A Cheer and salute for the Admiral, and here ’s to the Captain bold,
And never forget the Commodore’s debt when the deeds of might are told!
They stand to the deck through the battle’s wreck when the great shells roar and screech—
And never they fear when the foe is near to practice what they preach:
But off with your hat and three times three for Columbia’s...
-
-
To Confront His Own Portrait for “The Wound Dresser” in “Leaves of Grass”
OUT from behind this bending, rough-cut mask,
These lights and shades, this drama of the whole,
This common curtain of the face, contained in me for me, in you for you, in each for each.
(Tragedies, sorrows, laughter, tears—O heaven!
The passionate teeming plays this curtain hid!)... -
[The Spanish-American War, 1898]
A CHEER and salute for the Admiral, and here ’s to the Captain bold,
And never forget the Commodore’s debt when the deeds of might are told!
They stand to the deck through the battle’s wreck when the great shells roar and screech—
And never they fear when the foe is near to practise what they preach:
But off with your hat... -
Behind Me — dips Eternity —
Before Me — Immortality —
Myself — the Term between —
Death but the Drift of Eastern Gray,
Dissolving into Dawn away,
Before the West begin —
'Tis Kingdoms — afterward — they say —
In perfect — pauseless Monarchy —
Whose Prince — is Son of None —... -
The actor struts his little hour,
Between the limelight and the band;
The public feel the actor's power,
Yet nothing do they understand
Of all the touches here and there
That make or mar the actor's part,
They never see, beneath the glare,
The artist striving after art.
To... -
Death leaves Us homesick, who behind,
Except that it is gone
Are ignorant of its Concern
As if it were not born.
Through all their former Places, we
Like Individuals go
Who something lost, the seeking for
Is all that's left them, now — -
The Dust behind I strove to join
Unto the Disk before —
But Sequence ravelled out of Sound
Like Balls upon a Floor — -
The event was directly behind Him
Yet He did not guess
Fitted itself to Himself like a Robe
Relished His ignorance.
Motioned itself to drill
Loaded and Levelled
And let His Flesh
Centuries from His soul.