(1819-1892)
A M E R I C A
Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair’d in the adamant of Time.
The actual poem’s ending, not included in the Levi’s ad
[excerpt] (1865)
Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? Have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!
1 to tarry – to stay, to linger, to wait
For we cannot 1 tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful 2 sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
2 sinewy – lean, strong, brave
3 debouch – move into less confined area; emerge into a wider place
O you youths, Western youths,
So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,
Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
We 3 debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world,
Fresh and strong the world we seize,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
~ Walt Whitman (1892)
O Me! O life!... of the questions of these 1 recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever 2 reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that 3 vainly crave the light—of the objects 4 mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the 5 plodding and 6 sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a 7 verse.
1 recurring - to return to the mind repeatedly
2 reproaching – criticizing, scolding
3 vainly - unsuccessfully, uselessly
4 mean – shabby and poor looking; unworthy
5 plodding - walking heavily, trudging
6 sordid - dirty, poor, base, selfish
7 verse - a line of dialogue
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