DTS	1	FIRST, O songs, for a prelude,
DTS	2	Lightly strike on the stretch'd tympanum, pride and joy in my city,
DTS	3	How she led the rest to arms—how she gave the cue,
DTS	4	How at once with lithe limbs, unwaiting a moment, she sprang;
DTS	5	(O superb! O Manhattan, my own, my peerless!
DTS	6	O strongest you in the hour of danger, in crisis! O truer than steel!)
DTS	7	How you sprang! how you threw off the costumes of peace with indifferent hand;
DTS	8	How your soft opera-music changed, and the drum and fife were heard in their stead;
DTS	9	How you led to the war, (that shall serve for our pre-ludeprelude> songs of soldiers,)
DTS	10	How Manhattan drum-taps led.
DTS	11	Forty years had I in my city seen soldiers parading;
DTS	12	Forty years as a pageant—till unawares, the Lady of this teeming and turbulent city,
DTS	13	Sleepless, amid her ships, her houses, her incalculable wealth,
DTS	14	With her million children around her—suddenly,
DTS	15	At dead of night, at news from the south,
DTS	16	Incens'd, struck with clench'd hand the pavement.
DTS	17	A shock electric—the night sustain'd it;
DTS	18	Till with ominous hum, our hive at day-break, pour'd out its myriads.
DTS	19	From the houses then, and the workshops, and through all the doorways,
DTS	20	Leapt they tumultuous—and lo! Manhattan arming.
DTS	21	To the drum-taps prompt,
DTS	22	The young men falling in and arming;
DTS	23	The mechanics arming, (the trowel, the jack-plane, theblacksmith's hammer, tost aside with precipi-tationprecipitaion;)
DTS	24	The lawyer leaving his office, and arming—the judge leaving the court;
DTS	25	The driver deserting his wagon in the street, jumping down, throwing the reins abruptly down on the horses' backs;
DTS	26	The salesman leaving the store—the boss, book-keeper,porter, all leaving;
DTS	27	Squads gathering everywhere by common consent, and arming;
DTS	28	The new recruits, even boys—the old men show them how to wear their accoutrements—they buckle the straps carefully;
DTS	29	Outdoors arming—indoors arming—the flash of the musket-barrels;
DTS	30	The white tents cluster in camps—the arm'd sentries around—the sunrise cannon, and again at sunset;
DTS	31	Arm'd regiments arrive every day, pass through the city, and embark from the wharves;
DTS	32	(How good they look, as they tramp down to the river,sweaty, with their guns on their shoulders!
DTS	33	How I love them! how I could hug them, with theirbrown faces, and their clothes and knapsacks cov-er'dcover'd with dust!)
DTS	34	The blood of the city up—arm'd! arm'd! the cry everywhere;
DTS	35	The flags flung out from the steeples of churches, and from all the public buildings and stores;
DTS	36	The tearful parting—the mother kisses her son—the son kisses his mother;
DTS	37	(Loth is the mother to part—yet not a word does she speak to detain him;)
DTS	38	The tumultuous escort—the ranks of policemen preceed-ingpreceeding, clearing the way;
DTS	39	The unpent enthusiasm—the wild cheers of the crowd for their favorites;
DTS	40	The artillery—the silent cannons, bright as gold, drawn along, rumble lightly over the stones;
DTS	41	(Silent cannons—soon to cease your silence!
DTS	42	Soon, unlimber'd, to begin the red business;)
DTS	43	All the mutter of preparation—all the determin'd arming;
DTS	44	The hospital service—the lint, bandages, and medi-cinesmedicines;
DTS	45	The women volunteering for nurses—the work begun for, in earnest—no mere parade now;
DTS	46	War! an arm'd race is advancing!—the welcome for battle—no turning away;
DTS	47	War! be it weeks, months, or years—an arm'd race is advancing to welcome it.
DTS	48	Mannahatta a-march!—and it's O to sing it well!
DTS	49	It's O for a manly life in the camp!
DTS	50	And the sturdy artillery!
DTS	51	The guns, bright as gold—the work for giants—to serve well the guns:
DTS	52	Unlimber them! no more, as the past forty years, for salutes for courtesies merely;
DTS	53	Put in something else now besides powder and wadding.
DTS	54	And you, Lady of Ships! you Mannahatta!
DTS	55	Old matron of the city! this proud, friendly, turbulent city!
DTS	56	Often in peace and wealth you were pensive, or covertly frown'd amid all your children;
DTS	57	But now you smile with joy, exulting old Mannahatta!
DTS	58	SHUT not your doors to me, proud libraries,
DTS	59	For that which was lacking among you all, yet needed most, I bring;
DTS	60	A book I have made for your dear sake, O soldiers,
DTS	61	And for you, O soul of man, and you, love of comrades;
DTS	62	The words of my book nothing, the life of it every-thingeverything;
DTS	63	A book separate, not link'd with the rest, nor felt by the intellect;
DTS	64	But you will feel every word, O Libertad! arm'd Libertad!
DTS	65	It shall pass by the intellect to swim the sea, the air,
DTS	66	With joy with you, O soul of man.
DTS	67	A LINE in long array, where they wind betwixt green islands;
DTS	68	They take a serpentine course—their arms flash in the sun—Hark to the musical clank;
DTS	69	Behold the silvery river—in it the splashing horses,loitering, stop to drink;
DTS	70	Behold the brown-faced men—each group, each person,a picture—the negligent rest on the saddles;
DTS	71	Some emerge on the opposite bank—others are just entering the ford;
DTS	72	The guidon flags flutter gaily in the wind.
DTS	73	O A new song, a free song,
DTS	74	Flapping, flapping, flapping, flapping, by sounds, by voices clearer,
DTS	75	By the wind's voice and that of the drum,
DTS	76	By the banner's voice, and child's voice, and sea's voice,and father's voice,
DTS	77	Low on the ground and high in the air,
DTS	78	On the ground where father and child stand,
DTS	79	In the upward air where their eyes turn,
DTS	80	Where the banner at day-break is flapping.
DTS	81	Words! book-words! what are you?
DTS	82	Words no more, for hearken and see,
DTS	83	My song is there in the open air—and I must sing,
DTS	84	With the banner and pennant a-flapping.
DTS	85	I'll weave the chord and twine in,
DTS	86	Man's desire and babe's desire—I'll twine them in, I'll put in life;
DTS	87	I'll put the bayonet's flashing point—I'll let bullets and slugs whizz;
DTS	88	I ll pour the verse with streams of blood, full of volition,full of joy;
DTS	89	Then loosen, launch forth, to go and compete,
DTS	90	With the banner and pennant a-flapping.
DTS	91	Come up here, bard, bard;
DTS	92	Come up here, soul, soul;
DTS	93	Come up here, dear little child,
DTS	94	To fly in the clouds and winds with us, and play with the measureless light.
DTS	95	Father, what is that in the sky beckoning to me with long finger?
DTS	96	And what does it say to me all the while?
DTS	97	Nothing, my babe, you see in the sky;
DTS	98	And nothing at all to you it says. But look you, my babe,
DTS	99	Look at these dazzling things in the houses, and see you the money-shops opening;
DTS	100	And see you the vehicles preparing to crawl along the streets with goods:
DTS	101	These! ah, these! how valued and toil'd for, these!
DTS	102	How envied by all the earth!
DTS	104	Fresh and rosy red, the sun is mounting high;
DTS	105	On floats the sea in distant blue, careering through its channels;
DTS	106	On floats the wind over the breast of the sea, setting in toward land;
DTS	107	The great steady wind from west and west-by-south,
DTS	108	Floating so buoyant, with milk-white foam on the waters.
DTS	109	But I am not the sea, nor the red sun;
DTS	110	I am not the wind, with girlish laughter;
DTS	111	Not the immense wind which strengthens—not the wind which lashes;
DTS	112	Not the spirit that ever lashes its own body to terror and death:
DTS	113	But I am of that which unseen comes and sings, sings,sings,
DTS	114	Which babbles in brooks and scoots in showers on the land;
DTS	115	Which the birds know in the woods, mornings and evenings,
DTS	116	And the shore-sands know, and the hissing wave, and that banner and pennant,
DTS	117	Aloft there flapping and flapping.
DTS	118	O father, it is alive—it is full of people—it has children!
DTS	119	O now it seems to me it is talking to its children!
DTS	120	I hear it—it talks to me—O it is wonderful!
DTS	121	O it stretches—it spreads and runs so fast! O my father,
DTS	122	It is so broad, it covers the whole sky!
DTS	123	Cease, cease, my foolish babe,
DTS	124	What you are saying is sorrowful to me—much it dis-pleasesdispleases me;
DTS	125	Behold with the rest, again I say—behold not banners and pennants aloft;
DTS	126	But the well-prepared pavements behold—and mark the solid-wall'd houses.
DTS	127	Speak to the child, O bard, out of Manhattan;
DTS	128	Speak to our children all, or north or south of Manhat-tanManhattan,
DTS	129	Where our factory-engines hum, where our miners delve the ground,
DTS	130	Where our hoarse Niagara rumbles, where our prairie-plowsprairie-plows are plowing;
DTS	131	Speak, O bard! point this day, leaving all the rest, to us over all—and yet we know not why;
DTS	132	For what are we, mere strips of cloth, profiting nothing,
DTS	133	Only flapping in the wind?
DTS	134	I hear and see not strips of cloth alone;
DTS	135	I hear the tramp of armies, I hear the challenging sentry;
DTS	136	I hear the jubilant shouts of millions of men—I hear LIBERTY!
DTS	137	I hear the drums beat, and the trumpets blowing;
DTS	138	I myself move abroad, swift-rising, flying then;
DTS	139	I use the wings of the land-bird, and use the wings of the sea-bird, and look down as from a height;
DTS	140	I do not deny the precious results of peace—I see pop-ulouspopulous cities, with wealth incalculable;
DTS	141	I see numberless farms—I see the farmers working in their fields or barns;
DTS	142	I see mechanics working—I see buildings everywhere founded, going up, or finish'd;
DTS	143	I see trains of cars swiftly speeding along railroad tracks, drawn by the locomotives;
DTS	144	I see the stores, depots, of Boston, Baltimore, Charles-tonCharleston, New Orleans;
DTS	145	I see far in the west the immense area of grain—I dwell awhile, hovering;
DTS	146	I pass to the lumber forests of the north, and againto the southern plantation, and again to Cali-forniaCalifornia;
DTS	147	Sweeping the whole, I see the countless profit, the busy gatherings, earned wages;
DTS	148	See the identity formed out of thirty-six spacious and haughty States, (and many more to come;)
DTS	149	See forts on the shores of harbors—see ships sailing in and out;
DTS	150	Then over all, (aye! aye!) my little and lengthen'd pen-nantpennant shaped like a sword,
DTS	151	Runs swiftly up, indicating war and defiance—And now the halyards have rais'd it,
DTS	152	Side of my banner broad and blue—side of my starry banner,
DTS	153	Discarding peace over all the sea and land.
