As A Strong Bird On Pinious Free
.
As
a
strong
bird
on
pinions
free,
Joyous,
the
amplest
spaces
heavenward
cleaving,
Such
be
the
thought
I'd
think
to-day
of
thee,
America,
Such
be
the
recitative
I'd
bring
to-day
for
thee.
The
conceits
of
the
poets
of
other
lands
I
bring
thee
not,
Nor
the
compliments
that
have
served
their
turn
so
long,
Nor
rhyme—nor
the
classics—nor
perfume
of
foreign
court,
or
indoor
library;
But
an
odor
I'd
bring
to-day
as
from
forests
of
pine
in
the
north,
in
Maine—or
breath
of
an
Illinois
prairie,
With
open
airs
of
Virginia,
or
Georgia,
or
Tennessee—or
from
Texas
uplands,
or
Florida's
glades,
With
presentment
of
Yellowstone's
scenes,
or
Yosemite;
And
murmuring
under,
pervading
all,
I'd
bring
the
rustling
sea-sound,
That
endlessly
sounds
from
the
two
great
seas
of
the
world.
And
for
thy
subtler
sense,
subtler
refrains,
O
Union!
Preludes
of
intellect
tallying
these
and
thee—mind-formulas
fitted
for
thee—real,
and
sane,
and
large
as
these
and
thee;
Thou,
mounting
higher,
diving
deeper
than
we
knew—thou
transcendental
Union!
By
thee
Fact
to
be
justified—blended
with
Thought;
Thought
of
Man
justified—blended
with
God:
Through
thy
Idea—lo!
the
immortal
Reality!
Through
thy
Reality—lo!
the
immortal
Idea!
Brain
of
the
New
World!
what
a
task
is
thine!
To
formulate
the
Modern…..Out
of
the
peerless
grandeur
of
the
modern,
Out
of
Thyself—comprising
Science—to
recast
Poems,
Churches,
Art,
(Recast—may-be
discard
them,
end
them—May-be
their
work
is
done—
who
knows?)
By
vision,
hand,
conception,
on
the
background
of
the
mighty
past,
the
dead,
To
limn,
with
absolute
faith,
the
mighty
living
present.
(And
yet,
thou
living,
present
brain!
heir
of
the
dead,
the
Old
World
brain!
Thou
that
lay
folded,
like
an
unborn
babe,
within
its
folds
so
long!
Thou
carefully
prepared
by
it
so
long!—haply
thou
but
unfoldest
it—
only
maturest
it;
It
to
eventuate
in
thee—the
essence
of
the
by-gone
time
contain'd
in
thee;
Its
poems,
churches,
arts,
unwitting
to
themselves,
destined
with
reference
to
thee,
The
fruit
of
all
the
Old,
ripening
to-day
in
thee.)
Sail—sail
thy
best,
ship
of
Democracy!
Of
value
is
thy
freight—'tis
not
the
Present
only,
The
Past
is
also
stored
in
thee!
Thou
holdest
not
the
venture
of
thyself
alone—not
of
thy
western
continent
alone;
Earth's
résumé
entire
floats
on
thy
keel,
O
ship—is
steadied
by
thy
spars;
With
thee
Time
voyages
in
trust—the
antecedent
nations
sink
or
swim
with
thee;
With
all
their
ancient
struggles,
martyrs,
heroes,
epics,
wars,
thou
bear'st
the
other
continents;
Theirs,
theirs
as
much
as
thine,
the
destination-port
triumphant:
—Steer,
steer
with
good
strong
hand
and
wary
eye,
O
helmsman—thou
carryest
great
companions,
Venerable,
priestly
Asia
sails
this
day
with
thee,
And
royal,
feudal
Europe
sails
with
thee.
Beautiful
World
of
new,
superber
Birth,
that
rises
to
my
eyes,
Like
a
limitless
golden
cloud,
filling
the
western
sky;
Emblem
of
general
Maternity,
lifted
above
all;
Sacred
shape
of
the
bearer
of
daughters
and
sons;
Out
of
thy
teeming
womb,
thy
giant
babes
in
ceaseless
procession
issuing,
Acceding
from
such
gestation,
taking
and
giving
continual
strength
and
life;
World
of
the
Real!
world
of
the
twain
in
one!
World
of
the
Soul—born
by
the
world
of
the
real
alone—led
to
identity,
body,
by
it
alone;
Yet
in
beginning
only—incalculable
masses
of
composite,
precious
materials,
By
history's
cycles
forwarded—by
every
nation,
language,
hither
sent,
Ready,
collected
here—a
freer,
vast,
electric
World,
to
be
constructed
here,
(The
true
New
World—the
world
of
orbic
Science,
Morals,
Literatures
to
come,)
Thou
Wonder
World,
yet
undefined,
unform'd—neither
do
I
define
thee;
How
can
I
pierce
the
impenetrable
blank
of
the
future?
I
feel
thy
ominous
greatness,
evil
as
well
as
good;
I
watch
thee,
advancing,
absorbing
the
present,
transcending
the
past;
I
see
thy
light
lighting
and
thy
shadow
shadowing,
as
if
the
entire
globe;
But
I
do
not
undertake
to
define
thee—hardly
to
comprehend
thee;
I
but
thee
name—thee
prophecy—as
now!
