Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/115

Rh O South! O longings for my dear home! O soft and
 * sunny airs!

O pensive! O I must return where the palm grows
 * and the mocking-bird sings, or else I die!

O equality! O organic compacts! I am come to be
 * your born poet!

O whirl, contest, sounding and resounding! I am
 * your poet, because I am part of you;

O days by-gone! Enthusiasts! Antecedents! O vast preparations for These States! O years! O what is now being sent forward thousands of years
 * to come!

O mediums! O to teach! to convey the invisible faith! To promulge real things! to journey through all The
 * States!

O creation! O to-day! O laws! O unmitigated
 * adoration!

O for mightier broods of orators, artists, and singers! O for native songs! carpenter's, boatman's, plough
 * -man's songs! shoemaker's songs!

O haughtiest growth of time! O free and extatic! O what I, here, preparing, warble for! O you hastening light! O the sun of the world will
 * ascend, dazzling, and take his height—and you
 * too will ascend;

O so amazing and so broad! up there resplendent,
 * darting and burning;

O prophetic! O vision staggered with weight of light!
 * with pouring glories!

O copious! O hitherto unequalled! O Libertad ! O compact! O union impossible to
 * dissever!

O my Soul! O lips becoming tremulous, powerless! O centuries, centuries yet ahead!