DTS	154	Yet louder, higher, stronger, bard! yet farther,wider cleave!
DTS	155	No longer let our children deem us riches and peace alone;
DTS	156	We can be terror and carnage also, and are so now;
DTS	157	Not now are we one of these spacious and haughty States, (nor any five, nor ten;)
DTS	158	Nor market nor depot are we, nor money-bank in the city;
DTS	159	But these, and all, and the brown and spreading land,and the mines below, are ours;
DTS	160	And the shores of the sea are ours, and the rivers great and small;
DTS	161	And the fields they moisten are ours, and the crops and the fruits are ours;
DTS	162	Bays and channels, and ships sailing in and out, are ours —and we over all,
DTS	163	Over the area spread below, the three millions of square miles—the capitals,
DTS	164	The thirty-five millions of people—O bard! in life and death supreme,
DTS	165	We, even we, from this day flaunt out masterful, high up above,
DTS	166	Not for the present alone, for a thousand years, chant-ingchanting through you,
DTS	167	This song to the soul of one poor little child.
DTS	168	O my father, I like not the houses;
DTS	169	They will never to me be anything—nor do I like money;
DTS	170	But to mount up there I would like, O father dear— that banner I like;
DTS	171	That pennant I would be, and must be.
DTS	172	Child of mine, you fill me with anguish;
DTS	173	To be that pennant would be too fearful;
DTS	174	Little you know what it is this day, and henceforth forever;
DTS	175	It is to gain nothing, but risk and defy everything;
DTS	176	Forward to stand in front of wars—and O, such wars!—what have you to do with them?
DTS	177	With passions of demons, slaughter, premature death?
DTS	178	Demons and death then I sing;
DTS	179	Put in all, aye all, will I—sword-shaped pennant for war, and banner so broad and blue,
DTS	180	And a pleasure new and extatic, and the prattled yearn-ingyearning of children,
DTS	181	Blent with the sounds of the peaceful land, and the liquid wash of the sea;
DTS	182	And the icy cool of the far, far north, with rustling cedars and pines;
DTS	183	And the whirr of drums, and the sound of soldiers marching, and the hot sun shining south;
DTS	184	And the beach-waves combing over the beach on my eastern shore, and my western shore the same;
DTS	185	And all between those shores, and my ever running Mississippi, with bends and chutes;
DTS	186	And my Illinois fields, and my Kansas fields, and my fields of Missouri;
DTS	187	The CONTINENT—devoting the whole identity, without reserving an atom,
DTS	188	Pour in! whelm that which asks, which sings, with all,and the yield of all.
DTS	189	Aye all! for ever, for all!
DTS	190	From sea to sea, north and south, east and west,
DTS	191	Fusing and holding, claiming, devouring the whole;
DTS	192	No more with tender lip, nor musical labial sound,
DTS	193	But, out of the night emerging for good, our voice per-suasivepersuasive no more,
DTS	194	Croaking like crows here in the wind.
DTS	195	My limbs, my veins dilate;
DTS	196	The blood of the world has fill'd me full—my theme is clear at last:
DTS	197	—Banner so broad, advancing out of the night, I sing you haughty and resolute;
DTS	198	I burst through where I waited long, too long, deafen'd and blinded;
DTS	199	My sight, my hearing and tongue, are come to me, (a little child taught me;)
DTS	200	I hear from above, O pennant of war, your ironical call and demand;
DTS	201	Insensate! insensate! (yet I at any rate chant you,) O banner!
DTS	202	Not houses of peace are you, nor any nor all their pros-perityprosperity, (if need be, you shall have every one ofthose houses to destroy them;
DTS	203	You thought not to destroy those valuable houses, stand-ingstanding fast, full of comfort, built with money;
DTS	204	May they stand fast, then? Not an hour, unless you,above them and all, stand fast;)
DTS	205	—O banner! not money so precious are you, nor farm produce you, nor the material good nutriment,
DTS	206	Nor excellent stores, nor landed on wharves from the ships;
DTS	207	Not the superb ships, with sail-power or steam-power,fetching and carrying cargoes,
DTS	208	Nor machinery, vehicles, trade, nor revenues,—But you, as henceforth I see you,
DTS	209	Running up out of the night, bringing your cluster of stars, (ever-enlarging stars;)
DTS	210	Divider of day-break you, cutting the air, touch'd by the sun, measuring the sky,
DTS	211	(Passionately seen and yearn'd for by one poor little child,
DTS	212	While others remain busy, or smartly talking, forever teaching thrift, thrift;)
DTS	213	O you up there! O pennant! where you undulate like a snake, hissing so curious,
DTS	214	Out of reach—an idea only—yet furiously fought for,risking bloody death—loved by me!
DTS	215	So loved! O you banner leading the day, with stars brought from the night!
DTS	216	Valueless, object of eyes, over all and demanding all— O banner and pennant!
DTS	217	I too leave the rest—great as it is, it is nothing— houses, machines are nothing—I see them not;
DTS	218	I see but you, O warlike pennant! O banner so broad,with stripes, I sing you only,
DTS	219	Flapping up there in the wind.
DTS	220	By the bivouac's fitful flame,
DTS	221	A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and slow;—but first I note,
DTS	222	The tents of the sleeping army, the fields' and woods' dim outline,
DTS	223	The darkness, lit spots of kindled fire—the silence;
DTS	224	Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving;
DTS	225	The shrubs and trees, (as I left my eyes they seem to be stealthily watching me;)
DTS	226	While wind in procession thoughts, O tender and wond'rous thoughts,
DTS	227	Of life and death—of home and the past and loved,and of those that are far away;
DTS	228	A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground,
DTS	229	By the bivouac's fitful flame.
DTS	230	ARM'D year! year of the struggle!
DTS	231	No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you,terrible year!
DTS	232	Not you as some pale poetling, seated at a desk, lisp-inglisping cadenzas piano;
DTS	233	But as a strong man, erect, clothed in blue clothes,advancing, carrying a rifle on your shoulder,
DTS	234	With well-gristled body and sunburnt face and hands— with a knife in the belt at your side,
DTS	235	As I heard you shouting loud—your sonorous voice ringing across the continent;
DTS	236	Your masculine voice, O year, as rising amid the great cities,
DTS	237	Amid the men of Manhattan I saw you, as one of the workmen, the dwellers in Manhattan;
DTS	238	Or with large steps crossing the prairies out of Illinois and Indiana,
DTS	239	Rapidly crossing the West with springy gait, and de-scendingdescending the Alleghanies;
DTS	240	Or down from the great lakes, or in Pennsylvania, or on deck along the Ohio river;
DTS	241	Or southward along the Tennessee or Cumberland rivers,or at Chattanooga on the mountain top,
DTS	242	Saw I your gait and saw I your sinewy limbs, clothed in blue, bearing weapons, robust year;
DTS	243	Heard your determin'd voice, launch'd forth again and again;
DTS	244	Year that suddenly sang by the mouths of the round lipp'd cannon,
DTS	245	I repeat you, hurrying, crashing, sad, distracted year.
DTS	246	FROM Paumanok starting, I fly like a bird,
DTS	247	Around and around to soar, to sing the idea of all;
DTS	248	To the north betaking myself, to sing there arctic songs,
DTS	249	To Kanada, 'till I absorb Kanada in myself—to Michi-ganMichigan then,
DTS	250	To Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, to sing their songs,(they are inimitable;)
DTS	251	Then to Ohio and Indiana to sing theirs—to Missouri and Kansas and Arkansas to sing theirs,
DTS	252	To Tennessee and Kentucky—to the Carolinas and Georgia, to sing theirs,
DTS	253	To Texas, and so along up toward California, to roam accepted everywhere;
DTS	254	To sing first, (to the tap of the war-drum, if need be,)
DTS	255	The idea of all—of the western world, one and insep-arableinseparable,
DTS	256	And then the song of each member of These States.
DTS	257	BEGINNING my studies, the first step pleas'd me so much,
DTS	258	The mere fact, consciousness—these forms—the pow-erpower of motion,
DTS	259	The least insect or animal—the senses—eyesight;
DTS	260	The first step, I say, aw'd me and pleas'd me so much,
DTS	261	I have never gone, and never wish'd to go, any farther,
DTS	262	But stop and loiter all my life, to sing it in extatic songs.
DTS	263	Give me your hand, old Revolutionary;
DTS	264	The hill-top is nigh—but a few steps, (make room,gentlemen;)
DTS	265	Up the path you have follow'd me well, spite of your hundred and extra years;
DTS	266	You can walk, old man, though your eyes are almost done;
DTS	267	Your faculties serve you, and presently I must have them serve me.
DTS	268	Rest, while I tell what the crowd around us means;
DTS	269	On the plain below, recruits are drilling and exercising;
DTS	270	There is the camp—one regiment departs to morrow;
DTS	271	Do you hear the officers giving the orders?
DTS	272	Do you hear the clank of the muskets?
DTS	273	Why, what comes over you now, old man?
DTS	274	Why do you tremble, and clutch my hand so convul-convulsivelysively?
DTS	275	The troops are but drilling—they are yet surrounded with smiles;
DTS	276	Around them at hand, the well drest friends and the women;
DTS	277	While splendid and warm the afternoon sun shines down;
DTS	278	Green the midsummer verdure, and fresh blows the dal-lyingdallying breeze,
DTS	279	O'er proud and peaceful cities, and arm of the sea be-betweentween.
DTS	280	But drill and parade are over—they march back to quarters;
DTS	281	Only hear that approval of hands! hear what a clap-pingclapping!
DTS	282	As wending, the crowds now part and disperse—but we, old man,
DTS	283	Not for nothing have I brought you hither—we must remain;
DTS	284	You to speak in your turn, and I to listen and tell.
DTS	286	When I clutch'd your hand, it was not with terror;
DTS	287	But suddenly, pouring about me here, on every side,
DTS	288	And below there where the boys were drilling, and up the slopes they ran,
DTS	289	And where tents are pitch'd, and wherever you see,south and south-east and south-west,
DTS	290	Over hills, across lowlands, and in the skirts of woods,
DTS	291	And along the shores, in mire (now fill'd over,) came again, and suddenly raged,
DTS	292	As eighty-five years a-gone, no mere parade receiv'd with applause of friends,
DTS	293	But a battle, which I took part in myself—aye, long ago as it is, I took part in it,
DTS	294	Walking then this hill-top, this same ground.
