Leaves of Grass

g from

ish-shape Paumano

and rais'd by a

ny lands, lover of

atta my city, or on

or carrying my knaps

in Cal

n Dakota's woods, my d

the

muse and meditate

of crowds intervals p

free giver the flow

ighty N

o herds grazing the p

ong-breas

h-month flowers experie

my a

mocking-bird's tones

mounta

e unrivall'd one, the

swamp-

in the West, I strik

ion, faith, i

ble compacts, r

, the kosmos, and

then

o the surface after so ma

rious! h

divine soil, o

volving

ontinents away g

e continents north and

be

st trackl

they change, t

masses debou

th the foremost people, a

jected thr

audience i

gular step they we

men, Americanos,

playing its par

playing its part and

sideways or backward

retrospectiv

onquerors! marc

tury marches! L

a programm

of the

nning Mississippi, and

ana, Illinois, Iowa, W

m the centre from Kansas

ses of fire cease

rica, take them Sout

everywhere, for they a

t and West, for the

connect lovingly with

vingly w

n'd old

at the feet of

t the great masters mig

hese States shall

children of the an

s, philosop

, inventors, gover

shapers on

ful, now reduced, wi

ill I respectfully cre

wafted

wn it is admirable, (m

er be greater, nothing

han it

ntently a long while

y place with m

nds femal

d heiress-ship of the w

mate

y the translatress

ng, the finale o

fter due long-wait

omes my mist

he

-longer than soil is

water ebb

s of materials, for I

t spiritu

the poems of my bo

hen supply myself with

f immor

r these States that no

ces be subjected

ong that there shall

ll the States, and be

ong for the ears of t

ns with men

eapons countless d

e I of the One f

littering One whos

ike One includi

head of any else tha

owledge conte

e geography of the glob

city large

ill put in my poems th

on land

ll heroism from an Am

the song of

t alone must fina

e to found their own

dicating

t flame from me the b

atening to

too long kept down th

them complet

evangel-poem of c

understand love with

should be the

ous man of qualit

the people in t

t sings unres

let others ignor

evil also, I commem

much evil as good, and

e is in fa

it is just as importan

e, as any

and follow'd by many,

cend into

tin'd to utter the lo

er's peali

rise from me yet, and

not for it

nd all the stars in the s

s ever yet been h

et adored or wors

ink how divine he hims

the fu

and permanent grandeur

heir re

s just no real and

r life worthy the n

man or woman wi

you doing

o given up to literatur

ble realities,

or business wh

such I say not a word

iftly subside, burnt

fuel to heat, impalpab

fe of th

han such are

seek so pens

you need

do you thin

n-listen America

g to love a man or wom

isfies, i

g else very great, it m

nd materials, with cont

rovides

op in the earth the germ

chants each for

com

h me two greatnesses,

ive and more

and Democracy, and the

own, the unse

cean where the

materials shifting and

ities now doubtless ne

know n

nd hourly that wi

g, these in hint

y kiss onward from c

sted around me that

ld to the heavens and a

have done to me,

-equalities! O

sun, usher'd as now, o

owing through ages,

less and composite ch

fully pass

k'd in Alabama

e she-bird the mocking

iers hatchin

een the he

ar him near at hand i

oyfully

t came to me that what

ot ther

himself only, nor all s

clandestine,

ed and gift occult f

nd to you a throat is n

oyfully

the brood beyo

belong here an

dy for them will now s

than have ever yet b

ongs of passion to

'd offenders, for I sca

y you with me

e the true p

and the mind whatever a

is not dro

and show it underlying

rd of pe

ale and female that ei

the

cts! do you concentrate i

courageous clear voice

there is no imperfect

be none in

whatever happens to any

autiful

nothing can happen mo

hread through my poems

co

ngs of the universe ar

profoun

e poems with ref

, songs, thoughts, with

with reference to a da

all

a poem nor the least

erence to

d at the objects of th

particle of one but ha

dy asking to

and countenance, perso

e running rivers, t

ual joys and afte

eal body ever d

y and any man's or

l elude the hands of t

to fittin

ccrued to it from the

oment o

by the printer return

ing, the m

substance and life or

urn in the bod

before death a

ludes and is the meani

udes and i

superb and how divine i

of

e, to you endles

lands did you wa

e with a flowing mout

e States, and toward th

s, words to Dem

'd, food-yi

n! land of gold! land

pork! land of wool and

and th

plains, the grass-field

et-air'd interm

the garden, the heal

-west Columbia winds, a

olorado

ern Chesapeake! la

ario, Erie, H

teen! Massachusetts la

Connec

n shores! land of

n and sailors! f

the clutch'd togethe

e elder and younger br

nd! the feminine! the

inexperien

ctic braced! Mexican br

co

! the Virginian! th

loved by me! my intrep

ude you all wit

from you! not from one

that, I am yet of you

repressi

England, a fri

feet in the edge of

aumanok

dwelling again in Chicago

births, improvement

tors and oratresse

es as during life, each m

orgian, as near to me, an

Arkansian yet with me, a

st of the spinal river,

rd, yet in the Seaside

raving the winter, the sn

er of Maine or of the

tt Bay State, or

shores to annex the s

new br

se leaves to the new

e with the

ones myself to be the

g personall

acts, characters, s

irm holding, yet

r life ad

ersuaded many times b

ally to you, bu

ure be persuad

y dolce af

, gray-neck'd, forbi

s I pass for the solid

d whoever can pers

ay a mome

ou! and here

raise aloft, still the

inge glad

nounce what the air hold

ed abor

hs, sounds of rain and

n the woods, syllab

a, Monongahela, Sauk,

aqueta,

ginaw, Chippewa, Os

States they melt, th

and the land

and swift,

djustments, turbulent

n, vistas of glory in

previous ones and grande

eratures and religions,

nouncing-I will slee

ave been calm withi

ing, preparing unpreced

s steaming thr

mmigrants continuall

igwam, the trail, the hu

claim, the rude fence, a

he Western Sea and on th

nd retreat upon my poems

ests in my poems-see, a

tless herds of buffalo fee

ties, solid, vast, inl

ne edifices, ceaseless

der'd steam printing-

stretching acros

ca's depths pulses Ame

of Europe d

uick locomotive as it d

e steam-

ghing farms-see, mine

numberless

t their benches with to

, philosophs, Preside

orking

ugh the shops and fi

'd, close-held b

of my songs there-read

O you and me at la

lear one's path

atic and undemonst

iumph-and yo

lesome pleasure-O one

holding-to haste