For Him I Sing
FOR him I sing,
I raise the Present on the Past,
(As some perennial tree, out of its roots, the present on the past:)
With time and space I him dilate--and fuse the immortal laws,
To make himself, by them, the law unto himself.
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
What Place Is Besieged?
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.
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
O Hymen! O Hymenee!
O HYMEN! O hymenee!
Why do you tantalize me thus?
O why sting me for a swift moment only?
Why can you not continue? O why do you now cease?
Is it because, if you continued beyond the swift moment, you would
soon certainly kill me?
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
O You Whom I Often And Silently Come
O YOU whom I often and silently come where you are, that I may be
with you;
As I walk by your side, or sit near, or remain in the same room with
you,
Little you know the subtle electric fire that for your sake is
playing within me.
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
The genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges, or churches, or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors, but always most in the common people.
quote by Walt Whitman
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
I Thought I Was Not Alone
I THOUGHT I was not alone, walking here by the shore,
But the one I thought was with me, as now I walk by the shore,
As I lean and look through the glimmering light--that one has utterly
disappeared,
And those appear that perplex me.
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Not My Enemies Ever Invade Me
NOT my enemies ever invade me--no harm to my pride from them I fear;
But the lovers I recklessly love--lo! how they master me!
Lo! me, ever open and helpless, bereft of my strength!
Utterly abject, grovelling on the ground before them.
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Other May Praise What They Like
OTHERS may praise what they like;
But I, from the banks of the running Missouri, praise nothing, in
art, or aught else,
Till it has well inhaled the atmosphere of this river--also the
western prairie-scent,
And fully exudes it again.
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
Walt Whitman's Caution
TO The States, or any one of them, or any city of The States,
Resist much, obey little;
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved;
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, of this earth, ever
afterward resumes its liberty.
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
A Clear Midnight
THIS is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou
lovest best.
Night, sleep, and the stars.
poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