DTS	295	Aye, this is the ground;
DTS	296	My blind eyes, even as I speak, behold it re-peopled from graves:
DTS	297	The years recede, pavements and stately houses disap-peardisappear:
DTS	298	Rude forts appear again, the old hoop'd guns are mounted;
DTS	299	I see the lines of rais'd earth stretching from river to bay;
DTS	300	I mark the vista of waters, I mark the uplands and slopes:
DTS	301	Here we lay encamp'd—it was this time in summer also.
DTS	302	As I talk, I remember all—I remember the Declara-tionDeclaration:
DTS	303	It was read here—the whole army paraded—it was read to us here;
DTS	304	By his staff surrounded, the general stood in the mid-dlemiddle—he held up his unsheath'd sword,
DTS	305	It glitter'd in the sun in full sight of the army.
DTS	306	'Twas a bold act then;
DTS	307	The English war ships had just arrived—the king had sent them from over the sea;
DTS	308	We could watch down the lower bay where they lay at anchor,
DTS	309	And the transports, swarming with soldiers.
DTS	310	A few days more, and they landed—and then the battle.
DTS	311	Twenty thousand were brought against us,
DTS	312	A veteran force, furnish'd with good artillery.
DTS	313	I tell not now the whole of the battle;
DTS	314	But one brigade, early in the forenoon, order'd forward to engage the red-coats;
DTS	315	Of that brigade I tell, and how steadily it march'd,
DTS	316	And how long and how well it stood, confronting death.
DTS	317	Who do you think that was, marching steadily, stern-lysternly confronting death?
DTS	318	It was the brigade of the youngest men, two thousand strong,
DTS	319	Rais'd in Virginia and Maryland, and many of them known personally to the General.
DTS	320	Jauntily forward they went with quick step toward Gowanus' waters;
DTS	321	Till of a sudden, unlook'd for, by defiles through the woods, gain'd at night,
DTS	322	The British advancing, wedging in from the east,fiercely playing their guns,
DTS	323	That brigade of the youngest was cut off, and at the enemy's mercy.
DTS	324	The General watch'd them from this hill;
DTS	325	They made repeated desperate attempts to burst their environment;
DTS	326	Then drew close together, very compact, their flag flying in the middle;
DTS	327	But O from the hills how the cannon were thinning and thinning them!
DTS	328	It sickens me yet, that slaughter!
DTS	329	I saw the moisture gather in drops on the face of the General;
DTS	330	I saw how he wrung his hands in anguish.
DTS	331	Meanwhile the British maneuver'd to draw us out for a pitch'd battle;
DTS	332	But we dared not trust the chances of a pitch'd battle.
DTS	333	We fought the fight in detachments;
DTS	334	Sallying forth, we fought at several points—but in each the luck was against us;
DTS	335	Our foe advancing, steadily getting the best of it, push'd us back to the works on this hill;
DTS	336	Till we turn'd menacing, here, and then he left us.
DTS	337	That was the going out of the brigade of the young-estyoungest men, two thousand strong;
DTS	338	Few return'd—nearly all remain in Brooklyn.
DTS	339	That, and here, my General's first battle;
DTS	340	No women looking on, nor sunshine to bask in—it did not conclude with applause;
DTS	341	Nobody clapp'd hands here then.
DTS	342	But in darkness, in mist, on the ground, under a chill rain,
DTS	343	Wearied that night we lay, foil'd and sullen;
DTS	344	While scornfully laugh'd many an arrogant lord, off against us encamp'd,
DTS	345	Quite within hearing, feasting, klinking wine-glasses together over their victory.
DTS	346	So, dull and damp and another day;
DTS	347	But the night of that, mist lifting, rain ceasing,
DTS	348	Silent as a ghost, while they thought they were sure of him, my General retreated.
DTS	349	I saw him at the river-side,
DTS	350	Down by the ferry, lit by torches, hastening the embar-cationembarcation;
DTS	351	My General waited till the soldiers and wounded were all pass'd over;
DTS	352	And then, (it was just ere sunrise,) these eyes rested on him for the last time.
DTS	353	Every one else seem'd fill'd with gloom;
DTS	354	Many no doubt thought of capitulation.
DTS	355	But when my General pass'd me,
DTS	356	As he stood in his boat, and look'd toward the coming sun,
DTS	357	I saw something different from capitulation.
DTS	359	Enough—the Centenarian's story ends;
DTS	360	The two, the past and present, have interchanged;
DTS	361	I myself, as connecter, as chansonnier of a great future,am now speaking.
DTS	362	And is this the ground Washington trod?
DTS	363	And these waters I listlessly daily cross, are these the waters he cross'd,
DTS	364	As resolute in defeat, as other generals in their proudest triumphs?
DTS	365	It is well—a lesson like that, always comes good;
DTS	366	I must copy the story, and send it eastward and west-wardwestward;
DTS	367	I must preserve that look, as it beam'd on you, rivers of Brooklyn.
DTS	368	See! as the annual round returns, the phantoms return;
DTS	369	It is the 27th of August, and the British have landed;
DTS	370	The battle begins, and goes against us—behold! through the smoke Washington's face;
DTS	371	The brigade of Virginia and Maryland have march'd forth to intercept the enemy;
DTS	372	They are cut off—murderous artillery from the hills plays upon them;
DTS	373	Rank after rank falls, while over them silently droops the flag,
DTS	374	Baptized that day in many a young man's bloody wounds,
DTS	375	In death, defeat, and sisters', mothers' tears.
DTS	376	Ah, hills and slopes of Brooklyn! I perceive you are more valuable than your owners supposed;
DTS	377	Ah, river! henceforth you will be illumin'd to me at sunrise with something besides the sun.
DTS	378	Encampments new! in the midst of you stands an encampment very old;
DTS	379	Stands forever the camp of the dead brigade.
DTS	380	COME, my tan-faced children,
DTS	381	Follow well in order, get your weapons ready;
DTS	382	Have you your pistols? have you your sharp edged axes?
DTS	383	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	384	For we cannot tarry here,
DTS	385	We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
DTS	386	We, the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
DTS	387	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	388	O you youths, western youths,
DTS	389	So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,
DTS	390	Plain I see you, western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,
DTS	391	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	392	Have the elder races halted?
DTS	393	Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied, over there beyond the seas?
DTS	394	We take up the task eternal, and the burden, and the lesson,
DTS	395	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	396	All the past we leave behind;
DTS	397	We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world;
DTS	398	Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march,
DTS	399	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	400	We detachments steady throwing,
DTS	401	Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,
DTS	402	Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go, the unknown ways,
DTS	403	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	404	We primeval forests felling,
DTS	405	We the rivers stemming, vexing we, and piercing deep the mines within;
DTS	406	We the surface broad surveying, and the virgin soil up-heavingupheaving,
DTS	407	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	408	Colorado men are we,
DTS	409	From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and the high plateaus,
DTS	410	From the mine and from the gully, from the hunting trail we come,
DTS	411	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	412	From Nebraska, from Arkansas,
DTS	413	Central inland race are we, from Missouri, with the con-tinentalcontinental blood intervein'd;
DTS	414	All the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern,
DTS	415	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	416	O resistless, restless race!
DTS	417	O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love for all!
DTS	418	O I mourn and yet exult—I am rapt with love for all,
DTS	419	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	420	Raise the mighty mother mistress,
DTS	421	Waving high the delicate mistress, over all the starry mistress, (bend your heads all,)
DTS	422	Raise the fang'd and warlike mistress, stern, impassive,weapon'd mistress,
DTS	423	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	424	See, my children, resolute children,
DTS	425	By those swarms upon our rear, we must never yield or falter,
DTS	426	Ages back in ghostly millions, frowning there behind us urging,
DTS	427	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	428	On and on, the compact ranks,
DTS	429	With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly fill'd,
DTS	430	Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping,
DTS	431	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	432	O to die advancing on!
DTS	433	Are there some of us to droop and die? has the hour come?
DTS	434	Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the gap is fill'd,
DTS	435	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	436	All the pulses of the world,
DTS	437	Falling in, they beat for us, with the western movement beat;
DTS	438	Holding single or together, steady moving, to the front,all for us,
DTS	439	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	440	Life's involv'd and varied pageants,
DTS	441	All the forms and shows, all the workmen at their work,
DTS	442	All the seamen and the landsmen, all the masters with their slaves,
DTS	443	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	444	All the hapless silent lovers,
DTS	445	All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked,
DTS	446	All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying,
DTS	447	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	448	I too with my soul and body,
DTS	449	We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way,
DTS	450	Through these shores, amid the shadows, with the apparitions pressing,
DTS	451	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	452	Lo! the darting bowling orb!
DTS	453	Lo! the brother orbs around! all the clustering suns and planets;
DTS	454	All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams,
DTS	455	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	456	These are of us, they are with us,
DTS	457	All for primal needed work, while the followers there in embryo wait behind,
DTS	458	We to-day's procession heading, we the route for travel clearing,
DTS	459	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	460	O you daughters of the west!
DTS	461	O you young and elder daughters! O you mothers and you wives!
DTS	462	Never must you be divided, in our ranks you move united,
DTS	463	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	464	Minstrels latent on the prairies!
DTS	465	(Shrouded bards of other lands! you may sleep—you have done your work;)
DTS	466	Soon I hear you coming warbling, soon you rise and tramp amid us,
DTS	467	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	468	Not for delectations sweet;
DTS	469	Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the studious;
DTS	470	Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the tame en-joymentenjoyment,
DTS	471	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	472	Do the feasters gluttonous feast?
DTS	473	Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they lock'd and bolted doors?
DTS	474	Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the ground,
DTS	475	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	476	Has the night descended?
DTS	477	Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop discour-ageddiscouraged, nodding on our way?
DTS	478	Yet a passing hour I yield you, in your tracks to pause oblivious,
DTS	479	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	480	Till with sound of trumpet,
DTS	481	Far, far off the day-break call—hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind;
DTS	482	Swift! to the head of the army!—swift! spring to your places,
DTS	483	Pioneers! O pioneers!
DTS	484	QUICKSAND years that whirl me I know not whither,
DTS	485	Your schemes, politics, fail—lines give way—substan-cessubstances mock and elude me;
DTS	486	Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess'd soul, eludes not;
DTS	487	One's-self, must never give way—that is the final sub-tancesubstance —that out of all is sure;
DTS	488	Out of politics, triumphs, battles, death—what at last finally remains?
DTS	489	When shows break up, what but One's-Self is sure?
DTS	490	An old man bending, I come, among new faces,
DTS	491	Years looking backward, resuming, in answer to chil-drenchildren,
DTS	492	Come tell us old man, as from young men and maidens that love me;
DTS	493	Years hence of these scenes, of these furious passions,these chances,
DTS	494	Of unsurpass'd heroes, (was one side so brave? the other was equally brave;)
DTS	495	Now be witness again—paint the mightiest armies of earth;
DTS	496	Of those armies so rapid, so wondrous, what saw you to tell us?
