University of Virginia Library

13.

CALAMUS taste,
(For I must change the strain—these are not to be pensive leaves, but leaves of joy,)
Roots and leaves unlike any but themselves,
Scents brought to men and women from the wild woods, and from the pond-side,
Breast-sorrel and pinks of love—fingers that wind around tighter than vines,
Gushes from the throats of birds, hid I the foliage of trees, as the sun is risen,
Breezes of land and love—Breezes set from living shores out to you on the living sea—to you, O sailors!
Frost-mellowed berries, and Third-Month twigs, offered fresh to young persons wandering out in the fields when the winter breaks up,
Love-buds, put before you and within you, whoever you are,
Buds to be unfolded on the old terms,
If you bring the warmth of the sun to them, they will open, and bring form, color, perfume, to you,
If you become the aliment and the wet, they will become flowers, fruits, tall branches and trees,
They are comprised in you just as much as in themselves—perhaps more than in themselves,
They are not comprised in one season or succession, but many successions,
They have come slowly up out of the earth and me, and are to come slowly up out of you.