Leaves of GrassBook 20 — PerfectionsReading editionChapter navigation375 reading sectionsGo to chapterChoose a chapter…Front matterOne’s-Self I SingAs I Ponder’d in SilenceIn Cabin’d Ships at SeaTo Foreign LandsTo a HistorianTo Thee Old CauseEidolonsFor Him I SingWhen I Read the BookBeginning My StudiesBeginnersTo the StatesOn Journeys Through the StatesTo a Certain CantatriceMe ImperturbeSavantismThe Ship StartingI Hear America SingingWhat Place Is Besieged?Still Though the One I SingShut Not Your DoorsPoets to ComeTo YouThou ReaderBOOK IIBOOK IIIBOOK IV. CHILDREN OF ADAMFrom Pent-Up Aching RiversI Sing the Body ElectricA Woman Waits for MeSpontaneous MeOne Hour to Madness and JoyOut of the Rolling Ocean the CrowdAges and Ages Returning at IntervalsWe Two, How Long We Were Fool’dO Hymen! O Hymenee!I Am He That Aches with LoveNative MomentsOnce I Pass’d Through a Populous CityI Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the OrganFacing West from California’s ShoresAs Adam Early in the MorningBOOK V. CALAMUSScented Herbage of My BreastWhoever You Are Holding Me Now in HandFor You, O DemocracyThese I Singing in SpringNot Heaving from My Ribb’d Breast OnlyOf the Terrible Doubt of AppearancesThe Base of All MetaphysicsRecorders Ages HenceWhen I Heard at the Close of the DayAre You the New Person Drawn Toward Me?Roots and Leaves Themselves AloneNot Heat Flames Up and ConsumesTrickle DropsCity of OrgiesBehold This Swarthy FaceI Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak GrowingTo a StrangerThis Moment Yearning and ThoughtfulI Hear It Was Charged Against MeThe Prairie-Grass DividingWhen I Peruse the Conquer’d FameWe Two Boys Together ClingingA Promise to CaliforniaHere the Frailest Leaves of MeNo Labor-Saving MachineA GlimpseA Leaf for Hand in HandEarth, My LikenessI Dream’d in a DreamWhat Think You I Take My Pen in Hand?To the East and to the WestSometimes with One I LoveTo a Western BoyFast Anchor’d Eternal O Love!Among the MultitudeO You Whom I Often and Silently ComeThat Shadow My LikenessFull of Life NowBOOK VIBOOK VIIBOOK VIIIBOOK IXBOOK XBOOK XIBOOK XIIBOOK XIIIBOOK XIVBOOK XVBOOK XVIYouth, Day, Old Age and NightBOOK XVII. BIRDS OF PASSAGEPioneers! O Pioneers!To YouFrance [the 18th Year of these StatesMyself and MineYear of Meteors [1859-60With AntecedentsBOOK XVIIIBOOK XIX. SEA-DRIFTAs I Ebb’d with the Ocean of LifeTearsTo the Man-of-War-BirdAboard at a Ship’s HelmOn the Beach at NightThe World below the BrineOn the Beach at Night AloneSong for All Seas, All ShipsPatroling BarnegatAfter the Sea-ShipBOOK XX. BY THE ROADSIDEEurope [The 72d and 73d Years of These States]A Hand-MirrorGodsGermsThoughtsPerfectionsO Me! O Life!To a PresidentI Sit and Look OutTo Rich GiversThe Dalliance of the EaglesRoaming in Thought [After reading Hegel]A Farm PictureA Child’s AmazeThe RunnerBeautiful WomenMother and BabeThoughtVisor’dThoughtGliding O’er allHast Never Come to Thee an HourThoughtTo Old AgeLocations and TimesOfferingsTo The States [To Identify the 16th, 17th, or 18th Presidentiad]BOOK XXI. DRUM-TAPSEighteen Sixty-OneBeat! Beat! Drums!From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a BirdSong of the Banner at DaybreakRise O Days from Your Fathomless DeepsVirginia—The WestCity of ShipsThe Centenarian’s StoryCavalry Crossing a