DTS	497	What stays with you latest and deepest? of curious panics,
DTS	498	Of hard-fought engagements, or sieges tremendous,what deepest remains?
DTS	499	O maidens and young men I love, and that love me,
DTS	500	What you ask of my days, those the strangest and sud-densudden your talking recals;
DTS	501	Soldier alert I arrive, after a long march, cover'd with sweat and dust;
DTS	502	In the nick of time I come, plunge in the fight, loudly shout in the rush of successful charge;
DTS	503	Enter the captur'd works . . . . yet lo! like a swift-runningswift-running river, they fade;
DTS	504	Pass and are gone, they fade—I dwell not on soldiers' perils or soldiers' joys;
DTS	505	(Both I remember well—many the hardships, few the joys, yet I was content.)
DTS	506	But in silence, in dream's projections,
DTS	507	While the world of gain and appearance and mirth goes on,
DTS	508	So soon what is over forgotten, and waves wash the imprints off the sand,
DTS	509	In nature's reverie sad, with hinged knees returning, I enter the doors—(while for you up there,
DTS	510	Whoever you are, follow me without noise, and be of strong heart.)
DTS	511	Bearing the bandages, water and sponge,
DTS	512	Straight and swift to my wounded I go,
DTS	513	Where they lie on the ground, after the battle brought in;
DTS	514	Where their priceless blood reddens the grass, the ground;
DTS	515	Or to the rows of the hospital tent, or under the roof'd hospital;
DTS	516	To the long rows of cots, up and down, each side, I return;
DTS	517	To each and all, one after another, I draw near—not one do I miss;
DTS	518	An attendant follows, holding a tray—he carries a refuse pail,
DTS	519	Soon to be fill'd with clotted rags and blood, emptied,and fill'd again.
DTS	520	I onward go, I stop,
DTS	521	With hinged knees and steady hand, to dress wounds;
DTS	522	I am firm with each—the pangs are sharp, yet unavoid-ableunavoidable;
DTS	523	One turns to me his appealing eyes—(poor boy! I never knew you,
DTS	524	Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you.)
DTS	525	On, on I go—(open, doors of time! open, hospital doors!)
DTS	526	The crush'd head I dress, (poor crazed hand, tear not the bandage away;)
DTS	527	The neck of the cavalry-man, with the bullet through and through, I examine;
DTS	528	Hard the breathing rattles, quite glazed already the eye,yet life struggles hard;
DTS	529	(Come, sweet death! be persuaded, O beautiful death!
DTS	530	In mercy come quickly.)
DTS	531	From the stump of the arm, the amputated hand,
DTS	532	I undo the clotted lint, remove the slough, wash off the matter and blood;
DTS	533	Back on his pillow the soldier bends, with curv'd neck,and side-falling head;
DTS	534	His eyes are closed, his face is pale, he dares not look on the bloody stump,
DTS	535	And has not yet looked on it.
DTS	536	I dress a wound in the side, deep, deep;
DTS	537	But a day or two more—for see, the frame all wasted and sinking,
DTS	538	And the yellow-blue countenance see.
DTS	539	I dress the perforated shoulder, the foot with the bul-letbullet wound,
DTS	540	Cleanse the one with a gnawing and putrid gangrene, so sickening, so offensive,
DTS	541	While the attendant stands behind aside me, holding the tray and pail.
DTS	542	I am faithful, I do not give out;
DTS	543	The fractur'd thigh, the knee, the wound in the abdo-menabdomen,
DTS	544	These and more I dress with impassive hand—(yet deep in my breast a fire, a burning flame.)
DTS	545	Thus in silence, in dream's projections,
DTS	546	Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hos-pitalshospitals;
DTS	547	The hurt and the wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
DTS	548	I sit by the restless all the dark night—some are so young;
DTS	549	Some suffer so much—I recall the experience sweet and sad;
DTS	550	(Many a soldier's loving arms about this neck have cross'd and rested,
DTS	551	Many a soldier's kiss dwells on these bearded lips.)
DTS	552	WHEN I heard the learn'd astronomer;
DTS	553	When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
DTS	554	When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add,divide, and measure them;
DTS	555	When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
DTS	556	How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
DTS	557	Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
DTS	558	In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
DTS	559	Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
DTS	560	RISE, O days, from your fathomless deeps, till you loftier and fiercer sweep!
DTS	561	Long for my soul, hungering gymnastic, I devour'd what the earth gave me;
DTS	562	Long I roam'd the woods of the north—long I watch'd Niagara pouring;
DTS	563	I travel'd the prairies over, and slept on their breast—I cross'd the Nevadas, I cross'd the plateaus;
DTS	564	I ascended the towering rocks along the Pacific, I sail'd out to sea;
DTS	565	I sail'd through the storm, I was refresh'd by the storm;
DTS	566	I watch'd with joy the threatening maws of the waves;
DTS	567	I mark'd the white combs where they career'd so high,curling over;
DTS	568	I heard the wind piping, I saw the black clouds;
DTS	569	Saw from below what arose and mounted, (O superb! O wild as my heart, and powerful!)
DTS	570	Heard the continuous thunder, as it bellow'd after the lightning;
DTS	571	Noted the slender and jagged threads of lightning, as sudden and fast amid the din they chased each other across the sky;
DTS	572	—These, and such as these, I, elate, saw—saw with wonder, yet pensive and masterful;
DTS	573	All the menacing might of the globe uprisen around me;
DTS	574	Yet there with my soul I fed—I fed content, super-cilioussupercilious.
DTS	575	'Twas well, O soul! 'twas a good preparation you gave me!
DTS	576	Now we advance our latent and ampler hunger to fill;
DTS	577	Now we go forth to receive what the earth and the sea never gave us;
DTS	578	Not through the mighty woods we go, but through the mightier cities;
DTS	579	Something for us is pouring now, more than Niagara pouring;
DTS	580	Torrents of men, (sources and rills of the Northwest, are you indeed inexhaustible?)
DTS	581	What, to pavements and homesteads here—what were those storms of the mountains and sea?
DTS	582	What, to passions I witness around me to-day? Was the sea risen?
DTS	583	Was the wind piping the pipe of death under the black clouds?
DTS	584	Lo! from deeps more unfathomable, something more deadly and savage;
DTS	585	Manhattan, rising, advancing with menacing front— Cincinnati, Chicago, unchain'd;
DTS	586	—What was that swell I saw on the ocean? behold what comes here!
DTS	587	How it climbs with daring feet and hands! how it dashes!
DTS	588	How the true thunder bellows after the lightning! how bright the flashes of lightning!
DTS	589	How DEMOCRACY, with desperate vengeful port strides on, shown through the dark by those flashes of lightning!
DTS	590	(Yet a mournful wail and low sob I fancied I heard through the dark,
DTS	591	In a lull of the deafening confusion.)
DTS	592	Thunder on! stride on Democracy! strike with vengeful stroke!
DTS	593	And do you rise higher than ever yet, O days, O cities!
DTS	594	Crash heavier, heavier yet, O storms! you have done me good;
DTS	595	My soul, prepared in the mountains, absorbs your im-mortalimmortal strong nutriment;
DTS	596	Long had I walk'd my cities, my country roads, through farms, only half satisfied;
DTS	597	One doubt, nauseous, undulating like a snake, crawl'd on the ground before me,
DTS	598	Continually preceding my steps, turning upon me oft,ironically hissing low;
DTS	599	—The cities I loved so well, I abandon'd and left—I sped to the certainties suitable to me;
DTS	600	Hungering, hungering, hungering, for primal energies,and Nature's dauntlessness,
DTS	601	I refresh'd myself with it only, I could relish it only;
DTS	602	I waited the bursting forth of the pent fire—on the water and air I waited long;
DTS	603	—But now I no longer wait—I am fully satisfied—I am glutted;
DTS	604	I have witness'd the true lighting—I have witness'd my cities electric;
DTS	605	I have lived to behold man burst forth, and warlike America rise;
DTS	606	Hence I will seek no more the food of the northern soli-tarysolitary wilds,
DTS	607	No more on the mountains roam, or sail the stormy sea.
DTS	608	SILENT and amazed, even when a little boy,
DTS	609	I remember I heard the preacher every Sunday put God in his statements,
DTS	610	As contending against some being or influence.
DTS	611	BEAT! beat! drums!—Blow! bugles! blow!
DTS	612	Through the windows—through doors—burst like a force of ruthless men,
DTS	613	Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation;
DTS	614	Into the school where the scholar is studying:
DTS	615	Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride;
DTS	616	Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, plowing his field or gathering his grain;
DTS	617	So fierce you whirr and pound, you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.
DTS	618	Beat! beat! drums!—Blow! bugles! blow!
DTS	619	Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets:
DTS	620	Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses?No sleepers must sleep in those beds;
DTS	621	No bargainers' bargains by day—no brokers or specu-latorsspeculators—Would they continue?
DTS	622	Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
DTS	623	Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?
DTS	624	Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow.
DTS	625	Beat! beat! drums!—Blow! bugles! blow!
DTS	626	Make no parley—stop for no expostulation;
DTS	627	Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer;
DTS	628	Mind not the old man beseeching the young man;
DTS	629	Let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's en-treatiesentreaties;
DTS	630	Make even the trestles to shake the dead, where they lie awaiting the hearses,
DTS	631	So strong you thump, O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.
DTS	632	Come up from the fields, father, here's a letter from our Pete;
DTS	633	And come to the front door, mother—here's a letter from thy dear son.
DTS	634	Lo, 'tis autumn;
DTS	635	Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,
DTS	636	Cool and sweeten Ohio's villages, with leaves fluttering in the moderate wind;
DTS	637	Where apples ripe in the orchards hang, and grapes on the trellis'd vines;
DTS	638	(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
DTS	639	Smell you the buckwheat, where the bees were lately buzzing?)
DTS	640	Above all, lo, the sky, so calm, so transparent after the rain, and with wondrous clouds;
DTS	641	Below, too, all calm, all vital and beautiful—and the farm prospers well.
DTS	642	Down in the fields all prospers well;
DTS	643	But now from the fields come, father—come at the daughter's call;
DTS	644	And come to the entry, mother—to the front door come,right away.
DTS	645	Fast as she can she hurries—something ominous— her steps trembling;
DTS	646	She does not tarry to smooth her white hair, nor adjust her cap.
DTS	647	Open the envelope quickly;
DTS	648	O this is not our son's writing, yet his name is sign'd;
DTS	649	O a strange hand writes for our dear son—O stricken mother's soul!
