Full of Life Now (by Walt Whitman)

Full of Life Now
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1871

Full of life now, compact, visible,
I, forty years old the eighty-third year of the States,
To one a century hence or any number of centuries hence,
To you yet unborn these, seeking you.
When you read these I that was visible am become invisible,
Now it is you, compact, visible, realizing my poems, seeking me,
Fancying how happy you were if I could be with you and become your comrade;
Be it as if I were with you. (Be not too certain but I am now with you.)

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That Shadow My Likeness (by Walt Whitman)

That Shadow My Likeness
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1881

That shadow my likeness that goes to and fro seeking a livelihood, chattering, chaffering,
How often I find myself standing and looking at it where it flits,
How often I question and doubt whether that is really me;
But among my lovers and caroling these songs,
O I never doubt whether that is really me.

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Among the Multitude (by Walt Whitman)

Among the Multitude
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1881

Among the men and women the multitude,
I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs,
Acknowledging none else, not parent, wife, husband, brother, child, any nearer than I am,
Some are baffled, but that one is not–that one knows me.

Ah lover and perfect equal,
I meant that you should discover me so by faint indirections,
And I when I meet you mean to discover you by the like in you.


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Fast-Anchor’d Eternal O Love! (by Walt Whitman)

Fast-Anchor’d Eternal O Love!
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

Fast-anchor’d eternal O love! O woman I love!
O bride! O wife! more resistless than I can tell, the thought of you!
Then separate, as disembodied or another born,
Ethereal, the last athletic reality, my consolation,
I ascend, I float in the regions of your love O man,
O sharer of my roving life.



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To a Western Boy (by Walt Whitman)

To a Western Boy
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1881

Many things to absorb I teach to help you become eleve of mine;
Yet if blood like mine circle not in your veins,
If you be not silently selected by lovers and do not silently select lovers,
Of what use is it that you seek to become eleve of mine? 



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Sometimes with One I Love (by Walt Whitman)

 

Sometimes with One I Love
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I effuse unreturn’d love,
But now I think there is no unreturn’d love, the pay is certain one way or another
(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not return’d,
Yet out of that I have written these songs).



* * *

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To the East and to the West (by Walt Whitman)

To the East and to the West
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

To the East and to the West,
To the man of the Seaside State and of Pennsylvania,
To the Kanadian of the north, to the Southerner I love,
These with perfect trust to depict you as myself, the germs are in all men,
I believe the main purport of these States is to found a superb friendship, exaltè, previously unknown,
Because I perceive it waits, and has been always waiting, latent in all men.

* * *

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What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand? (by Walt Whitman)

What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand?
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

What think you I take my pen in hand to record?
The battle-ship, perfect-model’d, majestic, that I saw pass the offing to-day 
     under full sail?
The splendors of the past day? or the splendor of the night that envelops me?
Or the vaunted glory and growth of the great city spread around me?–no;
But merely of two simple men I saw to-day on the pier in the midst of the crowd,
     parting the parting of dear friends,
The one to remain hung on the other’s neck and passionately kiss’d him,
While the one to depart tightly prest the one to remain in his arms.

* * *

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O You Whom I Often and Silently Come (by Walt Whitman)

O You Whom I Often and Silently Come
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

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.  

* * *

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I Dream’d in a Dream (by Walt Whitman)

I Dream’d in a Dream
by Walt Whitman
from “Calamus” in Leaves of Grass, 1867

I dream’d in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest
     of the earth,
I dream’d that was the new city of Friends,
Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest,
It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,
And in all their looks and words. 

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To read other Whitman selections in the Crisis Chronicles Online Library, click here.