FordBivouac on a Mountain SideAn Army Corps on the MarchCome Up from the Fields FatherVigil Strange I Kept on the Field One NightA March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road UnknownA Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and DimAs Toilsome I Wander’d Virginia’s WoodsNot the PilotYear That Trembled and Reel’d Beneath MeThe Wound-DresserLong, Too Long AmericaGive Me the Splendid Silent SunDirge for Two VeteransOver the Carnage Rose Prophetic a VoiceI Saw Old General at BayThe Artilleryman’s VisionEthiopia Saluting the ColorsNot Youth Pertains to MeRace of VeteransWorld Take Good NoticeO Tan-Faced Prairie-BoyLook Down Fair MoonReconciliationHow Solemn As One by One [Washington City, 1865]As I Lay with My Head in Your Lap CameradoDelicate ClusterTo a Certain CivilianLo, Victress on the PeaksSpirit Whose Work Is Done [Washington City, 1865]Adieu to a SoldierTurn O LibertadTo the Leaven’d Soil They TrodBOOK XXII. MEMORIES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLNO Captain! My Captain!Hush’d Be the Camps To-Day [May 4, 1865This Dust Was Once the ManBOOK XXIIIReversalsBOOK XXIV. AUTUMN RIVULETSThe Return of the HeroesThere Was a Child Went ForthOld IrelandThe City Dead-HouseThis CompostTo a Foil’d European RevolutionaireUnnamed LandSong of PrudenceThe Singer in the PrisonWarble for Lilac-TimeOutlines for a Tomb [G. P., Buried 1870]Out from Behind This Mask [To Confront a Portrait]VocalismTo Him That Was CrucifiedYou Felons on Trial in CourtsLaws for CreationsTo a Common ProstituteI Was Looking a Long WhileThoughtMiraclesSparkles from the WheelTo a PupilUnfolded out of the FoldsWhat Am I After AllKosmosOthers May Praise What They LikeWho Learns My Lesson Complete?TestsThe TorchO Star of France [1870-71]The Ox-TamerWandering at MornWith All Thy GiftsMy Picture-GalleryThe Prairie StatesBOOK XXVBOOK XXVIBOOK XXVIIBOOK XXVIIITranspositionsBOOK XXIXBOOK XXX. WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATHWhispers of Heavenly DeathChanting the Square DeificOf Him I Love Day and NightYet, Yet, Ye Downcast HoursAs If a Phantom Caress’d MeAssurancesQuicksand YearsThat Music Always Round MeWhat Ship Puzzled at SeaA Noiseless Patient SpiderO Living Always, Always DyingTo One Shortly to DieNight on the PrairiesThoughtThe Last InvocationAs I Watch the Ploughman PloughingPensive and FalteringBOOK XXXIA Paumanok PictureBOOK XXXII. FROM NOON TO STARRY NIGHTFacesThe Mystic TrumpeterTo a Locomotive in WinterO Magnet-SouthMannahattaAll Is TruthA Riddle SongExcelsiorAh Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky RetreatsThoughtsMediumsWeave in, My Hardy LifeSpain, 1873-74From Far Dakota’s Canyons [June 25, 1876]Old War-DreamsThick-Sprinkled BuntingAs I Walk These Broad Majestic DaysA Clear MidnightBOOK XXXIII. SONGS OF PARTINGYears of the ModernAshes of SoldiersThoughtsSong at SunsetAs at Thy Portals Also DeathMy LegacyPensive on Her Dead GazingCamps of GreenThe Sobbing of the Bells [Midnight, Sept. 19-20, 1881]As They Draw to a CloseJoy, Shipmate, Joy!The Untold WantPortalsThese CarolsNow Finale to the ShoreSo Long!BOOK XXXIV. SANDS AT SEVENTYPaumanokFrom Montauk PointTo Those Who’ve Fail’dA Carol Closing Sixty-NineThe Bravest SoldiersA Font of TypeAs I Sit Writing HereMy Canary BirdQueries to My Seventieth