Leaves of Grass

au M

y hand Wal

wonders! such s

nded links, each

ll, each sharing t

s within you

es and soi

hat persons and

ants, some playin

irls? who are t

f old men going slowly

ch other

hese? what forests

ins call'd that rise

wellings are they f

tude widens, lon

re to the east-America is

e of the earth win

th and south tu

gest day, the sun whee

not set f

e within me the midnig

orizon and

as, cataracts, forest

ia, and the great W

you hear W

n singing and the f

ce the sounds of child

in t

ts of Australians pur

ance with castanets in

rebeck a

nual echoes fr

rce French l

boat-sculler the musical

Syria as they strike t

ers of their t

frain toward sundown,

black venerable va

he Mexican muleteer, an

ezzin calling from t

priests at the altars o

sponsive bas

Cossack, and the sailo

at O

the slave-coffle as the

s on by twos and thre

ist-chains an

ew reading his re

myths of the Greeks, a

the

e divine life and blood

od the

eaching his favorite

ed safely to this day f

ousand y

you see Wa

lute, and that one af

ound wonder rolli

hamlets, ruins, gravey

ts of barbarians, tents o

t on one side where th

sunlit part on

s rapid change of

as real and near to the

y land

plenteou

, I see the sierras of

Himalayas, Chian S

innacles of Elbruz,

rian Alps, and

, Balks, Carpathians

ds, and off at

Etna, the mountains o

tains of M

an, Arabian, and

dful Arctic and A

ceans and the inferior

f Mexico, the Brazilian

stan, the China sea,

e beautiful bay of Nag

moun

tic, Caspian, Bothnia,

e bay of

erranean, and from one t

, and the sea a

he mariners

ome in the night with t

plessly, some with

d steamships of the wo

some on th

e of Storms, some cap

afui, Bon,

others pass the strait

, others Behr

hers sail the gulf of

ers Hudson's bay

ts of Dover, others ent

others round cape Clear

se the Zuyder Z

nd goers at Gibralta

their way through the

d or ascend the

the Congo, others the

and Ca

up ready to start in t

Glasgow, Dublin, Mars

, Bordeaux, the H

araiso, Rio Ja

ks of the railro

reat Britain, I s

m in Asia a

ctric telegraph

f the news of the wars,

sions, of

ng river-strip

Amazon and t

rivers of China, the

iang-tse, a

e flows, and where the

and the Guada

s of the Volga, the

g down the Arno, and th

k seaman sailing

old empire of Assyria,

that o

f the Ganges over the

he idea of the Deity i

human

e successions of priest

mins, sabians, llamas,

alk'd the groves of Mo

and ve

the deaths of the bodie

sign

the bread of his last

ths and o

rong divine young ma

lly and long

he innocent rich life

cturnal son, the f

, drest in blue, with t

his

cted, dying, well-belov

not wee

country, I have live

ry, I now g

stial sphere where eve

elds of the earth, gr

ossoms a

s of ancient and

masonries, venerable

heroes, record

e places o

and fir-trees torn

rs and cliffs, I see g

l-cairns of Scand

h with stones by the ma

n's spirits when they

up through the mounds

efresh'd by storms, imm

he steppe

ngolia, I see the tents

c tribes with herd

otch'd with ravines, I se

wild steed, the bustard

lope, and the

highlands

feeding, and see the f

teff-wheat and place

e Brazilia

livian ascendi

ing the plains, I see t

with his lass

s the pursuit of wild

regions of s

rp-eyed Samoied

eeker in his boat

on his slight-built

hunters, I see the wh

c and the no

laciers, torrents, va

long winters an

e earth and make myself

a real

enna, St. Petersburg,

elaide, Sidn

anchester, Bristol,

z, Barcelona, Oporto,

t, Stuttgart,

Cracow, Warsaw, or nor

Siberian Irkutsk, or in

those cities, and r

xhaling from une

s, the bow and arrow, t

tich, an

ican and As

oli, Derne, Mogadore,

ekin, Canton, Benares,

hut, and the Dahoman and A

urk smoking o

crowds at the fairs of K

Muscat and Medina and

e caravans t

Egyptians, I see the

d histories, records

n slabs of sand-stone,

mummy-pits containi

nen cloth, lying th

l'n Theban, the lar

neck, the hands fold

menials of the

he prisoners

ctive human bodi

f and dumb, idiots,

betrayers, murderers, sl

nts, and the helple

e and femal

ene brotherhood

onstructivene

f the perseverance an

barbarisms, civilizat

indiscri

ll the inhabitan

hoever

ter or son

avic tribes and empire

ack, divine-soul'd Afri

superbly destin'd, o

wede! Dane! Icelan

d of Spain! y

man and French

y-lover of the Netherla

elf have

you Lombard! Hun! Boh

ghbor of

hine, the Elbe, or the Wes

varian! Swabian! Saxon!

! Neapolita

tador in the a

ving lawlessly on th

watching your mares

Persian at full speed

rows to

hinawoman of China!

e earth subordina

your old age through e

n Syria

aiting in all land

ian pondering by some

he ruins of Nineveh! you

welcoming the far-away

of M

stretch from Suez to Ba

milies a

ing your fruit on field

r lake

e wide inland or bargaini

n! you liver in Madagascar

of Asia, Africa, Europe

of p

rless islands of the a

uries hence when

here whom I specify not,

will to you all, fro

f us ine

each of us with his or

'd the eternal pur

re as divinely

clicking palate! you

s dropping sweat-d

e fathomless ever-impress

the meanest of the res

ering language a

amtschatkan, Gr

naked, red, sooty,

ling, seeki

re, Berber

uncouth, untu

ms in Madras, Nan

of Amazonia! you Pata

others so very muc

against you, away back

forward in due

compassion and determinati

uals and lovers and fo

all

ne rapport has equa

I have risen with you,

and fallen down

ve blown with

ave finger'd eve

any river or strait of t

d on the bases of peni

ed rocks, to

r warmth penetrates I pen

h birds wing their wa

all, in Ame

perpendicular hand,

after me in

e haunts and