Poems By Walt Whitman Part 25

The splendours of the past day? Or the splendour of the night that envelops me?

Or the vaunted glory and growth of the great city spread around me?--No; But I record of two simple men I saw to-day, on the pier, in the midst of the crowd, parting the parting of dear friends; The one to remain hung on the other's neck, and pa.s.sionately kissed him, While the one to depart tightly pressed the one to remain in his arms.

_TO A STRANGER._

Pa.s.sing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you; You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking (it comes to me, as of a dream).

I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you.

All is recalled as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured; You grew up with me, were a boy with me, or a girl with me; I ate with you, and slept with you--your body has become not yours only, nor left my body mine only; You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pa.s.s--you take of my beard, breast, hands in return; I am not to speak to you--I am to think of you when I sit alone, or wake at night alone; I am to wait--I do not doubt I am to meet you again; I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

_OTHER LANDS._

This moment yearning and thoughtful, sitting alone, It seems to me there are other men in other lands, yearning and thoughtful; It seems to me I can look over and behold them in Prussia, Italy, France, Spain--or far, far away, in China, or in Russia or India--talking other dialects; And it seems to me, if I could know those men, I should become attached to them, as I do to men in my own lands.

O I know we should be brethren and lovers; I know I should be happy with them.

_ENVY._

When I peruse the conquered fame of heroes, and the victories of mighty generals, I do not envy the generals, Nor the President in his Presidency, nor the rich in his great house.

But when I read of the brotherhood of lovers, how it was with them; How through life, through dangers, odium, unchanging, long and long, Through youth, and through middle and old age, how unfaltering, how affectionate and faithful they were, Then I am pensive--I hastily put down the book, and walk away, filled with the bitterest envy.

_THE CITY OF FRIENDS._

I dreamed in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth; I dreamed that it was the new City of Friends; Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love--it led the rest; It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.

_OUT OF THE CROWD._

1.

Out of the rolling ocean, the crowd, came a drop gently to me, Whispering, _I love you; before long I die: I have travelled a long way, merely to look on you, to touch you: For I could not die till I once looked on you, For I feared I might afterward lose you_.

2.

Now we have met, we have looked, we are safe; Return in peace to the ocean, my love; I too am part of that ocean, my love--we are not so much separated; Behold the great _rondure_--the cohesion of all, how perfect!

But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate us, As for an hour carrying us diverse--yet cannot carry us diverse for ever; Be not impatient--a little s.p.a.ce--know you, I salute the air, the ocean, and the land, Every day, at sundown, for your dear sake, my love.

_AMONG THE MULt.i.tUDE._

Among the men and women, the mult.i.tude, I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs, Acknowledging none else--not parent, wife, husband, brother, child, any nearer than I am; Some are baffled--But that one is not--that one knows me.

Ah, lover and perfect equal!

I meant that you should discover me so, by my faint indirections; And I, when I meet you, mean to discover you by the like in you.

LEAVES OF GRa.s.s.

_PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S FUNERAL HYMN._

1.

When lilacs last in the door-yard bloomed, And the great star[1] early drooped in the western sky in the night, I mourned,...and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

O ever-returning spring! trinity sure to me you bring; Lilac blooming perennial, and drooping star in the west, And thought of him I love.

2.

O powerful, western, fallen star!

O shades of night! O moody, tearful night!

O great star disappeared! O the black murk that hides the star!

O cruel hands that hold me powerless! O helpless soul of me!

O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul!

3.

In the door-yard fronting an old farm-house, near the whitewashed palings, Stands the lilac bush, tall-growing, with heart-shaped leaves of rich green, With many a pointed blossom, rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love, With every leaf a miracle: and from this bush in the dooryard, With delicate-coloured blossoms, and heart-shaped leaves of rich green, A sprig, with its flower, I break.

4.

In the swamp, in secluded recesses, A shy and hidden bird is warbling a song.

Solitary, the thrush, The hermit, withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements, Sings by himself a song:

Song of the bleeding throat!

Death's outlet song of life--for well, dear brother, I know, If thou wast not gifted to sing, thou wouldst surely die.