Published Works

Books by Whitman

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [begin page 206] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

POETS TO COME.

1POETS to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!

Not to-day is to justify me, and answer what I am
for;

But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental,
greater than before known,

Arouse! Arouse—for you must justify me—you must
answer.

2I myself but write one or two indicative words for the
future,

I but advance a moment, only to wheel and hurry back
in the darkness.

3I am a man who, sauntering along, without fully stop-
ping, turns a casual look upon you, and then
averts his face,

Leaving it to you to prove and define it,

Expecting the main things from you.

Distributed under a Creative Commons License. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price, editors.