A Hand-Mirror
Hold it up sternly--see this it sends back, (who is it? is it you?) / Outside fair costume, within ashes and filth,
Walt Whitman
51 poems
A Noiseless Patient Spider
A noiseless patient spider, / I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
A Promise to California
A promise to California, / Or inland to the great pastoral Plains, and on to Puget sound and Oregon;
Aboard at a Ship's Helm
Aboard at a ship's helm, / A young steersman steering with care.
After the Sea-Ship
After the sea-ship, after the whistling winds, / After the white-gray sails taut to their spars and ropes,
After the Supper and Talk
After the supper and talk--after the day is done, / As a friend from friends his final withdrawal prolonging,
Are You the New Person Drawn Toward Me?
Are you the new person drawn toward me? / To begin with take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;
As I Ponder'd in Silence
As I ponder'd in silence, / Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long,
Beginners
How they are provided for upon the earth, (appearing at intervals,) / How dear and dreadful they are to the earth,
By That Long Scan of Waves
By that long scan of waves, myself call'd back, resumed upon myself, / In every crest some undulating light or shade--some retrospect,
Continuities
Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost, / No birth, identity, form--no object of the world.
Darest Thou Now O Soul
Darest thou now O soul, / Walk out with me toward the unknown region,
Election Day, November, 1884
If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show, / 'Twould not be you, Niagara--nor you, ye limitless prairies--nor
For You, O Democracy
Come, I will make the continent indissoluble, / I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon,
Full of Life Now
Full of life now, compact, visible, / I, forty years old the eighty-third year of the States,
Gliding O'er all
Gliding o'er all, through all, / Through Nature, Time, and Space,
Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day [May 4, 1865]
Hush'd be the camps to-day, / And soldiers let us drape our war-worn weapons,
I Dream'd in a Dream
I dream'd in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the / whole of the rest of the earth,
I Hear America Singing
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, / Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
I Hear It Was Charged Against Me
I hear it was charged against me that I sought to destroy institutions, / But really I am neither for nor against institutions,