1. ۱1
2. ۲O TO make the most jubilant poem!
3. ۳Even to set off these, and merge with these, the carols of Death.
4. ۴O full of music! full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
5. ۵Full of common employments! full of grain and trees.
6. ۶
7. ۷O for the voices of animals! O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
8. ۸O for the dropping of rain-drops in a poem!
9. ۹O for the sunshine, and motion of waves in a poem.
10. ۱۰
11. ۱۱O the joy of my spirit! it is uncaged! it darts like lightning!
12. ۱۲It is not enough to have this globe, or a certain time—I will have thousands of
13. ۱۳ globes,
14. ۱۴ and all time.
15. ۱۵
16. ۱۶2
17. ۱۷O the engineer’s joys!
18. ۱۸To go with a locomotive!
19. ۱۹To hear the hiss of steam—the merry shriek—the steam-whistle—the laughing
20. ۲۰ locomotive!
21. ۲۱To push with resistless way, and speed off in the distance.
22. ۲۲
23. ۲۳O the gleesome saunter over fields and hill-sides!
24. ۲۴The leaves and flowers of the commonest weeds—the moist fresh stillness of the woods,
25. ۲۵The exquisite smell of the earth at day-break, and all through the forenoon.
26. ۲۶
27. ۲۷O the horseman’s and horsewoman’s joys!
28. ۲۸The saddle—the gallop—the pressure upon the seat—the cool gurgling by the
29. ۲۹ ears
30. ۳۰ and hair.
31. ۳۱
32. ۳۲3
33. ۳۳O the fireman’s joys!
34. ۳۴I hear the alarm at dead of night,
35. ۳۵I hear bells—shouts!—I pass the crowd—I run!
36. ۳۶The sight of the flames maddens me with pleasure.
37. ۳۷
38. ۳۸O the joy of the strong-brawn’d fighter, towering in the arena, in perfect condition,
39. ۳۹ conscious of power, thirsting to meet his opponent.
40. ۴۰
41. ۴۱O the joy of that vast elemental sympathy which only the human Soul is capable of
42. ۴۲ generating
43. ۴۳ and emitting in steady and limitless floods.
44. ۴۴
45. ۴۵4
46. ۴۶O the mother’s joys!
47. ۴۷The watching—the endurance—the precious love—the anguish—the patiently
48. ۴۸ yielded life.
49. ۴۹
50. ۵۰O the joy of increase, growth, recuperation;
51. ۵۱The joy of soothing and pacifying—the joy of concord and harmony.
52. ۵۲
53. ۵۳O to go back to the place where I was born!
54. ۵۴To hear the birds sing once more!
55. ۵۵To ramble about the house and barn, and over the fields, once more,
56. ۵۶And through the orchard and along the old lanes once more.
57. ۵۷
58. ۵۸5
59. ۵۹O male and female!
60. ۶۰O the presence of women! (I swear there is nothing more exquisite to me than the mere
61. ۶۱ presence
62. ۶۲ of women;)
63. ۶۳O for the girl, my mate! O for the happiness with my mate!
64. ۶۴O the young man as I pass! O I am sick after the friendship of him who, I fear, is
65. ۶۵ indifferent
66. ۶۶ to me.
67. ۶۷
68. ۶۸O the streets of cities!
69. ۶۹The flitting faces—the expressions, eyes, feet, costumes! O I cannot tell how welcome
70. ۷۰ they
71. ۷۱ are to me.
72. ۷۲
73. ۷۳6
74. ۷۴O to have been brought up on bays, lagoons, creeks, or along the coast!
75. ۷۵O to continue and be employ’d there all my life!
76. ۷۶O the briny and damp smell—the shore—the salt weeds exposed at low water,
77. ۷۷The work of fishermen—the work of the eel-fisher and clam-fisher.
78. ۷۸
79. ۷۹O it is I!
80. ۸۰I come with my clam-rake and spade! I come with my eel-spear;
81. ۸۱Is the tide out? I join the group of clam-diggers on the flats,
82. ۸۲I laugh and work with them—I joke at my work, like a mettlesome young man.