DTS	650	All swims before her eyes—flashes with black—she catches the main words only;
DTS	651	Sentences broken—gun-shot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,
DTS	652	At present low, but will soon be better.
DTS	653	Ah, now the single figure to me,
DTS	654	Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio, with all its cities and farms,
DTS	655	Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,
DTS	656	By the jamb of a door leans.
DTS	657	Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks through her sobs;
DTS	658	The little sisters huddle around, speechless and dis-may'ddismay'd;)
DTS	659	See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.
DTS	660	Alas, poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to be better, that brave and simple soul;)
DTS	661	While they stand at home at the door, he is dead already;
DTS	662	The only son is dead.
DTS	663	But the mother needs to be better;
DTS	664	She, with thin form, presently drest in black;
DTS	665	By day her meals untouch'd—then at night fitfully sleeping, often waking,
DTS	666	In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep longing,
DTS	667	O that she might withdraw unnoticed—silent from life,escape and withdraw,
DTS	668	To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.
DTS	669	CITY of ships!
DTS	670	(O the black ships! O the fierce ships!
DTS	671	O the beautiful, sharp bow'd steam-ships and sail-ships!)
DTS	672	City of the world! (for all races are here;
DTS	673	All the lands of the earth make contributions here;)
DTS	674	City of the sea! city of hurried and glittering tides!
DTS	675	City whose gleeful tides continually rush or recede,whirling in and out, with eddies and foam!
DTS	676	City of wharves and stores! city of tall façades of mar-blemarble and iron!
DTS	677	Proud and passionate city! mettlesome, mad, extrava-gantextravagant city!
DTS	678	Spring up, O city! not for peace alone, but be indeed yourself, warlike!
DTS	679	Fear not! submit to no models but your own, O city!
DTS	680	Behold me! incarnate me, as I have incarnated you!
DTS	681	I have rejected nothing you offer'd me—whom you adopted, I have adopted;
DTS	682	Good or bad, I never question you—I love all—I do not condemn anything;
DTS	683	I chant and celebrate all that is yours—yet peace no more;
DTS	684	In peace I chanted peace, but now the drum of war is mine;
DTS	685	War, red war, is my song through your streets, O city!
DTS	686	I SEE the sleeping babe, nestling the breast of its mother;
DTS	687	The sleeping mother and babe—hush'd, I study them long and long.
DTS	688	VIGIL strange I kept on the field one night,
DTS	689	When you, my son and my comrade, dropt at my side that day,
DTS	690	One look I but gave, which your dear eyes return'd,with a look I shall never forget;
DTS	691	One touch of your hand to mine, O boy, reach'd up as you lay on the ground;
DTS	692	Then onward I sped in the battle, the even-contested battle;
DTS	693	Till late in the night reliev'd, to the place at last again I made my way;
DTS	694	Found you in death so cold, dear comrade—found your body, son of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding;)
DTS	695	Bared your face in the starlight—curious the scene— cool blew the moderate night-wind;
DTS	696	Long there and then in vigil I stood, dimly around me the battle-field spreading;
DTS	697	Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet, there in the fragrant silent night;
DTS	698	But not a tear fell, not even a long-drawn sigh—Long,long I gazed;
DTS	699	Then on the earth partially reclining, sat by your side,leaning my chin in my hands;
DTS	700	Passing sweet hours, immortal and mystic hours with you, dearest comrade—Not a tear, not a word;
DTS	701	Vigil of silence, love and death—vigil for you, my son and my soldier,
DTS	702	As onward silently stars aloft, eastward new ones up-wardupward stole;
DTS	703	Vigil final for you, brave boy, (I could not save you,swift was your death,
DTS	704	I faithfully loved you and cared for you living—I think we shall surely meet again;)
DTS	705	Till at latest lingering of the night, indeed just as the dawn appear'd,
DTS	706	My comrade I wrapt in his blanket, envelop'd well his form,
DTS	707	Folded the blanket well, tucking it carefully over head,and carefully under feet;
DTS	708	And there and then, and bathed by the rising sun, myson in his grave, in his rude-dug grave I de-positeddeposited;
DTS	709	Ending my vigil strange with that—vigil of night and battle-field dim;
DTS	710	Vigil for boy of responding kisses, (never again on earth responding;)
DTS	711	Vigil for comrade swiftly slain—vigil I never forget,how as day brighten'd,
DTS	712	I rose from the chill ground, and folded my soldier well in his blanket,
DTS	713	And buried him where he fell.
DTS	714	BATHED in war's perfume—delicate flag!
DTS	715	O to hear you call the sailors and the soldiers! flag like a beautiful woman!
DTS	716	O to hear the tramp, tramp, of a million answering men!O the ships they arm with joy!
DTS	717	O to see you leap and beckon from the tall masts of ships!
DTS	718	O to see you peering down on the sailors on the decks!
DTS	719	Flag like the eyes of women.
DTS	720	A MARCH in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown;
DTS	721	A route through a heavy wood, with muffled steps in the darkness;
DTS	722	Our army foil'd with loss severe, and the sullen remnant retreating;
DTS	723	Till after midnight glimmer upon us, the lights of a dim-lighted building;
DTS	724	We come to an open space in the woods, and halt by the dim-lighted building;
DTS	725	'Tis a large old church, at the crossing roads—'tis now an impromptu hospital;
DTS	726	—Entering but for a minute, I see a sight beyond all the pictures and poems ever made:
DTS	727	Shadows of deepest, deepest black, just lit by moving candles and lamps,
DTS	728	And by one great pitchy torch, stationary, with wild red flame, and clouds of smoke;
DTS	729	By these, crowds, groups of forms, vaguely I see, on the floor, some in the pews laid down;
DTS	730	At my feet more distinctly, a soldier, a mere lad, indanger of bleeding to death, (he is shot in the ab-domenabdomen;)
DTS	731	I staunch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily;)
DTS	732	Then before I depart I sweep my eyes o'er the scene,fain to absorb it all;
DTS	733	Faces, varieties, postures beyond description, most in obscurity, some of them dead;
DTS	734	Surgeons operating, attendants holding lights, the smell of ether, the odor of blood;
DTS	735	The crowd, O the crowd of the bloody forms of soldiers —the yard outside also fill'd;
DTS	736	Some on the bare ground, some on planks or stretchers,some in the death-spasm sweating;
DTS	737	An occasional scream or cry, the doctor's shouted orders or calls;
DTS	738	The glisten of the little steel instruments catching the glint of the torches;
DTS	739	These I resume as I chant—I see again the forms, I smell the odor;
DTS	740	Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my men, Fall in;
DTS	741	But first I bend to the dying lad—his eyes open—a half-smile gives he me;
DTS	742	Then the eyes close, calmly close, and I speed forth to the darkness,
DTS	743	Resuming, marching, as ever in darkness marching, on in the ranks,
DTS	744	The unknown road still marching.
DTS	745	LONG, too long, O land,
DTS	746	Traveling roads all even and peaceful, you learn'd from joys and prosperity only;
DTS	747	But now, ah now, to learn from crises of anguish—ad-vancingadvancing, grappling with direst fate, and recoilingnot;
DTS	748	And now to conceive, and show to the world, what your children en-masse really are;
DTS	749	(For who except myself has yet conceived what your children en-masse really are?)
DTS	750	A SIGHT in camp in the day-break grey and dim,
DTS	751	As from my tent I emerge so early, sleepless,
DTS	752	As slow I walk in the cool fresh air, the path near by the hospital-tent,
DTS	753	Three forms I see on stretchers lying, brought out there,untended lying,
DTS	754	Over each the blanket spread, ample brownish woolen blanket,
DTS	755	Grey and heavy blanket, folding, covering all.
DTS	756	Curious, I halt, and silent stand;
DTS	757	Then with light fingers I from the face of the nearest,the first, just lift the blanket:
DTS	758	Who are you, elderly man so gaunt and grim, with well-grey'd hair, and flesh all sunken about the eyes?
DTS	759	Who are you, my dear comrade?
DTS	760	Then to the second I step—And who are you, my child and darling?
DTS	761	Who are you, sweet boy, with cheeks yet blooming?
DTS	762	Then to the third—a face nor child, nor old, very calm, as of beautiful yellow-white ivory:
DTS	763	Young man, I think I know you—I think this face of yours is the face of the Christ himself;
DTS	764	Dead and divine, and brother of all, and here again he lies.
DTS	765	THROUGH the ample open door of the peaceful country barn,
DTS	766	A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding.
DTS	767	GIVE me the splendid silent sun, with all his beams full-dazzlingfull-dazzling;
DTS	768	Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe and red from the orchard;
DTS	769	Give me a field where the unmow'd grass grows;
DTS	770	Give me an arbor, give me the trellis'd grape;
DTS	771	Give me fresh corn and wheat—give me serene-moving animals, teaching content;
DTS	772	Give me nights perfectly quiet, as on high plateaus west of the Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars;
DTS	773	Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers,where I can walk undisturb'd;
DTS	774	Give me for marriage a sweet-breath'd woman, of whom I should never tire;
DTS	775	Give me a perfect child—give me, away, aside from the noise of the world, a rural domestic life;
DTS	776	Give me to warble spontaneous songs, reliev'd, recluse by myself, for my own ears only;
DTS	777	Give me solitude—give me Nature—give me again,O Nature, your primal sanities!
DTS	778	—These, demanding to have them, (tired with ceaseless excitement, and rack'd by the war-strife;)
DTS	779	These to procure, incessantly asking, rising in cries from my heart,
DTS	780	While yet incessantly asking, still I adhere to my city;
DTS	781	Day upon day, and year upon year, O city, walking your streets,
DTS	782	Where you hold me enchain'd a certain time, refusing to give me up;
DTS	783	Yet giving to make me glutted, enrich'd of soul—you give me forever faces;
DTS	784	(O I see what I sought to escape, confronting, reversing my cries;
DTS	785	I see my own soul trampling down what it ask'd for.)
DTS	786	Keep your splendid silent sun;
DTS	787	Keep your woods, O Nature, and the quiet places by the woods;
DTS	788	Keep your fields of clover and timothy, and your corn-fieldscorn-fields and orchards;
DTS	789	Keep the blossoming buckwheat fields, where the Ninth-monthNinth-monthh bees hum;
DTS	790	Give me faces and streets! give me these phantoms in-cessantincessant and endless along the trottoirs!
DTS	791	Give me interminable eyes! give me women! give me comrades and lovers by the thousand!
DTS	792	Let me see new ones every day! let me hold new ones by the hand every day!
DTS	793	Give me such shows! give me the streets of Manhattan!
DTS	794	Give me Broadway, with the soldiers marching—give me the sound of the trumpets and drums!
