Poems By Walt Whitman Part 20

_Blow! blow! blow!

Blow up, sea-winds, along Paumanok's sh.o.r.e!

I wait and I wait, till you blow my mate to me_.

6.

Yes, when the stars glistened.

All night long, on the p.r.o.ng of a moss-scalloped stake, Down, almost amid the slapping waves, Sat the lone singer, wonderful, causing tears.

He called on his mate; He poured forth the meanings which I, of all men, know.

Yes, my brother, I know; The rest might not--but I have treasured every note; For once, and more than once, dimly, down to the beach gliding, Silent, avoiding the moonbeams, blending myself with the shadows, Recalling now the obscure shapes, the echoes, the sounds and sights after their sorts, The white arms out in the breakers tirelessly tossing, I, with bare feet, a child, the wind wafting my hair, Listened long and long.

Listened, to keep, to sing--now translating the notes, Following you, my brother.

7.

_Soothe! soothe! soothe!

Close on its wave soothes the wave behind, And again another behind, embracing and lapping, every one close,-- But my love soothes not me, not me.

Low hangs the moon--it rose late; O it is lagging--O I think it is heavy with love, with love.

O madly the sea pushes, pushes upon the land, With love--with love.

O night! do I not see my love fluttering out there among the breakers?

What is that little black thing I see there in the white?

Loud! loud! loud!

Loud. I call to you, my love!

High and clear I shoot my voice over the waves; Surely you must know who is here, is here; You must know who I am, my love.

Low-hanging moon!

What is that dusky spot in your brown yellow?

O it is the shape, the shape of my mate!

O moon, do not keep her from me any longer!

Land! land! O land!

Whichever way I turn, O I think you could give me my mate back again, if you only would; For I am almost sure I see her dimly whichever way I look.

O rising stars!

Perhaps the one I want so much will rise, will rise with some of you.

O throat! O trembling throat!

Sound clearer through the atmosphere!

Pierce the woods, the earth; Somewhere, listening to catch you, must be the one I want.

Shake out, carols!

Solitary here--the night's carols!

Carols of lonesome love! Death's carols!

Carols under that lagging, yellow, waning moon!

O, under that moon, where she droops almost down into the sea!

O reckless, despairing carols!

But soft! sink low; Soft! let me just murmur; And do you wait a moment, you husky-noised sea; For somewhere I believe I heard my mate responding to me, So faint--I must be still, be still to listen; But not altogether still, for then she might not come immediately to me.

Hither, my love!

Here I am! Here!

With this just-sustained note I announce myself to you; This gentle call is for you, my love, for you!

Do not be decoyed elsewhere!

That is the whistle of the wind--it is not my voice; That is the fluttering, the flattering of the spray; Those are the shadows of leaves.

O darkness! O in vain!

O I am very sick and sorrowful!

O brown halo in the sky, near the moon, drooping upon the sea!

O troubled reflection in the sea!

O throat! O throbbing heart!

O all!--and I singing uselessly, uselessly all the night.!

Yet I murmur, murmur on!

O murmurs--you yourselves make me continue to sing, I know not why.

O past! O life! O songs of joy!

In the air--in the woods--over fields; Loved! loved! loved! loved! loved!

But my love no more, no more with me!

We two together no more_!

8.

The aria sinking; All else continuing--the stars s.h.i.+ning, The winds blowing--the notes of the bird continuous echoing, With angry moans the fierce old Mother incessantly moaning, On the sands of Paumanok's sh.o.r.e, grey and rustling; The yellow half-moon enlarged, sagging down, drooping, the face of the sea almost touching; The boy ecstatic--with his bare feet the waves, with his hair the atmosphere, dallying, The love in the heart long pent, now loose, now at last tumultuously bursting; The aria's meaning the ears, the soul, swiftly depositing, The strange tears down the cheeks coursing; The colloquy there--the trio--each uttering; The undertone--the savage old Mother, incessantly crying, To the boy's soul's questions sullenly timing--some drowned secret hissing To the outsetting bard of love.

9.

Demon or bird! (said the boy's soul,) Is it indeed toward your mate you sing? or is it mostly to me?

For I, that was a child, my tongue's use sleeping, Now I have heard you, Now in a moment I know what I am for--I awake; And already a thousand singers--a thousand songs, clearer, louder, and more sorrowful than yours, A thousand warbling echoes, have started to life within me, Never to die.

O you singer, solitary, singing by yourself--projecting me; O solitary me, listening--never more shall I cease perpetuating you; Never more shall I escape, never more, the reverberations, Never more the cries of unsatisfied love be absent from me, Never again leave me to be the peaceful child I was before what there, in the night, By the sea, under the yellow and sagging moon, The messenger there aroused--the fire, the sweet h.e.l.l within, The unknown want, the destiny of me.

O give me the clue! (it lurks in the night here somewhere;) O if I am to have so much, let me have more!

O a word! O what is my destination? I fear it is henceforth chaos;-- O how joys, dreads, convolutions, human shapes and all shapes, spring as from graves around me!

O phantoms! you cover all the land, and all the sea!

O I cannot see in the dimness whether you smile or frown upon me; O vapour, a look, a word! O well-beloved!

O you dear women's and men's phantoms!

A word then, (for I will conquer it,) The word final, superior to all, Subtle, sent up--what is it?--I listen; Are you whispering it, and have been all the time, you sea-waves?

Is that it from your liquid rims and wet sands?