You Felons on Trial in Courts. by Walt Whitman
YOU felons on trial in courts; You convicts in prison-cells—you sentenced assassins, chain’d and hand-cuff’d with iron; Who am I, too, that I am not on trial, or in prison? Me, ruthless and devilish as any, that my wrists are not chain’d with iron, or my ankles with iron? You prostitutes flaunting over the trottoirs, […]
Yet, Yet, Ye Downcast Hours. by Walt Whitman
1 YET, yet, ye downcast hours, I know ye also; Weights of lead, how ye clog and cling at my ankles! Earth to a chamber of mourning turns—I hear the o’erweening, mocking voice, Matter is conqueror—matter, triumphant only, continues onward. 2 Despairing cries float ceaselessly toward me, The call of my nearest lover, putting forth, […]
Years of the Modern. by Walt Whitman
YEARS of the modern! years of the unperform’d! Your horizon rises—I see it parting away for more august dramas; I see not America only—I see not only Liberty’s nation, but other nations preparing; I see tremendous entrances and exits—I see new combinations—I see the solidarity of races; I see that force advancing with irresistible power […]
Year that Trembled. by Walt Whitman
YEAR that trembled and reel’d beneath me! Your summer wind was warm enough—yet the air I breathed froze me; A thick gloom fell through the sunshine and darken’d me; Must I change my triumphant songs? said I to myself; Must I indeed learn to chant the cold dirges of the baffled? And sullen hymns of […]
Year of Meteors, 1859 ’60. by Walt Whitman
YEAR of meteors! brooding year! I would bind in words retrospective, some of your deeds and signs; I would sing your contest for the 19th Presidentiad; I would sing how an old man, tall, with white hair, mounted the scaffold in Virginia; (I was at hand—silent I stood, with teeth shut close—I watch’d; I stood […]
World, Take Good Notice. by Walt Whitman
WORLD, take good notice, silver stars fading, Milky hue ript, weft of white detaching, Coals thirty-eight, baleful and burning, Scarlet, significant, hands off warning, Now and henceforth flaunt from these shores. 5 ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate […]
World Below the Brine, The. by Walt Whitman
THE world below the brine; Forests at the bottom of the sea—the branches and leaves, Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds—the thick tangle, the openings, and the pink turf, Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold—the play of light through the water, Dumb swimmers there among the rocks—coral, gluten, grass, rushes—and […]
With Antecedents. by Walt Whitman
1 WITH antecedents; With my fathers and mothers, and the accumulations of past ages; With all which, had it not been, I would not now be here, as I am: With Egypt, India, Phenicia, Greece and Rome; With the Kelt, the Scandinavian, the Alb, and the Saxon; With antique maritime ventures,—with laws, artizanship, wars and […]
With All Thy Gifts. by Walt Whitman
WITH all thy gifts, America, (Standing secure, rapidly tending, overlooking the world,) Power, wealth, extent, vouchsafed to thee—With these, and like of these, vouchsafed to thee, What if one gift thou lackest? (the ultimate human problem never solving;) The gift of Perfect Women fit for thee—What of that gift of gifts thou lackest? The towering […]
Whoever You are, Holding Me now in Hand. by Walt Whitman
WHOEVER you are, holding me now in hand, Without one thing, all will be useless, I give you fair warning, before you attempt me further, I am not what you supposed, but far different. Who is he that would become my follower? Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections? The way is suspicious—the […]
Who Learns My Lesson Complete? by Walt Whitman
WHO learns my lesson complete? Boss, journeyman, apprentice—churchman and atheist, The stupid and the wise thinker—parents and offspring—merchant, clerk, porter and customer, Editor, author, artist, and schoolboy—Draw nigh and commence; It is no lesson—it lets down the bars to a good lesson, And that to another, and every one to another still. The great laws […]
Who is now Reading This? by Walt Whitman
WHO is now reading this? May-be one is now reading this who knows some wrong-doing of my past life, Or may-be a stranger is reading this who has secretly loved me, Or may-be one who meets all my grand assumptions and egotisms with derision, Or may-be one who is puzzled at me. As if I […]
Whispers of Heavenly Death. by Walt Whitman
