+1 if you like poetry.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

On the Beach at Night Alone by Walt Whitman


ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE
by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
      N the beach at night alone,
      As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,
      As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future.
       
      A vast similitude interlocks all,
      All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
      All distances of place however wide,
      All distances of time, all inanimate forms,
      All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, or in different worlds,
      All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes,
      All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages,
      All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe,
      All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,
      This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd,
      And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them.


22 comments:

  1. A beautiful piece: I'd never read it before. Thank you.

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  2. Walt was a champ back in the day.

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  3. lovely writing. poetry really touches deep in the soul.

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  4. Hmm I can see the beach as some sort of metaphor for 'on the edge of vastness' as in the sea/universe. The mother as the see and it's reflection holding the dark sky of the universe.
    I guess I'll have to search for the explanation somewhere now that this is in the head.

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  5. I've never been to the beack at night alone

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  6. nice piece but i'd rather not be by the beach all alone at night though.

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  7. ciao,, great,, nice poem u made..

    visit, please.

    Thanks.

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  8. Wow...beautiful. The written word truly does have power.

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  9. Very nice find! =]

    Btw i'm your 200th follower :) Do I get a reward? :D

    cool blog following!

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  10. stunning picture and great poem!

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  11. i love it! love reading poetry, when im in the mood this is where i come:)

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  12. Whitman's one of my favorites. Was this one in Leaves of Grass?

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