83. ۸۳
84. ۸۴In winter I take my eel-basket and eel-spear and travel out on foot on the ice—I have
85. ۸۵ a
86. ۸۶ small axe to cut holes in the ice;
87. ۸۷Behold me, well-clothed, going gaily, or returning in the afternoon—my brood of tough
88. ۸۸ boys
89. ۸۹ accompaning me,
90. ۹۰My brood of grown and part-grown boys, who love to be with no one else so well as they
91. ۹۱ love to
92. ۹۲ be with me,
93. ۹۳By day to work with me, and by night to sleep with me.
94. ۹۴
95. ۹۵Or, another time, in warm weather, out in a boat, to lift the lobster-pots, where they are
96. ۹۶ sunk
97. ۹۷ with heavy stones, (I know the buoys;)
98. ۹۸O the sweetness of the Fifth-month morning upon the water, as I row, just before sunrise,
99. ۹۹ toward the buoys;
100. ۱۰۰I pull the wicker pots up slantingly—the dark-green lobsters are desperate with their
101. ۱۰۱ claws, as I take them out—I insert wooden pegs in the joints of their pincers,
102. ۱۰۲I go to all the places, one after another, and then row back to the shore,
103. ۱۰۳There, in a huge kettle of boiling water, the lobsters shall be boil’d till their
104. ۱۰۴ color
105. ۱۰۵ becomes scarlet.
106. ۱۰۶
107. ۱۰۷Or, another time, mackerel-taking,
108. ۱۰۸Voracious, mad for the hook, near the surface, they seem to fill the water for miles:
109. ۱۰۹Or, another time, fishing for rock-fish, in Chesapeake Bay—I one of the brown-faced
110. ۱۱۰ crew:
111. ۱۱۱Or, another time, trailing for blue-fish off Paumanok, I stand with braced body,
112. ۱۱۲My left foot is on the gunwale—my right arm throws the coils of slender rope,
113. ۱۱۳In sight around me the quick veering and darting of fifty skiffs, my companions.
114. ۱۱۴
115. ۱۱۵7
116. ۱۱۶O boating on the rivers!
117. ۱۱۷The voyage down the Niagara, (the St. Lawrence,)—the superb scenery—the
118. ۱۱۸ steamers,
119. ۱۱۹The ships sailing—the Thousand Islands—the occasional timber-raft, and the
120. ۱۲۰ raftsmen
121. ۱۲۱ with long-reaching sweep-oars,
122. ۱۲۲The little huts on the rafts, and the stream of smoke when they cook their supper at
123. ۱۲۳ evening.
124. ۱۲۴
125. ۱۲۵O something pernicious and dread!
126. ۱۲۶Something far away from a puny and pious life!
127. ۱۲۷Something unproved! Something in a trance!
128. ۱۲۸Something escaped from the anchorage, and driving free.
129. ۱۲۹
130. ۱۳۰O to work in mines, or forging iron!
131. ۱۳۱Foundry casting—the foundry itself—the rude high roof—the ample and
132. ۱۳۲ shadow’d space,
133. ۱۳۳The furnace—the hot liquid pour’d out and running.
134. ۱۳۴
135. ۱۳۵8
136. ۱۳۶O to resume the joys of the soldier:
137. ۱۳۷To feel the presence of a brave general! to feel his sympathy!
138. ۱۳۸To behold his calmness! to be warm’d in the rays of his smile!
139. ۱۳۹To go to battle! to hear the bugles play, and the drums beat!
140. ۱۴۰To hear the crash of artillery! to see the glittering of the bayonets and musket-barrels
141. ۱۴۱ in the
142. ۱۴۲ sun!
143. ۱۴۳To see men fall and die, and not complain!
144. ۱۴۴To taste the savage taste of blood! to be so devilish!
145. ۱۴۵To gloat so over the wounds and deaths of the enemy.
146. ۱۴۶
147. ۱۴۷9
148. ۱۴۸O the whaleman’s joys! O I cruise my old cruise again!
149. ۱۴۹I feel the ship’s motion under me—I feel the Atlantic breezes fanning me,
150. ۱۵۰I hear the cry again sent down from the mast-head—There—she blows!