DTS	795	(The soldiers in companies or regiments—some, starting away, flush'd and reckless;
DTS	796	Some, their time up, returning, with thinn'd ranks— young, yet very old, worn, marching, noticing nothing;)
DTS	797	—Give me the shores and the wharves heavy-fringed with the black ships!
DTS	798	O such for me! O an intense life! O full to repletion,and varied!
DTS	799	The life of the theatre, bar-room, huge hotel, for me!
DTS	800	The saloon of the steamer! the crowded excursion for me! the torch-light procession!
DTS	801	The dense brigade, bound for the war, with high piled military wagons following;
DTS	802	People, endless, streaming, with strong voices, passions,pageants;
DTS	803	Manhattan streets, with their powerful throbs, with the beating drums, as now;
DTS	804	The endless and noisy chorus, the rustle and clank of muskets, (even the sight of the wounded;)
DTS	805	Manhattan crowds with their turbulent musical chorus —with varied chorus and light of the sparkling eyes;
DTS	806	Manhattan faces and eyes forever for me.
DTS	807	OVER the carnage rose prophetic a voice,
DTS	808	Be not dishearten'd—Affection shall solve the problems of Freedom yet;
DTS	809	Those who love each other shall become invincible— they shall yet make Columbia victorious.
DTS	810	Sons of the Mother of All! you shall yet be victo-rious!victorious
DTS	811	You shall yet laugh to scorn the attacks of all the re-mainderremainder of the earth.
DTS	812	No danger shall balk Columbia's lovers;
DTS	813	If need be, a thousand shall sternly immolate themselves for one.
DTS	814	One from Massachusetts shall be a Missourian's com-radecomrade;
DTS	815	From Maine and from hot Carolina, and another an Ore-goneseOregonese, shall be friends triune,
DTS	816	More precious to each other than all the riches of the earth.
DTS	817	To Michigan, Florida perfumes shall tenderly come;
DTS	818	Not the perfumes of flowers, but sweeter, and wafted beyond death.
DTS	819	It shall be customary in the houses and streets to see manly affection;
DTS	820	The most dauntless and rude shall touch face to face lightly;
DTS	821	The dependence of Liberty shall be lovers,
DTS	822	The continuance of Equality shall be comrades.
DTS	823	These shall tie you and band you stronger than hoops of iron;
DTS	824	I, extatic, O partners! O lands! with the love of lovers tie you.
DTS	825	Were you looking to be held together by the lawyers?
DTS	826	Or by an agreement on a paper? or by arms?
DTS	827	—Nay—nor the world, nor any living thing, will so cohere.
DTS	828	DID YOU ask dulcet rhymes from me?
DTS	829	Did you find what I sang erewhile so hard to follow,to understand?
DTS	830	Why I was not singing erewhile for you to follow, to understand—nor am I now;
DTS	831	—What to such as you, anyhow, such a poet as I?—therefore leave my works,
DTS	832	And go lull yourself with what you can understand;
DTS	833	For I lull nobody—and you will never understand me.
DTS	834	YEAR of meteors! brooding year!
DTS	835	I would bind in words retrospective, some of your deeds and signs;
DTS	836	I would sing your contest for the 19th Presidentiad;
DTS	837	I would sing how an old man, tall, with white hair,mounted the scaffold in Virginia;
DTS	838	(I was at hand—silent I stood, with teeth shut close—I watch'd;
DTS	839	I stood very near you, old man, when cool and indiffer-entindifferent, but trembling with age and your unheal'd wounds, you mounted the scaffold;)
DTS	840	I would sing in my copious song your census returns of The States,
DTS	841	The tables of population and products—I would sing of your ships and their cargoes,
DTS	842	The proud black ships of Manhattan, arriving, some fill'd with immigrants, some from the isthmus with cargoes of gold;
DTS	843	Songs thereof would I sing—to all that hitherward comes would I welcome give;
DTS	844	And you would I sing, fair stripling! welcome to you from me, sweet boy of England!
DTS	845	Remember you surging Manhattan's crowds, as you passed with your cortege of nobles?
DTS	846	There in the crowds stood I, and singled you out with attachment;
DTS	847	I know not why, but I loved you…(and so go forth little song,
DTS	848	Far over sea speed like an arrow, carrying my love all folded,
DTS	849	And find in his palace the youth I love, and drop these lines at his feet;)
DTS	850	—Nor forget I to sing of the wonder, the ship as she swam up my bay,
DTS	851	Well-shaped and stately the Great Eastern swam up my bay, she was 600 feet long,
DTS	852	Her moving swiftly, surrounded by myriads of small craft, I forget not to sing;
DTS	853	Nor the comet that came unannounced, out of the north,flaring in heaven,
DTS	854	Nor the strange huge meteor procession, dazzling and clear, shooting over our heads,
DTS	855	(A moment, a moment long, it sail'd its balls of unearth-lyunearthly light over our heads,
DTS	856	Then departed, dropt in the night, and was gone;)
DTS	857	—Of such, and fitful as they, I sing—with gleams from them would I gleam and patch these chants;
DTS	858	Your chants, O year all mottled with evil and good!year of forebodings! year of the youth I love!
DTS	859	Year of comets and meteors transient and strange!—lo!even here, one equally transient and strange!
DTS	860	As I flit through you hastily, soon to fall and be gone,what is this book,
DTS	861	What am I myself but one of your meteors?
DTS	862	On my northwest coast in the midst of the night, a fishermen's group stands watching;
DTS	863	Out on the lake, expanding before them, others are spearing salmon;
DTS	864	The canoe, a dim and shadowy thing, moves across the black water,
DTS	865	Bearing a Torch a-blaze at the prow.
DTS	866	YEARS of the unperform'd! your horizon rises—I see it parting away for more august dramas;
DTS	867	I see not America only—I see not only Liberty's nation,but other nations preparing;
DTS	868	I see tremendous entrances and exits—I see new com-binationscombinations —I see the solidarity of races;
DTS	869	I see that force advancing with irresistible power on the world's stage;
DTS	870	(Have the old forces played their parts? are the acts suitable to them closed?)
DTS	871	I see Freedom, completely arm'd, and victorious, and very haughty, with Law by her side, both issuing forth against the idea of caste;
DTS	872	—What historic denouements are these we so rapidly approach?
DTS	873	I see men marching and countermarching by swift mil-lionsmillions;
DTS	874	I see the frontiers and boundaries of the old aristocracies broken;
DTS	875	I see the landmarks of European kings removed;
DTS	876	I see this day the People beginning their landmarks, (all others give way;)
DTS	877	Never were such sharp questions ask'd as this day;
DTS	878	Never was average man, his soul, more energetic, more like a God;
DTS	879	Lo, how he urges and urges, leaving the masses no rest;
DTS	880	His daring foot is on land and sea everywhere—he col-onizescolonizes the Pacific, the archipelagoes;
DTS	881	With the steam-ship, the electric telegraph, the news-papernewspaper, the wholesale engines of war,
DTS	882	With these, and the world-spreading factories, he inter-linksinterlinks all geography, all lands;
DTS	883	—What whispers are these, O lands, running ahead of you, passing under the seas?
DTS	884	Are all nations communing? is there going to be but one heart to the globe?
DTS	885	Is humanity forming, en-masse?—for lo! tyrants trem-bletremble, crowns grow dim;
DTS	886	The earth, restive, confronts a new era, perhaps a gen-eralgeneral divine war;
DTS	887	No one knows what will happen next—such portents fill the days and nights;
DTS	888	Years prophetical! the space ahead as I walk, as I vain-lyvainly try to pierce it, is full of phantoms;
DTS	889	Unborn deeds, things soon to be, project their shapes around me;
DTS	890	This incredible rush and heat—this strange extactic fever of dreams, O years!
DTS	891	Your dreams, O years, how they penetrate through me!(I know not whether I sleep or wake!)
DTS	892	The perform'd America and Europe grow dim, retiring in shadow behind me,
DTS	893	The unperform'd, more gigantic than ever, advance, ad-vanceadvance upon me.
DTS	894	YEAR that trembled and reel'd beneath me!
DTS	895	Your summer wind was warm enough—yet the air I breathed froze me;
DTS	896	A thick gloom fell through the sunshine and darken'd me;
DTS	897	Must I change my triumphant songs? said I to myself;
DTS	898	Must I indeed learn to chant the cold dirges of the baf-fledbaffled ?
DTS	899	And sullen hymns of defeat?
DTS	900	WHILE my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long,
DTS	901	And my head on the pillow rests at home, and the mys-ticmystic midnight passes,
DTS	902	And through the stillness, through the dark, I hear, just hear, the breath of my infant,
DTS	903	There in the room, as I wake from sleep, this vision presses upon me:
DTS	904	The engagement opens there and then, in my busy brain unreal;
DTS	905	The skirmishers begin—they crawl cautiously ahead— I hear the irregular snap! snap!
DTS	906	I hear the sounds of the different missiles—the short t-h-t! t-h-t! of the rifle balls;
DTS	907	I see the shells exploding, leaving small white clouds— I hear the great shells shrieking as they pass;
DTS	908	The grape, like the hum and whirr of wind through the trees, (quick, tumultuous, now the contest rages!)
DTS	909	All the scenes at the batteries themselves rise in detail before me again;
DTS	910	The crashing and smoking—the pride of the men in their pieces;
DTS	911	The chief gunner ranges and sights his piece, and selects a fuse of the right time;
DTS	912	After firing, I see him lean aside, and look eagerly off to note the effect;
DTS	913	—Elsewhere I hear the cry of a regiment charging— (the young colonel leads himself this time, with brandish'd sword;)
DTS	914	I see the gaps cut by the enemy's volleys, (quickly fill'd up—no delay;)
DTS	915	I breathe the suffocating smoke—then the flat clouds hover low, concealing all;
DTS	916	Now a strange lull comes for a few seconds, not a shot fired on either side;
DTS	917	Then resumed, the chaos louder than ever, with eager calls, and orders of officers;
DTS	918	While from some distant part of the field the wind wafts to my ears a shout of applause, (some special success;)
DTS	919	And ever the sound of the cannon, far or near, (rousing,even in dreams, a devilish exultation, and all the old mad joy, in the depths of my soul;)
DTS	920	And ever the hastening of infantry shifting positions— batteries, cavalry, moving hither and thither;
DTS	921	(The falling, dying, I heed not—the wounded, drippingand red, I heed not—some to the rear are hob-blinghobbling;)
DTS	922	Grime, heat, rush—aid-de-camps galloping by, or on a full run;
DTS	923	With the patter of small arms, the warning s-s-t of the rifles, (these in my vision I hear or see,)
DTS	924	And bombs bursting in air, and at night the vari-color'd rockets.
