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And that they balance themselves with the sun and stars is equally wonderful.

MIRACLES.

I.

What shall I give? and which are my miracles?

2.

Realism is mine—my miracles—Take freely, Take without end—I offer them to you wherever your feet can carry you, or your eyes reach.

3.

Why! who makes much of a miracle?

As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles,

Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,

Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the

sky,

Or wade with naked feet along the beach, just in the edge

of the water,

Or stand under trees in the woods,

Or talk by day with any one I love—or sleep in the bed

at night with any one I love,

Or sit at the table at dinner with my mother,

Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,

Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive, of a summer forenoon,

Or animals feeding in the fields,

Or birds—or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,

Or the wonderfulness of the sun-down-or of stars shining so quiet and bright,

Or the exquisite, delicate, thin curve of the new moon in

spring;

Or whether I go among those I like best, and that like me best—mechanics, boatmen, farmers,

Or

among the savans—or to the soirée—or to the opera, Or stand a long while looking at the movements of ma

chinery,

Or behold children at their sports,

Or the admirable sight of the perfect old man, or the

perfect old woman,

Or the sick in hospitals, or the dead carried to burial,

Or my own eyes and figure in the glass;

These, with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles, The whole referring—yet each distinct and in its place.

4.

To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,

Every inch of space is a miracle,

Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread

with the same,

Every cubic foot of the interior swarms with the same; Every spear of grass—the frames, limbs, organs, of men

and women, and all that concerns them,

All these to me are unspeakably perfect miracles.

To me the sea is a continual miracle;

The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves

—the ships, with men in them, What stranger miracles are there?

OF

VISAGES.

F the visages of things—And of piercing through to the accepted hells beneath.

Of ugliness—To me there is just as much in it as there is in beauty—And now the ugliness of human beings is acceptable to me.

Of detected persons—To me, detected persons are not, in any respect, worse than undetected persons—and are not in any respect worse than I am myself.

Of criminals—To me, any judge, or any juror, is equally criminal and any reputable person is also—and the President is also.

I

THE DARK SIDE.

SIT and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame;

I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done;

I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate;

I see the wife misused by her husband—I see the treacherous seducer of young women;

I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be hid—I see these sights on the

earth;

I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny—I see

martyrs and prisoners;

I observe a famine at sea—I observe the sailors casting lots who shall be killed, to preserve the lives of the

rest;

I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon labourers, the poor, and upon negroes,

and the like;

All these—All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon,

See, hear, and am silent.

M

SIC.

HEARD

you, solemn-sweet pipes of the organ, as last Sunday morn I passed the church;

Winds of autumn!—as I walked the woods at dusk, I heard your long-stretched sighs, up above, so

mournful;

I heard the perfect Italian tenor, singing at the opera—I heard the soprano in the midst of the quartet singing.

...Heart of my love!—you too I heard, murmuring low, through one of the wrists around my head;

Heard the pulse of you, when all was still, ringing little bells last night under my ear.

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