he is;
The person he favors by day or sleeps with at night is      blessed.
12  Every existence has its idiom — everything has an      idiom and tongue;
He resolves all tongues into his own, and bestows it      upon men, and any man translates, and any man      translates himself also;
One part does not counteract another part — he is the      joiner — he sees how they join.
13  He says indifferently and alike, How are you, friend?      to the President at his levee,
And he says, Good-day, my brother! to Cudge that      hoes in the sugar-field,
And both understand him, and know that his speech      is right.
14  He walks with perfect ease in the Capitol,
He walks among the Congress, and one representative      says to another, Here is our equal, appearing and      new.
15  Then the mechanics take him for a mechanic,
And the soldiers suppose him to be a soldier, and the      sailors that he has follow'd the sea,
And the authors take him for an author, and the      artists for an artist,
And the laborers perceive he could labor with them      and love them;
No matter what the work is, that he is the one to      follow it, or has follow'd it,
No matter what the nation, that he might find his      brothers and sisters there.
16  The English believe he comes of their English      stock,
A Jew to the Jew he seems — a Russ to the Russ —      usual and near, removed from none.
17  Whoever he looks at in the traveler's coffee-house      claims him,
The Italian or Frenchman is sure, and the German is      sure, and the Spaniard is sure, and the island      Cuban is sure;
The engineer, the deck-hand on the great lakes, or on      the Mississippi, or St. Lawrence, or Sacramento,      or Hudson, or Paumanok Sound, claims him.
18  The gentleman of perfect blood acknowledges his      perfect blood;
The insulter, the prostitute, the angry person, the      beggar, see themselves in the ways of him — he      strangely transmutes them,
They are not vile any more — they hardly know them-     selves, they are so grown.