151. ۱۵۱—Again I spring up the rigging, to look with the rest—We see—we descend,
152. ۱۵۲ wild
153. ۱۵۳ with excitement,
154. ۱۵۴I leap in the lower’d boat—We row toward our prey, where he lies,
155. ۱۵۵We approach, stealthy and silent—I see the mountainous mass, lethargic, basking,
156. ۱۵۶I see the harpooneer standing up—I see the weapon dart from his vigorous arm:
157. ۱۵۷O swift, again, now, far out in the ocean, the wounded whale, settling, running to
158. ۱۵۸ windward,
159. ۱۵۹ tows me;
160. ۱۶۰—Again I see him rise to breathe—We row close again,
161. ۱۶۱I see a lance driven through his side, press’d deep, turn’d in the wound,
162. ۱۶۲Again we back off—I see him settle again—the life is leaving him fast,
163. ۱۶۳As he rises, he spouts blood—I see him swim in circles narrower and narrower, swiftly
164. ۱۶۴ cutting the water—I see him die;
165. ۱۶۵He gives one convulsive leap in the centre of the circle, and then falls flat and still in
166. ۱۶۶ the
167. ۱۶۷ bloody foam.
168. ۱۶۸
169. ۱۶۹10
170. ۱۷۰O the old manhood of me, my joy!
171. ۱۷۱My children and grand-children—my white hair and beard,
172. ۱۷۲My largeness, calmness, majesty, out of the long stretch of my life.
173. ۱۷۳
174. ۱۷۴O the ripen’d joy of womanhood!
175. ۱۷۵O perfect happiness at last!
176. ۱۷۶I am more than eighty years of age—my hair, too, is pure white—I am the most
177. ۱۷۷ venerable mother;
178. ۱۷۸How clear is my mind! how all people draw nigh to me!
179. ۱۷۹What attractions are these, beyond any before? what bloom, more than the bloom of youth?
180. ۱۸۰What beauty is this that descends upon me, and rises out of me?
181. ۱۸۱
182. ۱۸۲O the orator’s joys!
183. ۱۸۳To inflate the chest—to roll the thunder of the voice out from the ribs and throat,
184. ۱۸۴To make the people rage, weep, hate, desire, with yourself,
185. ۱۸۵To lead America—to quell America with a great tongue.
186. ۱۸۶
187. ۱۸۷O the joy of my soul leaning pois’d on itself—receiving identity through
188. ۱۸۸ materials,
189. ۱۸۹ and loving them—observing characters, and absorbing them;
190. ۱۹۰O my soul, vibrated back to me, from them—from facts, sight, hearing, touch, my
191. ۱۹۱ phrenology, reason, articulation, comparison, memory, and the like;
192. ۱۹۲The real life of my senses and flesh, transcending my senses and flesh;
193. ۱۹۳My body, done with materials—my sight, done with my material eyes;
194. ۱۹۴Proved to me this day, beyond cavil, that it is not my material eyes which finally see,
195. ۱۹۵Nor my material body which finally loves, walks, laughs, shouts, embraces, procreates.
196. ۱۹۶
197. ۱۹۷11
198. ۱۹۸O the farmer’s joys!
199. ۱۹۹Ohioan’s, Illinoisian’s, Wisconsinese’, Kanadian’s, Iowan’s,
200. ۲۰۰ Kansian’s, Missourian’s, Oregonese’ joys;
201. ۲۰۱To rise at peep of day, and pass forth nimbly to work,
202. ۲۰۲To plow land in the fall for winter-sown crops,
203. ۲۰۳To plough land in the spring for maize,
204. ۲۰۴To train orchards—to graft the trees—to gather apples in the fall.
205. ۲۰۵
206. ۲۰۶O the pleasure with trees!
207. ۲۰۷The orchard—the forest—the oak, cedar, pine, pekan-tree,
208. ۲۰۸The honey-locust, black-walnut, cottonwood, and magnolia.
209. ۲۰۹
210. ۲۱۰12
211. ۲۱۱O Death! the voyage of Death!
212. ۲۱۲The beautiful touch of Death, soothing and benumbing a few moments, for reasons;
213. ۲۱۳Myself, discharging my excrementitious body, to be burn’d, or render’d to
214. ۲۱۴ powder, or
215. ۲۱۵ buried,
216. ۲۱۶My real body doubtless left to me for other spheres,
217. ۲۱۷My voided body, nothing more to me, returning to the purifications, further offices,
218. ۲۱۸ eternal
219. ۲۱۹ uses of the earth.
220. ۲۲۰
221. ۲۲۱13
222. ۲۲۲O to bathe in the swimming-bath, or in a good place along shore!