DTS	925	O TAN-FACED prairie-boy!
DTS	926	Before you came to camp, came many a welcome gift;
DTS	927	Praises and presents came, and nourishing food—till at last among the recruits,
DTS	928	You came, taciturn, with nothing to give—we but look'd on each other,
DTS	929	When lo! more than all the gifts of the world, you gave me.
DTS	930	NOT alone our camps of white, O soldiers,
DTS	931	When, as order'd forward, after a long march,
DTS	932	Footsore and weary, soon as the light lessens, we halt for the night;
DTS	933	Some of us so fatigued, carrying the gun and knapsack,dropping asleep in our tracks;
DTS	934	Others pitching the little tents, and the fires lit up begin to sparkle;
DTS	935	Outposts of pickets posted, surrounding, alert through the dark,
DTS	936	And a word provided for countersign, careful for safety;
DTS	937	Till to the call of the drummers at daybreak loudly beating the drums,
DTS	938	We rise up refresh'd, the night and sleep pass'd over,and resume our journey,
DTS	939	Or proceed to battle.
DTS	940	Lo! the camps of the tents of green,
DTS	941	Which the days of peace keep filling, and the days of war keep filling,
DTS	942	With a mystic army, (is it too order'd forward? is it too only halting awhile,
DTS	943	Till night and sleep pass over?)
DTS	944	Now in those camps of green—in their tents dotting the world;
DTS	945	In the parents, children, husbands, wives, in them— in the old and young,
DTS	946	Sleeping under the sunlight, sleeping under the moon-lightmoonlight, content and silent there at last,
DTS	947	Behold the mighty bivouac-field, and waiting-camp of us and ours and all,
DTS	948	Of our corps and generals all, and the President over thecorps and generals all
DTS	949	And each of us, O soldiers, and of each and all in the ranks we fight,
DTS	950	(There without hatred we shall all meet.)
DTS	951	For presently, O soldiers, we too camp in our place in the bivouac-camps of green;
DTS	952	But we need not provide for outposts, nor word for the countersign,
DTS	953	Nor drummer to beat the morning drum.
DTS	954	AS TOILSOME I wander'd Virginia's woods,
DTS	955	To the music of rustling leaves, kick'd by my feet, (for 'twas autumn,)
DTS	956	I mark'd at the foot of a tree the grave of a soldier;
DTS	957	Mortally wounded he, and buried on the retreat, (easily all could I understand;)
DTS	958	The halt of a mid-day hour, when up! no time to lose —yet this sign left,
DTS	959	On a tablet scrawl'd and nail'd on the tree by the grave,
DTS	960	Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade.
DTS	961	Long, long I muse, then on my way go wandering;
DTS	962	Many a changeful season to follow, and many a scene of life;
DTS	963	Yet at times through changeful season and scene, abrupt,alone, or in the crowded street,
DTS	964	Comes before me the unknown soldier's grave—comes the inscription rude in Virginia's woods,
DTS	965	Bold, cautious, true, and my loving comrade.
DTS	966	ONE breath, O my silent soul,
DTS	967	A perfum'd thought—no more I ask, for the sake of all dead soldiers.
DTS	968	Buglers off in my armies!
DTS	969	At present I ask not you to sound;
DTS	970	Not at the head of my cavalry, all on their spirited horses,
DTS	971	With their sabres drawn and glist'ning, and carbinesclanking by their thighs—(ah, my brave horse-menhorsemen !
DTS	972	My handsome, tan-faced horsemen! what life, what joy and pride,
DTS	973	With all the perils, were yours!)
DTS	974	Nor you drummers—neither at reveille, at dawn,
DTS	975	Nor the long roll alarming the camp—nor even the muffled beat for a burial;
DTS	976	Nothing from you, this time, O drummers, bearing my warlike drums.
DTS	977	But aside from these, and the crowd's hurrahs, and the land's congratulations,
DTS	978	Admitting around me comrades close, unseen by the the rest, and voiceless,
DTS	979	I chant this chant of my silent soul, in the name of all dead soldiers.
DTS	980	Faces so pale, with wondrous eyes, very dear, gather closer yet;
DTS	981	Draw close, but speak not.
DTS	982	Phantoms, welcome, divine and tender!
DTS	983	Invisible to the rest, henceforth become my compan-ionscompanions;
DTS	984	Follow me ever! desert me not, while I live.
DTS	985	Sweet are the blooming cheeks of the living! sweet are the musical voices sounding!
DTS	986	But sweet, ah sweet, are the dead, with their silent eyes.
DTS	987	Dearest comrades! all now is over;
DTS	988	But love is not over—and what love, O comrades!
DTS	989	Perfume from battle-fields rising—up from fœtor arising.
DTS	990	Perfume therefore my chant, O love! immortal Love!
DTS	991	Give me to bathe the memories of all dead soldiers.
DTS	992	Perfume all! make all wholesome!
DTS	993	O love! O chant! solve all with the last chemistry.
DTS	994	Give me exhaustless—make me a fountain,
DTS	995	That I exhale love from me wherever I go,
DTS	996	For the sake of all dead soldiers.
DTS	997	Lo! THE unbounded sea!
DTS	998	On its breast a Ship, spreading all her sails—an ample Ship, carrying even her moonsails;
DTS	999	The pennant is flying aloft, as she speeds, she speeds so stately—below, emulous waves press forward,
DTS	1000	They surround the Ship, with shining curving motions,and foam.
DTS	1001	OVER sea, hither from Niphon,
DTS	1002	Courteous, the Princes of Asia, swart-cheek'd princes,
DTS	1003	First-comers, guests, two-sworded princes,
DTS	1004	Lesson-giving princes, leaning back in their open ba-rouchesbarouches, bare-headed, impassive,
DTS	1005	This day they ride through Manhattan.
DTS	1006	Libertad!
DTS	1007	I do not know whether others behold what I behold,
DTS	1008	In the procession, along with the Princes of Asia, the errand-bearers,
DTS	1009	Bringing up the rear, hovering above, around, or in the ranks marching;
DTS	1010	But I will sing you a song of what I behold, Libertad.
DTS	1011	When million-footed Manhattan, unpent, descends to its pavements;
DTS	1012	When the thunder-cracking guns arouse me with the proud roar I love;
DTS	1013	When the round-mouth'd guns, out of the smoke and smell I love, spit their salutes;
DTS	1014	When the fire-flashing guns have fully alerted me— when heaven-clouds canopy my city with a delicate thin haze;
DTS	1015	When, gorgeous, the countless straight stems, the for-estsforests at the wharves, thicken with colors;
DTS	1016	When every ship, richly drest, carries her flag at the peak;
DTS	1017	When pennants trail, and street-festoons hang from the windows;
DTS	1018	When Broadway is entirely given up to foot-passengers and foot-standers—when the mass is densest;
DTS	1019	When the facades of the houses are alive with people— when eyes gaze, riveted, tens of thousands at a time;
DTS	1020	When the guests from the islands advance—when the pageant moves forward, visible;
DTS	1021	When the summons is made—when the answer that waited thousands of years, answers;
DTS	1022	I too, arising, answering, descend to the pavements,merge with the crowd, and gaze with them.
DTS	1023	Superb-faced Manhattan!
DTS	1024	Comrade Americanos!—to us, then, at last, the Orient comes.
DTS	1025	To us, my city,
DTS	1026	Where our tall-topt marble and iron beauties range on opposite sides—to walk in the space between,
DTS	1027	To-day our Antipodes comes.
DTS	1028	The Originatress comes,
DTS	1029	The land of Paradise—land of the Caucasus—the nest of birth,
DTS	1030	The nest of languages, the bequeather of poems, the race of eld,
DTS	1031	Florid with blood, pensive, rapt with musings, hot with passion,
DTS	1032	Sultry with perfume, with ample and flowing garments,
DTS	1033	With sunburnt visage, with intense soul and glittering eyes.
DTS	1034	The race of Brahma comes!
DTS	1035	See, my cantabile! these, and more, are flashing to us from the procession;
DTS	1036	As it moves, changing, a kaleidoscope divine it moves,changing, before us.
DTS	1037	Not the errand-bearing princes, nor the tann'd Japa-neeJapanee only;
DTS	1038	Lithe and silent, the Hindoo appears—the whole Asiatic continent itself appears—the Past, the dead,
DTS	1039	The murky night-morning of wonder and fable, inscruta-bleinscrutable,
DTS	1040	The envelop'd mysteries, the old and unknown hive-beeshive-bees,
DTS	1041	The North—the sweltering South—Assyria—the Hebrews—the Ancient of ancients,
DTS	1042	Vast desolated cities—the gliding Present—all of these, and more, are in the pageant-procession.
DTS	1043	Geography, the world, is in it;
DTS	1044	The Great Sea, the brood of islands, Polynesia, the coast beyond;
DTS	1045	The coast you, henceforth, are facing—you Libertad!from your Western golden shores;
DTS	1046	The countries there, with their populations—the mil-lionsmillions en-masse, are curiously here;
DTS	1047	The swarming market places—the temples, with idols ranged along the sides, or at the end—bonze,brahmin, and lama;
DTS	1048	The mandarin, farmer, merchant, mechanic, and fisher-manfisherman;
DTS	1049	The singing-girl and the dancing-girl—the ecstatic person—the divine Buddha;
DTS	1050	The secluded Emperors—Confucius himself—the great poets and heroes—the warriors, the castes,all,
DTS	1051	Trooping up, crowding from all directions—from the Altay mountains,
DTS	1052	From Thibet—from the four winding and far-flowing rivers of China,
DTS	1053	From the Southern peninsulas, and the demi-continental islands—from Malaysia;
DTS	1054	These, and whatever belongs to them, palpable, show forth to me, and are seiz'd by me,
DTS	1055	And I am seiz'd by them, and friendlily held by them,
DTS	1056	Till, as here, them all I chant, Libertad! for themselves and for you.
DTS	1057	For I too, raising my voice, join the ranks of this pageant;
DTS	1058	I am the chanter—I chant aloud over the pageant;
DTS	1059	I chant the world on my Western Sea;
DTS	1060	I chant, copious, the islands beyond, thick as stars in the sky;
DTS	1061	I chant the new empire, grander than any before—As in a vision it comes to me;
DTS	1062	I chant America, the Mistress—I chant a greater su-premacysupremacy;
DTS	1063	I chant, projected, a thousand blooming cities yet, in time, on those groups of sea-islands;
DTS	1064	I chant my sail-ships and steam-ships threading the ar-chipelagoesarchipelagoes;
DTS	1065	I chant my stars and stripes fluttering in the wind;
DTS	1066	I chant commerce opening, the sleep of ages having done its work—races, reborn, refresh'd;
DTS	1067	Lives, works, resumed—The object I know not—but the old, the Asiatic, resumed, as it must be,
DTS	1068	Commencing from this day, surrounded by the world.