WHISPERS of heavenly death, murmur’d I hear; Labial gossip of night—sibilant chorals; Footsteps gently ascending—mystical breezes, wafted soft and low; Ripples of unseen rivers—tides of a current, flowing, forever flowing; (Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human tears?) I see, just see, skyward, great cloud-masses; Mournfully, slowly they roll, silently […]
When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d. by Walt Whitman
1 WHEN lilacs last in the door-yard bloom’d, And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night, I mourn’d—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 […]
When I read the Book. by Walt Whitman
WHEN I read the book, the biography famous, And is this, then, (said I,) what the author calls a man’s life? And so will some one, when I am dead and gone, write my life? (As if any man really knew aught of my life; Why, even I myself, I often think, know little or […]
When I peruse the Conquer’d Fame. by Walt Whitman
WHEN I peruse the conquer’d 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 hear of the brotherhood of lovers, how it was with them, How through life, through dangers, odium, unchanging, long […]
When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer. by Walt Whitman
WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer; When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me; When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them; When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick; […]
When I heard at the Close of the Day. by Walt Whitman
WHEN I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv’d with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me that follow’d; And else, when I carous’d, or when my plans were accomplish’d, still I was not happy; But the day when I rose at dawn […]
What think You I take my Pen in Hand? by Walt Whitman
WHAT think you I take my pen in hand to record? The battle-ship, perfect-model’d, majestic, that I saw pass the offing to-day under full sail? The splendors of the past day? Or the splendor of the night that envelopes me? Or the vaunted glory and growth of the great city spread around me?—No; But I […]
What Place is Besieged? by Walt Whitman
WHAT place is besieged, and vainly tries to raise the siege? Lo! I send to that place a commander, swift, brave, immortal; And with him horse and foot—and parks of artillery, And artillery-men, the deadliest that ever fired gun. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic […]
What General has a Good Army. by Walt Whitman
WHAT General has a good army in himself, has a good army; He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy, But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than you can beget or conceive a child by others. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem […]
What Best I See In Thee. by Walt Whitman
WHAT best I see in thee, Is not that where thou mov’st down history’s great highways, Ever undimm’d by time shoots warlike victory’s dazzle, Or that thou sat’st where Washington sat, ruling the land in peace, Or thou the man whom feudal Europe feted, venerable Asia, swarm’d upon, Who walk’d with kings with even pace […]
What am I, After All? by Walt Whitman
WHAT am I, after all, but a child, pleas’d with the sound of my own name? repeating it over and over; I stand apart to hear—it never tires me. To you, your name also; Did you think there was nothing but two or three pronunciations in the sound of your name? ————— The End And […]
We Two—How Long We were Fool’d. by Walt Whitman
WE two—how long we were fool’d! Now transmuted, we swiftly escape, as Nature escapes; We are Nature—long have we been absent, but now we return; We become plants, leaves, foliage, roots, bark; We are bedded in the ground—we are rocks; We are oaks—we grow in the openings side by side; We browse—we are two among […]
We Two Boys Together Clinging. by Walt Whitman
WE two boys together clinging, One the other never leaving, Up and down the roads going—North and South excursions making, Power enjoying—elbows stretching—fingers clutching, Arm’d and fearless—eating, drinking, sleeping, loving, No law less than ourselves owning—sailing, soldiering, thieving, threatening, Misers, menials, priests alarming—air breathing, water drinking, on the turf or the sea-beach dancing, Cities wrenching, […]
Visor’d. by Walt Whitman
A MASK—a perpetual natural disguiser of herself, Concealing her face, concealing her form, Changes and transformations every hour, every moment, Falling upon her even when she sleeps. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry. Poetry […]
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field. by Walt Whitman
