Leaves of Grass (1891-92)


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YOU TIDES WITH CEASELESS SWELL.

You tides with ceaseless swell! you power that does this work!
You unseen force, centripetal, centrifugal, through space's
         spread,
Rapport of sun, moon, earth, and all the constellations,
What are the messages by you from distant stars to us? what
         Sirius'? what Capella's?
What central heart—and you the pulse—vivifies all? what
         boundless aggregate of all?
What subtle indirection and significance in you? what clue to
         all in you? what fluid, vast identity,
Holding the universe with all its parts as one—as sailing in a ship?
 
 
 
 
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