The blast-furnace and the puddling-furnace, the loup-lump at the bottom of the melt at last, the rolling-mill, the stumpy bars of pig-iron, the strong clean-shaped T-rail for railroads, Oil-works, silk-works, white-lead-works, the sugar-house, steamsaws, the great mills and factories, Stone-cutting, shapely trimmings for façades or window or doorlintels, the mallet, the tooth-chisel, the jib to protect the thumb, The calking-iron, the kettle of boiling vault-cement, and the fire under the kettle, The cotton-bale, the stevedore's hook, the saw and buck of the sawyer, the mould of the moulder, the working-knife of the butcher, the ice-saw, and all the work with ice, The work and tools of the rigger, grappler, sail-maker, blockmaker, Goods of gutta-percha, papier-maché, colors, brushes, brushmaking, glazier's implements, The veneer and glue-pot, the confectioner's ornaments, the decanter and glasses, the shears and flat-iron, The awl and knee-strap, the pint measure and quart measure, the counter and stool, the writing-pen of quill or metal, the making of all sorts of edged tools, The brewery, brewing, the malt, the vats, every thing that is done by brewers, wine-makers, vinegar-makers, Leather-dressing, coach-making, boiler-making, rope-twisting, distilling, sign-painting, lime-burning, cotton-picking, electroplating, electrotyping, stereotyping, Stave-machines, planing-machines, reaping-machines, ploughingmachines, thrashing-machines, steam wagons, The cart of the carman, the omnibus, the ponderous dray, Pyrotechny, letting off color'd fireworks at night, fancy figures and jets; Beef on the butcher's stall, the slaughter-house of the butcher, the butcher in his killing-clothes, The pens of live pork, the killing-hammer, the hog-hook, the scalder's tub, gutting, the cutter's cleaver, the packer's maul, and the plenteous winterwork of pork-packing, Flour-works, grinding of wheat, rye, maize, rice, the barrels and the half and quarter barrels, the loaded barges, the high piles on wharves and levees, The men and the work of the men on ferries, railroads, coasters, fish-boats, canals; The hourly routine of your own or any man's life, the shop, yard, store, or factory, These shows all near you by day and night—workman! whoever you are, your daily life! In that and them the heft of the heaviest — in that and them far more than you estimated, (and far less also,) In them realities for you and me, in them poems for and me, In them, not yourself— you and your soul enclose all things, regardless of estimation, you In them the development good-in them all themes, hints, possibilities. I do not affirm that what you see beyond is futile, I do not advise you to stop, I do not say leadings you thought great are not great, 6 Will you seek afar off? you surely come back at last, In things best known to you finding the best, or as good as the best, In folks nearest to you finding the sweetest, strongest, lovingest, Happiness, knowledge, not in another place but this place, not for another hour but this hour, Man in the first you see or touch, always in friend, brother, nighest neighbor-woman in mother, sister, wife, The popular tastes and employments taking precedence in poems or anywhere, You workwomen and workmen of these States having your own divine and strong life, And all else giving place to men and women like you. When the psalm sings instead of the singer, When the script preaches instead of the preacher, When the pulpit descends and goes instead of the carver that carved the supporting desk, When I can touch the body of books by night or by day, and when they touch my body back again, When a university course convinces like a slumbering woman and child convince, When the minted gold in the vault smiles like the night-watchman's daughter, When warrantee deeds loafe in chairs opposite and are my friendly companions, I intend to reach them my hand, and make as much of them as I do of men and women like you. A SONG OF THE ROLLING EARTH. I A SONG of the rolling earth, and of words according, Were you thinking that those were the words, those upright lines? those curves, angles, dots? No, those are not the words, the substantial words are in the ground and sea, They are in the air, they are in you. Were you thinking that those were the words, those delicious sounds out of your friends' mouths? No, the real words are more delicious than they. Human bodies are words, myriads of words, (In the best poems re-appears the body, man's or woman's, wellshaped, natural, gay, Every part able, active, receptive, without shame or the need of shame.) Air, soil, water, fire- those are words, I myself am a word with them-my qualities interpenetrate with theirs - my name is nothing to them, Though it were told in the three thousand languages, what would air, soil, water, fire, know of my name? A healthy presence, a friendly or commanding gesture, are words, sayings, meanings, The charms that go with the mere looks of some men and women, are sayings and meanings also. The workmanship of souls is by those inaudible words of the earth, The masters know the earth's words and use them more than audible words. Amelioration is one of the earth's words, The earth neither lags nor hastens, It has all attributes, growths, effects, latent in itself from the jump, It is not half beautiful only, defects and excrescences show just as much as perfections show. The earth does not withhold, it is generous enough, The truths of the earth continually wait, they are not so conceal'd either, They are calm, subtle, untransmissible by print, They are imbued through all things conveying themselves willingly, Conveying a sentiment and invitation, I utter and utter, I speak not, yet if you hear me not of what avail am I to you? To bear, to better, lacking these of what avail am I? (Accouche! accouchez ! Will you rot your own fruit in yourself there? Will you squat and stifle there?) The earth does not argue, Is not pathetic, has no arrangements, Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise, Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out, Of all the powers, objects, states, it notifies, shuts none out. The earth does not exhibit itself nor refuse to exhibit itself, possesses still underneath, Underneath the ostensible sounds, the august chorus of heroes, the wail of slaves, Persuasions of lovers, curses, gasps of the dying, laughter of young people, accents of bargainers, Underneath these possessing words that never fail. To her children the words of the eloquent dumb great mother never fail, The true words do not fail, for motion does not fail and reflection does not fail, Also the day and night do not fail, and the voyage we pursue does not fail. Of the interminable sisters, Of the ceaseless cotillons of sisters, Of the centripetal and centrifugal sisters, the elder and younger sisters, The beautiful sister we know dances on with the rest. With her ample back towards every beholder, With the fascinations of youth and the equal fascinations of age, Sits she whom I too love like the rest, sits undisturb'd, Holding up in her hand what has the character of a mirror, while her eyes glance back from it, Glance as she sits, inviting none, denying none, Holding a mirror day and night tirelessly before her own face. Seen at hand or seen at a distance, Duly the twenty-four appear in public every day, Duly approach and pass with their companions or a companion, Looking from no countenances of their own, but from the countenances of those who are with them, From the countenances of children or women or the manly countenance, From the open countenances of animals or from inanimate things, From the landscape or waters or from the exquisite apparition of the sky, From our countenances, mine and yours, faithfully returning them, Every day in public appearing without fail, but never twice with the same companions. Embracing man, embracing all, proceed the three hundred and sixty-five resistlessly round the sun; Embracing all, soothing, supporting, follow close three hundred. and sixty-five offsets of the first, sure and necessary as they. Tumbling on steadily, nothing dreading, Sunshine, storm, cold, heat, forever withstanding, passing, carrying, The soul's realization and determination still inheriting, The fluid vacuum around and ahead still entering and dividing, Of all able and ready at any time to give strict account, 2 Whoever you are! motion and reflection are especially for you, The divine ship sails the divine sea for you. Whoever you are! you are he or she for whom the earth is solid and liquid, You are he or she for whom the sun and moon hang in the sky, For none more than you are th esent and the past, For none more than you is immtality. Each man to himself and each woman to herself, is the word of the past and present, and the true word of immortality; No one can acquire for another — not one, Not one can grow for another - not one. The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him, The teaching is to the teacher, and comes back most to him, |