223. ۲۲۳To splash the water! to walk ankle-deep—to race ... along the shore.
224. ۲۲۴
225. ۲۲۵O to realize space!
226. ۲۲۶The plenteousness of all—that there are no bounds;
227. ۲۲۷To emerge, and be of the sky—of the sun and moon, and the flying clouds, as one with
228. ۲۲۸ them.
229. ۲۲۹
230. ۲۳۰
231. ۲۳۱O the joy of a manly self-hood!
232. ۲۳۲Personality—to be servile to none—to defer to none—not to any tyrant, known
233. ۲۳۳ or
234. ۲۳۴ unknown,
235. ۲۳۵To walk with ... carriage, a step springy and elastic,
236. ۲۳۶To look with calm gaze, or with a flashing eye,
237. ۲۳۷To speak with a full and sonorous voice, out of a broad chest,
238. ۲۳۸To confront with your personality all the other personalities of the earth.
239. ۲۳۹
240. ۲۴۰14
241. ۲۴۱Know’st thou the excellent joys of youth?
242. ۲۴۲Joys of the dear companions, and of the merry word, and laughing face?
243. ۲۴۳Joys of the glad, light-beaming day—joy of the wide-breath’d games?
244. ۲۴۴Joy of sweet music—joy of the lighted ball-room, and the dancers?
245. ۲۴۵Joy of the friendly, plenteous dinner—the strong carouse, and drinking?
246. ۲۴۶
247. ۲۴۷15
248. ۲۴۸Yet, O my soul supreme!
249. ۲۴۹Know’st thou the joys of pensive thought?
250. ۲۵۰Joys of the free and lonesome heart—the tender, gloomy heart?
251. ۲۵۱Joy of the solitary walk—the spirit bowed yet proud—the suffering and the
252. ۲۵۲ struggle?
253. ۲۵۳The agonistic throes, the extasies—joys of the solemn musings, day or night?
254. ۲۵۴Joys of the thought of Death—the great spheres Time and Space?
255. ۲۵۵Prophetic joys of better, loftier love’s ideals—the Divine Wife—the sweet,
256. ۲۵۶ eternal, perfect Comrade?
257. ۲۵۷Joys all thine own, undying one—joys worthy thee, O Soul.
258. ۲۵۸
259. ۲۵۹16
260. ۲۶۰O, while I live, to be the ruler of life—not a slave,
261. ۲۶۱To meet life as a powerful conqueror,
262. ۲۶۲No fumes—no ennui—no more complaints, or scornful criticisms.
263. ۲۶۳
264. ۲۶۴O me repellent and ugly!
265. ۲۶۵To these proud laws of the air, the water, and the ground, proving my interior Soul
266. ۲۶۶ impregnable,
267. ۲۶۷And nothing exterior shall ever take command of me.
268. ۲۶۸
269. ۲۶۹O to attract by more than attraction!
270. ۲۷۰How it is I know not—yet behold! the something which obeys none of the rest,
271. ۲۷۱It is offensive, never defensive—yet how magnetic it draws.
272. ۲۷۲
273. ۲۷۳17
274. ۲۷۴O joy of suffering!
275. ۲۷۵To struggle against great odds! to meet enemies undaunted!
276. ۲۷۶To be entirely alone with them! to find how much one can stand!
277. ۲۷۷To look strife, torture, prison, popular odium, death, face to face!
278. ۲۷۸To mount the scaffold! to advance to the muzzles of guns with perfect nonchalance!
279. ۲۷۹To be indeed a God!
280. ۲۸۰
281. ۲۸۱18
282. ۲۸۲O, to sail to sea in a ship!
283. ۲۸۳To leave this steady, unendurable land!
284. ۲۸۴To leave the tiresome sameness of the streets, the sidewalks and the houses;
285. ۲۸۵To leave you, O you solid motionless land, and entering a ship,
286. ۲۸۶To sail, and sail, and sail!
287. ۲۸۷
288. ۲۸۸19
289. ۲۸۹O to have my life henceforth a poem of new joys!
290. ۲۹۰To dance, clap hands, exult, shout, skip, leap, roll on, float on,
291. ۲۹۱To be a sailor of the world, bound for all ports,
292. ۲۹۲A ship itself, (see indeed these sails I spread to the sun and air,)
293. ۲۹۳A swift and swelling ship, full of rich words—full of joys.