YearThe Wallabout MartyrsThe First DandelionAmericaMemoriesTo-Day and TheeAfter the Dazzle of DayAbraham Lincoln, Born Feb. 12, 1809Out of May’s Shows SelectedHalcyon DaysElection Day, November, 1884With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!Death of General GrantRed Jacket (From Aloft)Washington’s Monument February, 1885Of That Blithe Throat of ThineBroadwayTo Get the Final Lilt of SongsOld Salt KossaboneThe Dead TenorContinuitiesYonnondioLife“Going Somewhere”Small the Theme of My ChantTrue ConquerorsThe United States to Old World CriticsThe Calming Thought of AllThanks in Old AgeLife and DeathThe Voice of the RainSoon Shall the Winter’s Foil Be HereWhile Not the Past ForgettingThe Dying VeteranStronger LessonsA Prairie SunsetTwenty YearsOrange Buds by Mail from FloridaTwilightYou Lingering Sparse Leaves of MeNot Meagre, Latent Boughs AloneThe Dead EmperorAs the Greek’s Signal FlameThe Dismantled ShipNow Precedent Songs, FarewellAn Evening LullOld Age’s Lambent PeaksAfter the Supper and TalkBOOKXXXV. GOOD-BYE MY FANCYLingering Last DropsGood-Bye My FancyOn, on the Same, Ye Jocund Twain!MY 71st YearApparitionsThe Pallid WreathAn Ended DayOld Age’s Ship & Crafty Death’sTo the Pending YearShakspere-Bacon’s CipherLong, Long HenceBravo, Paris Exposition!Interpolation SoundsTo the Sun-Set BreezeOld ChantsA Christmas GreetingSounds of the WinterA Twilight SongWhen the Full-Grown Poet CameOsceolaA Voice from DeathA Persian LessonThe Commonplace“The Rounded Catalogue Divine Complete”MiragesL. of G.’s PurportThe Unexpress’dGrand Is the SeenUnseen BudsGood-Bye My Fancy!Previous chapter ←Book 20 — ThoughtsNext chapter →Book 20 — O Me! O Life!All chapters and sections (375)Opening pagesFront matterBook 1 · Other sectionsOne’s-Self I SingAs I Ponder’d in SilenceIn Cabin’d Ships at SeaTo Foreign LandsTo a HistorianTo Thee Old CauseEidolonsFor Him I SingWhen I Read the BookBeginning My StudiesBeginnersTo the StatesOn Journeys Through the StatesTo a Certain CantatriceMe ImperturbeSavantismThe Ship StartingI Hear America SingingWhat Place Is Besieged?Still Though the One I SingShut Not Your DoorsPoets to ComeTo YouThou ReaderBooks234Book 4 · Other sectionsFrom Pent-Up Aching RiversI Sing the Body ElectricA Woman Waits for MeSpontaneous MeOne Hour to Madness and JoyOut of the Rolling Ocean the CrowdAges and Ages Returning at IntervalsWe Two, How Long We Were Fool’dO Hymen! O Hymenee!I Am He That Aches with LoveNative MomentsOnce I Pass’d Through a Populous CityI Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the OrganFacing West from California’s ShoresAs Adam Early in the MorningBooks5Book 5 · Other sectionsScented Herbage of My BreastWhoever You Are Holding Me Now in HandFor You, O DemocracyThese I Singing in SpringNot Heaving from My Ribb’d Breast OnlyOf the Terrible Doubt of AppearancesThe Base of All MetaphysicsRecorders Ages HenceWhen I Heard at the Close of the DayAre You the New Person Drawn Toward Me?Roots and Leaves Themselves AloneNot Heat Flames Up and ConsumesTrickle DropsCity of OrgiesBehold This Swarthy FaceI Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak GrowingTo a StrangerThis Moment Yearning and ThoughtfulI Hear It Was Charged Against MeThe Prairie-Grass DividingWhen I Peruse the Conquer’d FameWe Two Boys Together