The Walt Whitman Archive
Published Works
Books by Whitman
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THE WORLD BELOW THE BRINE.
THE world below the brine,
Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves,
Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangle,
openings, and pink turf,
openings, and pink turf,
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Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold, the
play of light through the water,
play of light through the water,
Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass, rushes,
and the aliment of the swimmers,
and the aliment of the swimmers,
Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling
close to the bottom,
close to the bottom,
The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, or disporting
with his flukes,
with his flukes,
The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard,
and the sting-ray,
and the sting-ray,
Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths,
breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do,
breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do,
The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed
by beings like us who walk this sphere,
by beings like us who walk this sphere,
The change onward from ours to that of beings who walk other
spheres.
spheres.