To-day a rude brief recitative,Of ships sailing the Seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal;Of unnamed heroes in the ships Of waves spreading and…

Splendor of ended day, floating and filling me!Hour prophetic hour resuming the past!Inflating my throat you, divine average!You, Earth and Life, till the last ray…

Sometimes with one I love, I fill myself with rage, for fear I effuse unreturn’d love;But now I think there is no unreturn’d love the…

Solid, ironical, rolling orb!Master of all, and matter of fact! at last I accept your terms;Bringing to practical, vulgar tests, of all my ideal dreams,And…

To conclude I announce what comes after me;I announce mightier offspring, orators, days, and then, for the present, depart. I remember I said, before my…

So far, and so far, and on toward the end,Singing what is sung in this book, from the irresistible impulses of me;But whether I continue…

POET. O A new song, a free song,Flapping, flapping, flapping, flapping, by sounds, by voices clearer,By the wind’s voice and that of the drum,By the…

Shut not your doors to me, proud libraries,For that which was lacking on all your well-fill’d shelves, yet needed most, I bring;Forth from the army,…

Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,Out of the Ninth-month midnight,Over the sterile sands, and the fields beyond, where…

Scented herbage of my breast,Leaves from you I yield, I write, to be perused best afterwards,Tomb-leaves, body-leaves, growing up above me, above death,Perennial roots, tall…