I
merely
thee
ejaculate!
Thee
in
thy
future;
Thee
in
thy
only
permanent
life,
career—thy
own
unloosen'd
mind—thy
soaring
spirit;
Thee
as
another
equally
needed
sun,
America—radiant,
ablaze,
swift-
moving,
fructifying
all;
Thee!
risen
in
thy
potent
cheerfulness
and
joy—thy
endless,
great
hilarity!
(Scattering
for
good
the
cloud
that
hung
so
long—that
weigh'd
so
long
upon
the
mind
of
man,
The
doubt,
suspicion,
dread,
of
gradual,
certain
decadence
of
man
Thee
in
thy
larger,
saner
breeds
of
Female,
Male—thee
in
thy
athletes,
moral,
spiritual,
South,
North,
West,
East,
(To
thy
immortal
breasts,
Mother
of
All,
thy
every
daughter,
son,
endear'd
alike,
forever
equal
Thee
in
thy
own
musicians,
singers,
artists,
unborn
yet,
but
certain;
Thee
in
thy
moral
wealth
and
civilization
(until
which
thy
proudest
material
wealth
and
civilization
must
remain
in
vain
Thee
in
thy
all-supplying,
all-enclosing
Worship—thee
in
no
single
bible,
saviour,
merely,
Thy
saviours
countless,
latent
within
thyself—thy
bibles
incessant,
within
thyself,
equal
to
any,
divine
as
any;
Thee
in
an
education
grown
of
thee—in
teachers,
studies,
students,
born
of
thee;
Thee
in
thy
democratic
fetes,
en
masse—thy
high
original
festivals,
operas,
lecturers,
preachers;
Thee
in
thy
ultimata,
(the
preparations
only
now
completed—the
edifice
on
sure
foundations
tied,)
Thee
in
thy
pinnacles,
intellect,
thought—thy
topmost
rational
joys—thy
love,
and
godlike
aspiration,
In
thy
resplendent
coming
literati—thy
full-lung'd
orators—thy
sacerdotal
bards—kosmic
savans,
These!
these
in
thee,
(certain
to
come,)
to-day
I
prophecy.
Land
tolerating
all—accepting
all—not
for
the
good
alone—all
good
for
thee;
Land
in
the
realms
of
God
to
be
a
realm
unto
thyself;
Under
the
rule
of
God
to
be
a
rule
unto
thyself.
(Lo!
where
arise
three
peerless
stars,
To
be
thy
natal
stars,
my
country—Ensemble—Evolution—Freedom,
Set
in
the
sky
of
Law.)
Land
of
unprecedented
faith—God's
faith!
Thy
soil,
thy
very
subsoil,
all
upheav'd;
The
general
inner
earth,
so
long,
so
sedulously
draped
over,
now
and
hence
for
what
it
is,
boldly
laid
bare,
Open'd
by
thee
to
heaven's
light,
for
benefit
or
bale.
Not
for
success
alone;
Not
to
fair-sail
unintermitted
always;
The
storm
shall
dash
thy
face—the
murk
of
war,
and
worse
than
war,
shall
cover
thee
all
over;
(Wert
capable
of
war—its
tug
and
trials?
Be
capable
of
peace,
its
trials;
For
the
tug
and
mortal
strain
of
nations
come
at
last
in
peace—not
war
In
many
a
smiling
mask
death
shall
approach,
beguiling
thee—thou
in
disease
shalt
swelter;
The
livid
cancer
spread
its
hideous
claws,
clinging
upon
thy
breasts,
seeking
to
strike
thee
deep
within;
Consumption
of
the
worst—moral
consumption—shall
rouge
thy
face
with
hectic:
But
thou
shalt
face
thy
fortunes,
thy
diseases,
and
surmount
them
all,
Whatever
they
are
to-day,
and
whatever
through
time
they
may
be,
They
each
and
all
shall
lift,
and
pass
away,
and
cease
from
thee;
While
thou,
Time's
spirals
rounding—out
of
thyself,
thyself
still
extricating,
fusing,
Equable,
natural,
mystical
Union
thou—(the
mortal
with
immortal
blent,)
Shalt
soar
toward
the
fulfilment
of
the
future—the
spirit
of
the
body
and
the
mind,
The
Soul—its
destinies.
The
Soul,
its
destinies—the
real
real,
(Purport
of
all
these
apparitions
of
the
real
In
thee,
America,
the
Soul,
its
destinies;
Thou
globe
of
globes!
thou
wonder
nebulous!
By
many
a
throe
of
heat
and
cold
convuls'd—(by
these
thyself
solidifying
Thou
mental,
moral
orb!
thou
New,
indeed
new,
Spiritual
World!
The
Present
holds
thee
not—for
such
vast
growth
as
thine—for
such
unparallel'd
flight
as
thine,
The
Future
only
holds
thee,
and
can
hold
thee.
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman, (born May 31, 1819, West Hills, Long Island, New York, U.S.—died March 26, 1892, Camden, New Jersey), American poet, journalist, and essayist whose verse collection Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, is a landmark in the history of American literature. Walt Whitman’s poetry was innovative for its verse style and for the way it challenged traditional narratives. He championed the individual soul over social conventions, presenting himself as a rough and free spirit. His poetry has continued to resonate with new generations of Americans, and he is considered a symbol of American democracy.