ClingingA Promise to CaliforniaHere the Frailest Leaves of MeNo Labor-Saving MachineA GlimpseA Leaf for Hand in HandEarth, My LikenessI Dream’d in a DreamWhat Think You I Take My Pen in Hand?To the East and to the WestSometimes with One I LoveTo a Western BoyFast Anchor’d Eternal O Love!Among the MultitudeO You Whom I Often and Silently ComeThat Shadow My LikenessFull of Life NowBooks678910111213141516Book 16 · Other sectionsYouth, Day, Old Age and NightBooks17Book 17 · Other sectionsPioneers! O Pioneers!To YouFrance [the 18th Year of these StatesMyself and MineYear of Meteors [1859-60With AntecedentsBooks1819Book 19 · Other sectionsAs I Ebb’d with the Ocean of LifeTearsTo the Man-of-War-BirdAboard at a Ship’s HelmOn the Beach at NightThe World below the BrineOn the Beach at Night AloneSong for All Seas, All ShipsPatroling BarnegatAfter the Sea-ShipBooks20Book 20 · Other sectionsEurope [The 72d and 73d Years of These States]A Hand-MirrorGodsGermsThoughtsPerfectionsO Me! O Life!To a PresidentI Sit and Look OutTo Rich GiversThe Dalliance of the EaglesRoaming in Thought [After reading Hegel]A Farm PictureA Child’s AmazeThe RunnerBeautiful WomenMother and BabeThoughtVisor’dThoughtGliding O’er allHast Never Come to Thee an HourThoughtTo Old AgeLocations and TimesOfferingsTo The States [To Identify the 16th, 17th, or 18th Presidentiad]Books21Book 21 · Other sectionsEighteen Sixty-OneBeat! Beat! Drums!From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a BirdSong of the Banner at DaybreakRise O Days from Your Fathomless DeepsVirginia—The WestCity of ShipsThe Centenarian’s StoryCavalry Crossing a FordBivouac on a Mountain SideAn Army Corps on the MarchCome Up from the Fields FatherVigil Strange I Kept on the Field One NightA March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road UnknownA Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and DimAs Toilsome I Wander’d Virginia’s WoodsNot the PilotYear That Trembled and Reel’d Beneath MeThe Wound-DresserLong, Too Long AmericaGive Me the Splendid Silent SunDirge for Two VeteransOver the Carnage Rose Prophetic a VoiceI Saw Old General at BayThe Artilleryman’s VisionEthiopia Saluting the ColorsNot Youth Pertains to MeRace of VeteransWorld Take Good NoticeO Tan-Faced Prairie-BoyLook Down Fair MoonReconciliationHow Solemn As One by One [Washington City, 1865]As I Lay with My Head in Your Lap CameradoDelicate ClusterTo a Certain CivilianLo, Victress on the PeaksSpirit Whose Work Is Done [Washington City, 1865]Adieu to a SoldierTurn O LibertadTo the Leaven’d Soil They TrodBooks22Book 22 · Other sectionsO Captain! My Captain!Hush’d Be the Camps To-Day [May 4, 1865This Dust Was Once the ManBooks23Book 23 · Other sectionsReversalsBooks24Book 24 · Other sectionsThe Return of the HeroesThere Was a Child Went ForthOld IrelandThe City Dead-HouseThis CompostTo a Foil’d European RevolutionaireUnnamed LandSong of PrudenceThe Singer in the PrisonWarble for Lilac-TimeOutlines for a Tomb [G. P., Buried 1870]Out from Behind This Mask [To Confront a Portrait]VocalismTo Him That Was CrucifiedYou Felons on Trial in CourtsLaws for CreationsTo a Common ProstituteI Was Looking a Long WhileThoughtMiraclesSparkles from the WheelTo a PupilUnfolded out of the FoldsWhat Am I After AllKosmosOthers May Praise What They LikeWho