|
Leaves of Grass (1891-92)
contents
| previous
| next
TO THEE OLD CAUSE.
Thou peerless, passionate, good cause, |
Thou stern, remorseless, sweet idea, |
Deathless throughout the ages, races, lands, |
After a strange sad war, great war for thee, |
(I think all war through time was really fought, and ever will be
really fought, for thee,)
|
These chants for thee, the eternal march of thee. |
(A war O soldiers not for itself alone, |
Far, far more stood silently waiting behind, now to advance in
this book.)
|
Thou seething principle! thou well-kept, latent germ! thou centre! |
Around the idea of thee the war revolving, |
With all its angry and vehement play of causes, |
(With vast results to come for thrice a thousand years,) |
These recitatives for thee,—my book and the war are one, |
Merged in its spirit I and mine, as the contest hinged on thee, |
As a wheel on its axis turns, this book unwitting to itself, |
contents
| previous
| next
|
| |