DTS	1069	And you, Libertad of the world!
DTS	1070	You shall sit in the middle, well-pois'd, thousands of years;
DTS	1071	As to-day, from one side, the Princes of Asia come to you;
DTS	1072	As to-morrow, from the other side, the Queen of Eng-landEngland sends her eldest son to you.
DTS	1073	The sign is reversing, the orb is enclosed,
DTS	1074	The ring is circled, the journey is done;
DTS	1075	The box-lid is but perceptibly open'd—nevertheless the perfume pours copiously out of the whole box.
DTS	1076	Young Libertad!
DTS	1077	With the venerable Asia, the all-mother,
DTS	1078	Be considerate with her, now and ever, hot Libertad— for you are all;
DTS	1079	Bend your proud neck to the long-off mother, now sending messages over the archipelagoes to you;
DTS	1080	Bend your proud neck low for once, young Libertad.
DTS	1081	Were the children straying westward so long? so wide the tramping?
DTS	1082	Were the precedent dim ages debouching westward from Paradise so long?
DTS	1083	Were the centuries steadily footing it that way, all the while unknown, for you, for reasons?
DTS	1084	They are justified—they are accomplish'd—they shallnow be turn'd the other way also, to travel to-wardtoward you thence;
DTS	1085	They shall now also march obediently eastward, for your sake, Libertad.
DTS	1086	FLAG of stars! thick-sprinkled bunting!
DTS	1087	Long yet your road, fateful flag!—long yet your road,and lined with bloody death!
DTS	1088	For the prize I see at issue, at last is the world!
DTS	1089	All its ships and shores I see, interwoven with your threads, greedy banner!
DTS	1090	—Dream'd again the flags of kings, highest borne, to flaunt unrivall'd?
DTS	1091	O hasten, flag of man! O with sure and steady step,passing highest flags of kings,
DTS	1092	Walk supreme to the heavens, mighty symbol—run up above them all,
DTS	1093	Flag of stars! thick sprinkled bunting!
DTS	1094	FAR hence, amid an isle of wondrous beauty,
DTS	1095	Crouching over a grave, an ancient sorrowful mother,
DTS	1096	Once a queen—now lean and tatter'd, seated on the ground,
DTS	1097	Her old white hair drooping dishevel'd round her shoul-dersshoulders;
DTS	1098	At her feet fallen an unused royal harp,
DTS	1099	Long silent—she too long silent—mourning her shroud-edshrouded hope and heir;
DTS	1100	Of all the earth her heart most full of sorrow, because most full of love.
DTS	1101	Yet a word, ancient mother;
DTS	1102	You need crouch there no longer on the cold ground,with forehead between your knees;
DTS	1103	O you need not sit there, veil'd in your old white hair, so dishevel'd;
DTS	1104	For know you, the one you mourn is not in that grave;
DTS	1105	It was an illusion—the heir, the son you love, was not really dead;
DTS	1106	The Lord is not dead—he is risen again, young and strong, in another country;
DTS	1107	Even while you wept there by your fallen harp, by the grave,
DTS	1108	What you wept for, was translated, pass'd from the grave,
DTS	1109	The winds favor'd, and the sea sail'd it,
DTS	1110	And now with rosy and new blood,
DTS	1111	Moves to-day in a new country.
DTS	1112	LOOK down, fair moon, and bathe this scene;
DTS	1113	Pour softly down night's nimbus floods, on faces ghast-lyghastly, swollen, purple;
DTS	1114	On the dead, on their backs, with their arms toss'd wide,
DTS	1115	Pour down your unstinted nimbus, sacred moon.
DTS	1116	OUT of the rolling ocean, the crowd, came a drop gently to me,
DTS	1117	Whispering, I love you, before long I die,
DTS	1118	I have travel'd a long way, merely to look on you, to touch you,
DTS	1119	For I could not die till I once look'd on you,
DTS	1120	For I fear'd I might afterward lose you.
DTS	1121	(Now we have met, we have look'd, we are safe;
DTS	1122	Return in peace to the ocean my love;
DTS	1123	I too am part of that ocean, my love—we are not so much separated;
DTS	1124	Behold the great rondure—the cohesion of all, how per-fectperfect!
DTS	1125	But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separ-ateseparate us,
DTS	1126	As for an hour carrying us diverse—yet cannot carry us diverse for ever;
DTS	1127	Be not impatient—a little space—know you, I salute the air, the ocean and the land,
DTS	1128	Every day, at sundown, for your dear sake, my love.)
DTS	1129	WORLD, take good notice, silver stars fading,
DTS	1130	Milky hue ript, weft of white detaching,
DTS	1131	Coals thirty-six, baleful and burning,
DTS	1132	Scarlet, significant, hands off warning,
DTS	1133	Now and henceforth flaunt from these shores.
DTS	1134	I saw old General at bay;
DTS	1135	(Old as he was, his grey eyes yet shone out in battle like stars;)
DTS	1136	His small force was now completely hemmed in, in his works;
DTS	1137	He call'd for volunteers to run the enemy's lines—a desperate emergency;
DTS	1138	I saw a hundred and more step forth from the ranks— but two or three were selected;
DTS	1139	I saw them receive their orders aside—they listen'd with care—the adjutant was very grave;
DTS	1140	I saw them depart with cheerfulness, freely risking their lives.
DTS	1141	OTHERS may praise what they like;
DTS	1142	But I, from the banks of the running Missouri, praise nothing, in art, or aught else,
DTS	1143	Till it has breathed well the atmosphere of this river— also the western prairie-scent,
DTS	1144	And fully exudes it again.
DTS	1145	SOLID, ironical, rolling orb!
DTS	1146	Master of all, and matter of fact!—at last I accept your terms;
DTS	1147	Bringing to practical, vulgar tests, of all my ideal dreams,
DTS	1148	And of me, as lover and hero.
DTS	1149	HUSH'D be the camps to-day;
DTS	1150	And, soldiers, let us drape our war-worn weapons;
DTS	1151	And each, with musing soul retire, to celebrate,
DTS	1152	Our dear commander's death.
DTS	1153	No more for him life's stormy conflicts;
DTS	1154	Nor victory, nor defeat—No more time's dark events,
DTS	1155	Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky.
DTS	1156	But sing, poet, in our name;
DTS	1157	Sing of the love we bore him—because you, dweller in camps, know it truly.
DTS	1158	Sing, to the lower'd coffin there;
DTS	1159	Sing, with the shovel'd clods that fill the grave—a verse,
DTS	1160	For the heavy hearts of soldiers.
DTS	1161	WEAVE in! weave in, my hardy life!
DTS	1162	Weave, weave a soldier strong and full, for great cam-paignscampaigns to come;
DTS	1163	Weave in red blood! weave sinews in, like ropes! the senses, sight weave in!
DTS	1164	Weave lasting sure! weave day and night the weft, the warp! incessant weave! tire not!
DTS	1165	(We know not what the use, O life! nor know the aim,the end—nor really aught we know;
DTS	1166	But know the work, the need goes on, and shall go on—the death-envelop'd march of peace as well as war, goes on;)
DTS	1167	For great campaigns of peace the same, the wiry threads to weave;
DTS	1168	We know not why or what, yet weave, forever weave.
DTS	1169	TURN, O Libertad, no more doubting;
DTS	1170	Turn from lands retrospective, recording proofs of the past;
DTS	1171	From the singers that sing the trailing glories of the past;
DTS	1172	From the chants of the feudal world—the triumphs of kings, slavery, caste;
DTS	1173	Turn to the world, the triumphs reserv'd and to come— give up that backward world;
DTS	1174	Leave to the singers of hitherto—give them the trailing past:
DTS	1175	But what remains, remains for singers for you—wars to come are for you;
DTS	1176	(Lo! how the wars of the past have duly inured to you —and the wars of the present shall also inure:)
DTS	1177	—Then turn, and be not alarm'd, O Libertad—turn your undying face,
DTS	1178	To where the future, greater than all the past,
DTS	1179	Is swiftly, surely preparing for you.
DTS	1180	I SEE before me now, a traveling army halting;
DTS	1181	Below, a fertile valley spread, with barns, and the orch-ardsorchards of summer;
DTS	1182	Behind, the terraced sides of a mountain, abrupt in places, rising high;
DTS	1183	Broken, with rocks, with clinging cedars, with tall shapes, dingily seen;
DTS	1184	The numerous camp-fires scatter'd near and far, some away up on the mountain;
DTS	1185	The shadowy forms of men and horses, looming, large-sizedlarge-sized, flickering;
DTS	1186	And over all, the sky—the sky! far, far out of reach,studded with the eternal stars.
DTS	1187	PENSIVE, on her dead gazing, I heard the Mother of All,
DTS	1188	Desperate, on the torn bodies, on the forms covering the battle-fields gazing;
DTS	1189	As she call'd to her earth with mournful voice while she stalk'd:
DTS	1190	Absorb them well, O my earth, she cried—I charge you,lose not my sons! lose not an atom;
DTS	1191	And you streams, absorb them well, taking their dear blood;
DTS	1192	And you local spots, and you airs that swim above lightly,
DTS	1193	And all you essences of soil and growth—and you, O my rivers' depths;
DTS	1194	And you mountain sides—and the woods where my dear children's blood, trickling, redden'd;
DTS	1195	And you trees, down in your roots, to bequeath to all future trees,
DTS	1196	My dead absorb—my young men's beautiful bodies ab-sorbabsorb —and their precious, precious, preciousblood;
DTS	1197	Which holding in trust for me, faithfully back again give me, many a year hence,
DTS	1198	In unseen essence and odor of surface and grass, centu-riescenturies hence;
DTS	1199	In blowing airs from the fields, back again give me my darlings—give my immortal heroes;
DTS	1200	Exhale me them centuries hence—breathe me their breath—let not an atom be lost;
DTS	1201	O years and graves! O air and soil! O my dead, an aroma sweet!
DTS	1202	Exhale them perennial, sweet death, years, centuries hence.
DTS	1203	NOT youth pertains to me,
DTS	1204	Nor delicatesse—I cannot beguile the time with talk;
DTS	1205	Awkward in the parlor, neither a dancer nor elegant;
DTS	1206	In the learn'd coterie sitting constrain'd and still—for learning inures not to me;
DTS	1207	Beauty, knowledge, fortune, inure not to me—yet there are two things inure to me;
DTS	1208	I have nourish'd the wounded, and sooth'd many a dying soldier;
DTS	1209	And at intervals I have strung together a few songs,
DTS	1210	Fit for war, and the life of the camp.