Through Space and Time fused in a chant, and the flowing, eternal Identity, To Nature, encompassing these, encompassing God—to the joyous, electric All, To the sense of Death-and accepting, exulting in Death, in its turn, the same as life, The entrance of Man I sing.1 ΙΟ THOUGHT. First published in "Passage to India," 1870. As they draw to a close, Of what underlies the precedent songs-of my aims in them; Of the seed I have sought to plant in them; Of joy, sweet joy, through many a year, in them; (For them for them have I lived-In them my work is done ;) Of many an aspiration fond-of many a dream and plan, Of you, O mystery great !-to place on record faith in you, O death! -To compact you, ye parted, diverse lives! To put rapport the mountains, and rocks, and streams, And the winds of the north, and the forests of oak and pine, 10 With you, O soul of man. THE UNTOLD WANT. First published in "Passage to India," 1870. THE untold want, by life and land ne'er granted, PORTALS. First published in "Passage to India," 1870. WHAT are those of the known, but to ascend and enter the Unknown? And what are those of life, but for Death? 1 Lines 6-10. Added in "Passage to India," 1870. THESE CAROLS. First published in "Passage to India," 1870. THESE Carols, sung to cheer my passage through the world I see, For completion, I dedicate to the Invisible World. WHAT PLACE IS BESIEGED? First published in 1860 as part of "Calamus," 31. WHAT place is besieged, and vainly tries to raise the siege? JOY, SHIPMATE, JOY! First published in "Passage to India," 1870. Joy! shipmate-joy! (Pleas'd to my Soul at death I cry ;) 493 GATHERED LEAVES. O MATER! O fils! O brood continental! APOSTROPH. First published in 1860. O flowers of the prairies! O space boundless! O hum of mighty products! O you teeming cities! O so invincible, turbulent, proud! O fathers! O you men of passion and the storm! O native power only! O beauty! O yourself! O God! O divine average ! O you bearded roughs! O bards! O all those slumberers! ΙΟ O arouse the dawn-bird's throat sounds shrill! Do you not hear the cock crowing? O, as I walk'd the beach, I heard the mournful notes foreboding a tempest-the low, oft-repeated shriek of the diver, the long-lived loon; OI heard, and yet hear, angry thunder;-O you sailors! O ships make quick preparation! O from his masterful sweep, the warning cry of the eagle! (Give way there, all! It is useless! Give up your spoils ;) O sarcasms! Propositions! (O if the whole world should prove indeed a sham, a sell!) O I believe there is nothing real but America and freedom! O to sternly reject all except Democracy! O imperator! O who dare confront you and me? O to promulgate our own! O to build for that which builds for mankind! 20 O feuillage! O North! O the slope drained by the Mexican sea ! O all, all inseparable-ages, ages, ages! O a curse on him that would dissever this Union for any reason whatever! O climates, labors! O good and evil! O death! O you strong with iron and wood! O Personality! O the village or place which has the greatest man or woman! even if it be only a few ragged huts; O the city where women walk in public processions in the streets, the same as the men ; O a wan and terrible emblem, by me adopted! O muscle and pluck forever for me! O workmen and workwomen forever for me! O farmers and sailors! O drivers of horses forever for me! O you coarse and wilful! I love you! 30 O South! O longings for my dear home! O soft and sunny airs! O pensive! O I must return where the palm grows and the mocking-bird sings, or else I die! O equality! O organic compacts! I am come to be your born poet! O whirl, contest, sounding and resounding! I am your poet, be、 cause I am part of you; O days by-gone! Enthusiasts! Antecedents! O vast preparations for These States! O years! O what is now being sent forward thousands of years to come! O mediums! O to teach! to convey the invisible faith! 40 O for native songs! carpenter's, boatman's, ploughman's songs! shoemaker's songs! O haughtiest growth of time! O free and extatic! O what I, here, preparing, warble for! O you hastening light! O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height—and you too will ascend; O so amazing and so broad! up there resplendent, darting and burning; 50 O prophetic! O vision staggered with weight of light! with pouring glories! O copious! O hitherto unequalled! O Libertad! O compact! O union impossible to dissever! O my Soul! O lips becoming tremulous, powerless! O centuries, centuries yet ahead! O voices of greater orators! I pause-I listen for you O you States! Cities! defiant of all outside authority! I spring at once into your arms! you I most love! O you grand Presidentiads! I wait for you! New history! New heroes! I project you! Visions of poets! only you really last! O sweep on! sweep on! O Death! O you striding there! O I cannot yet! O heights! O infinitely too swift and dizzy yet! O purged lumine! you threaten me more than I can stand' O poets to come, I depend upon you! 60 O SUN OF REAL PEACE. First published in 1860 as part of " Apostroph." See line 49 of that poem. Published under present title in 1867. O SUN of real peace !1 O hastening light! O free and extatic! O what I here, preparing, warble for! O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height --and you too, O my Ideal,' will surely ascend ! O so amazing and broad-up there resplendent, darting and burning! O vision prophetic, stagger'd with weight of light! with pouring glories! O lips of my soul, already becoming powerless! O ample and grand Presidentiads! Now the war, the war is over !3 New history! new heroes! I project you! Visions of poets! only you really last! sweep on! sweep on! ΙΟ O purged and luminous! you threaten me more than I can stand! (I must not venture—the ground under my feet menaces me— it will not support me: O future too immense,)*—O present, I return, while yet I may, 3 "Now the war, the war is over!" added in 1870. |