Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/120

112 Of them, standing among them, one lifts to the light
 * his west-bred face,

To him the hereditary countenance bequeathed, both
 * mother's and father's,

His first parts substances, earth, water, animals, trees, Built of the common stock, having room for far and
 * near,

Used to dispense with other lands, incarnating this
 * land,

Attracting it body and Soul to himself, hanging on its
 * neck with incomparable love,

Plunging his semitic muscle into its merits and demerits, Making its geography, cities, beginnings, events,
 * glories, defections, diversities, vocal in him,

Making its rivers, lakes, bays, embouchure in him, Mississippi with yearly freshets and changing chutes
 * —Missouri, Columbia, Ohio, Niagara, Hudson,
 * spending themselves lovingly in him,

If the Atlantic coast stretch, or the Pacific coast
 * stretch, he stretching with them north or south,

Spanning between them east and west, and touching
 * whatever is between them,

Growths growing from him to offset the growth of
 * pine, cedar, hemlock, live-oak, locust, chest-
 * nut, cypress, hickory, lime-tree, cotton-wood,
 * tulip-tree, cactus, tamarind, orange, magnolia,
 * persimmon,

Tangles as tangled in him as any cane-brake or
 * swamp,

He likening sides and peaks of mountains, forests
 * coated with transparent ice, and icicles hanging
 * from the boughs,