23. Not for delectations sweet; Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the studious; Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the tame enjoyment, Pioneers! O pioneers! 24. Do the feasters gluttonous feast? Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they locked and bolted doors? Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the ground, Pioneers! O pioneers! Has the night descended? 25. Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop discouraged, nodding on our way? Yet a passing hour I yield you in your tracks to pause oblivious, Pioneers! O pioneers! 26. Till with sound of trumpet, Far, far off the day-break call-hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind; Swift! to the head of the army!—swift! spring to your places, Pioneers! O pioneersl TO THE SAYERS OF WORDS, I. ARTH, round, rolling, compact—suns, moons, animals—all these are words to be said; Watery, vegetable, sauroid advances—beings, premonitions, lispings of the future, Behold! these are vast words to be said. 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, well-shaped, natural, gay, Every part able, active, receptive, without shame or the need of shame. Air, soil, water, fire—these 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. 2. The workmanship of souls is by the inaudible words of the earth; The great masters know the earth's words, and use them more than the 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 concealed either; They are calm, subtle, untransmissible by print; They are imbued through all things, conveying themselves willingly, Conveying a sentiment and invitation of the earth. 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? The earth does not argue, Is not pathetic, has no arrangements, Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise, 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 the 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, 3. 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 undisturbed, |