VIGIL strange I kept on the field one night: When you, my son and my comrade, dropt at my side that day, One look I but gave, which your dear eyes return’d, with a look I shall never forget; One touch of your hand to mine, O boy, reach’d up as you lay on the […]
Turn, O Libertad. by Walt Whitman
TURN, O Libertad, for the war is over, (From it and all henceforth expanding, doubting no more, resolute, sweeping the world,) Turn from lands retrospective, recording proofs of the past; From the singers that sing the trailing glories of the past; From the chants of the feudal world—the triumphs of kings, slavery, caste; Turn to […]
To You. by Walt Whitman
STRANGER! if you, passing, meet me, and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you? ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry. Poetry […]
To Thee, Old Cause! by Walt Whitman
TO thee, old Cause! Thou peerless, passionate, good cause! Thou stern, remorseless, sweet Idea! Deathless throughout the ages, races, lands! After a strange, sad war—great war for thee, (I think all war through time was really fought, and ever will be really fought, for thee;) These chants for thee—the eternal march of thee. Thou orb […]
To the Garden the World. by Walt Whitman
TO the garden, the world, anew ascending, Potent mates, daughters, sons, preluding, The love, the life of their bodies, meaning and being, Curious, here behold my resurrection, after slumber; The revolving cycles, in their wide sweep, have brought me again, Amorous, mature—all beautiful to me—all wondrous; My limbs, and the quivering fire that ever plays […]
To One Shortly to Die. by Walt Whitman
1 FROM all the rest I single out you, having a message for you: You are to die—Let others tell you what they please, I cannot prevaricate, I am exact and merciless, but I love you—There is no escape for you. Softly I lay my right hand upon you—you just feel it, I do not […]
To Him that was Crucified. by Walt Whitman
MY spirit to yours, dear brother; Do not mind because many, sounding your name, do not understand you; I do not sound your name, but I understand you, (there are others also;) I specify you with joy, O my comrade, to salute you, and to salute those who are with you, before and since—and those […]
To Foreign Lands. by Walt Whitman
I HEARD that you ask’d for something to prove this puzzle, the New World, And to define America, her athletic Democracy; Therefore I send you my poems, that you behold in them what you wanted. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster […]
To a Western Boy. by Walt Whitman
O BOY of the West! To you many things to absorb, I teach, to help you become eleve of mine: Yet if blood like mine circle not in your veins; If you be not silently selected by lovers, and do not silently select lovers, Of what use is it that you seek to become eleve […]
To a Pupil. by Walt Whitman
IS reform needed? Is it through you? The greater the reform needed, the greater the personality you need to accomplish it. You! do you not see how it would serve to have eyes, blood, complexion, clean and sweet? Do you not see how it would serve to have such a Body and Soul, that when […]
To a President. by Walt Whitman
ALL you are doing and saying is to America dangled mirages, You have not learn’d of Nature—of the politics of Nature, you have not learn’d the great amplitude, rectitude, impartiality; You have not seen that only such as they are for These States, And that what is less than they, must sooner or later lift […]
To a Locomotive in Winter. by Walt Whitman
THEE for my recitative! Thee in the driving storm, even as now—the snow—the winter-day declining; Thee in thy panoply, thy measured dual throbbing, and thy beat convulsive; Thy black cylindric body, golden brass, and silvery steel; Thy ponderous side-bars, parallel and connecting rods, gyrating, shuttling at thy sides; Thy metrical, now swelling pant and roar—now […]
To a Historian. by Walt Whitman
YOU who celebrate bygones! Who have explored the outward, the surfaces of the races—the life that has exhibited itself; Who have treated of man as the creature of politics, aggregates, rulers and priests; I, habitan of the Alleghanies, treating of him as he is in himself, in his own rights, Pressing the pulse of the […]
To a foil’d European Revolutionaire. by Walt Whitman
1 COURAGE yet! my brother or my sister! Keep on! Liberty is to be subserv’d, whatever occurs; That is nothing, that is quell’d by one or two failures, or any number of failures, Or by the indifference or ingratitude of the people, or by any unfaithfulness, Or the show of the tushes of power, soldiers, […]