Learns My Lesson Complete?TestsThe TorchO Star of France [1870-71]The Ox-TamerWandering at MornWith All Thy GiftsMy Picture-GalleryThe Prairie StatesBooks25262728Book 28 · Other sectionsTranspositionsBooks2930Book 30 · Other sectionsWhispers of Heavenly DeathChanting the Square DeificOf Him I Love Day and NightYet, Yet, Ye Downcast HoursAs If a Phantom Caress’d MeAssurancesQuicksand YearsThat Music Always Round MeWhat Ship Puzzled at SeaA Noiseless Patient SpiderO Living Always, Always DyingTo One Shortly to DieNight on the PrairiesThoughtThe Last InvocationAs I Watch the Ploughman PloughingPensive and FalteringBooks31Book 31 · Other sectionsA Paumanok PictureBooks32Book 32 · Other sectionsFacesThe Mystic TrumpeterTo a Locomotive in WinterO Magnet-SouthMannahattaAll Is TruthA Riddle SongExcelsiorAh Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky RetreatsThoughtsMediumsWeave in, My Hardy LifeSpain, 1873-74From Far Dakota’s Canyons [June 25, 1876]Old War-DreamsThick-Sprinkled BuntingAs I Walk These Broad Majestic DaysA Clear MidnightBooks33Book 33 · Other sectionsYears of the ModernAshes of SoldiersThoughtsSong at SunsetAs at Thy Portals Also DeathMy LegacyPensive on Her Dead GazingCamps of GreenThe Sobbing of the Bells [Midnight, Sept. 19-20, 1881]As They Draw to a CloseJoy, Shipmate, Joy!The Untold WantPortalsThese CarolsNow Finale to the ShoreSo Long!Books34Book 34 · Other sectionsPaumanokFrom Montauk PointTo Those Who’ve Fail’dA Carol Closing Sixty-NineThe Bravest SoldiersA Font of TypeAs I Sit Writing HereMy Canary BirdQueries to My Seventieth YearThe Wallabout MartyrsThe First DandelionAmericaMemoriesTo-Day and TheeAfter the Dazzle of DayAbraham Lincoln, Born Feb. 12, 1809Out of May’s Shows SelectedHalcyon DaysElection Day, November, 1884With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!Death of General GrantRed Jacket (From Aloft)Washington’s Monument February, 1885Of That Blithe Throat of ThineBroadwayTo Get the Final Lilt of SongsOld Salt KossaboneThe Dead TenorContinuitiesYonnondioLife“Going Somewhere”Small the Theme of My ChantTrue ConquerorsThe United States to Old World CriticsThe Calming Thought of AllThanks in Old AgeLife and DeathThe Voice of the RainSoon Shall the Winter’s Foil Be HereWhile Not the Past ForgettingThe Dying VeteranStronger LessonsA Prairie SunsetTwenty YearsOrange Buds by Mail from FloridaTwilightYou Lingering Sparse Leaves of MeNot Meagre, Latent Boughs AloneThe Dead EmperorAs the Greek’s Signal FlameThe Dismantled ShipNow Precedent Songs, FarewellAn Evening LullOld Age’s Lambent PeaksAfter the Supper and TalkBooks35Book 35 · Other sectionsLingering Last DropsGood-Bye My FancyOn, on the Same, Ye Jocund Twain!MY 71st YearApparitionsThe Pallid WreathAn Ended DayOld Age’s Ship & Crafty Death’sTo the Pending YearShakspere-Bacon’s CipherLong, Long HenceBravo, Paris Exposition!Interpolation SoundsTo the Sun-Set BreezeOld ChantsA Christmas GreetingSounds of the WinterA Twilight SongWhen the Full-Grown Poet CameOsceolaA Voice from DeathA Persian LessonThe Commonplace“The Rounded Catalogue Divine Complete”MiragesL. of G.’s PurportThe Unexpress’dGrand Is the SeenUnseen BudsGood-Bye My Fancy!Only themselves understand themselves and the like of themselves, As souls only understand souls.◇← ThoughtsO Me! O Life! →