Saturday, May 31, 2008

Walt Whitman


It's Father Walt's birthday, so in his honor, here's a little something by himself:



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Out of the Rolling Ocean, the Crowd

1.

Out of the rolling ocean, the crowd, came a drop gently to me,
Whispering, I love you, before long I die,
I have travel'd a long way, merely to look on you, to touch you,
For I could not die till I once look'd on you,
For I fear'd I might afterward lose you.


2.


(Now we have met, we have look'd we are safe;

Return in peace to the ocean my love;
I too am part of that ocean, my love-we are not so much separated
Behold the rondure-the cohesion of all, how perfect!
But as for me, for you, irresistible sea is to separate us,
As for an hour, carrying us diverse-yet cannot carry us divers
-------------------for ever;
Be not impatient-a little space-Know you, I salute the air, the
-------------------ocean and the land,

Every day, at sundown, for your dear sake, my love.)


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His expansiveness is beyond all bounds. It doesn't get much better, much more Buddhist, than this.

I'll be walking away from the computer for the next week or so: a little something I need to do. I will have a regular post on Thursday, which will be featuring more work by Joseph Semenovich, who had a couple of poems in
last Thursday's post.


best,
Don


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4 comments:

  1. Hope you get done whatever you need to get done. One of the things I've always found interesting about Whitman is how many folks used bits and pieces of his stuff for titles, particularly Ray Bradbury.

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  2. And then there the small poems of Whitman, some gathered by Bly in "The Sea and the Honeycomb". Glorious.

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  3. Charles:

    Thanks, appreciate the note. The next regular post will be Thursday and I'll be back up next weekend. Walt never ceases to amaze; his influence seems to permeate all corners.

    Don

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  4. G:

    Thanks for the Bly tip ... I think I have a copy of "The Sea and the Honeycomb" around here somewhere - now, let's see, which pile would that be?

    I'll definitely check it out.

    Don

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