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WHEREFORE?

ME! O life!...of the questions of these recurring;

Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities filled with the foolish;

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean— of the struggle ever renewed;

Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;

Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here—that life exists, and identity;

That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a

verse.

A

QUESTIONABLE.

SI lay with my head in your lap, camerado,

The confession I made I resume—what I said to

you and the open air I resume.

I know I am restless, and make others so;

I know my words are weapons, full of danger, full of

death;

(Indeed I am myself the real soldier;

It is not he, there, with his bayonet, and not the red-striped artilleryman ;)

For I confront peace, security, and all the settled laws, to

unsettle them;

I am more resolute because all have denied me than I

could ever have been had all accepted me;

I heed not, and have never heeded, either experience, cautions, majorities, nor ridicule;

And the threat of what is called hell is little or nothing

to me;

And the lure of what is called heaven is little or nothing.

to me.

...Dear camerado! I confess I have urged you onward with and still urge you, me, without the least idea what is our destination,

Or whether we shall be victorious, or utterly quelled and

defeated.

SONG AT SUNSET.

I.

PLENDOUR of ended day, floating and filling me!

SPLEN

Hour prophetic—hour resuming the past!

Inflating my throat—you, divine Average!

You, Earth and Life, till the last ray gleams, I sing.

2.

Open mouth of my soul, uttering gladness,
Eyes of my soul, seeing perfection,

Natural life of me, faithfully praising things;

Corroborating forever the triumph of things.

3.

Illustrious every one!

Illustrious what we name space—sphere of unnumbered

spirits;

Illustrious the mystery of motion, in all beings, even the tiniest insect;

Illustrious the attribute of speech—the senses—the body;

Illustrious the passing light! Illustrious the pale reflection on the new moon in the western sky!

Illustrious whatever I see, or hear, or touch, to the last.

Good in all,

In the satisfaction and aplomb of animals,

In the annual return of the seasons,

In the hilarity of youth,

In the strength and flush of manhood,

In the grandeur and exquisiteness of old age,
In the superb vistas of Death.

Wonderful to depart;

Wonderful to be here!

The heart, to jet the all-alike and innocent blood,

To breathe the air, how delicious!

To speak to walk! to seize something by the hand!

To prepare for sleep, for bed—to look on my rose-coloured

flesh,

To be conscious of my body, so happy, so large,

To be this incredible God I am,

To have gone forth among other Gods—those men and women I love.

Wonderful how I celebrate you and myself!

How my thoughts play subtly at the spectacles around! How the clouds pass silently overhead!

How the earth darts on and on! and how the sun, moon,

stars, dart on and on!

How the water sports and sings! (Surely it is alive!)

How the trees rise and stand up—with strong trunks— with branches and leaves !

Surely there is something more in each of the trees—some living soul.

O amazement of things! even the least particle!

O spirituality of things!

O strain musical, flowing through ages and continents— now reaching me and America!

I take your strong chords—I intersperse them, and cheerfully pass them forward.

I too carol the sun, ushered, or at noon, or, as now,

setting,

I too throb to the brain and beauty of the earth, and of all the growths of the earth,

I too have felt the resistless call of myself.

As I sailed down the Mississippi,

As I wandered over the prairies,

As I have lived—As I have looked through my windows,

my eyes,

As I went forth in the morning—As I beheld the light breaking in the east;

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