The Walt Whitman Archive
Published Works
Books by Whitman
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GIVE ME THE SPLENDID SILENT SUN.
1
GIVE me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling,
Give me juicy autumnal fruit ripe and red from the orchard,
Give me a field where the unmow'd grass grows,
Give me an arbor, give me the trellis'd grape,
Give me fresh corn and wheat, give me serene-moving animals
teaching content,
teaching content,
Give me nights perfectly quiet as on high plateaus west of the
Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars,
Mississippi, and I looking up at the stars,
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I
can walk undisturb'd,
can walk undisturb'd,
Give me for marriage a sweet-breath'd woman of whom I should
never tire,
never tire,
Give me a perfect child, give me away aside from the noise of the
world a rural domestic life,
world a rural domestic life,
Give me to warble spontaneous songs recluse by myself, for my
own ears only,
own ears only,
Give me solitude, give me Nature, give me again O Nature your
primal sanities!
primal sanities!
These demanding to have them, (tired with ceaseless excitement,
and rack'd by the war-strife,)
and rack'd by the war-strife,)
These to procure incessantly asking, rising in cries from my heart,
While yet incessantly asking still I adhere to my city,
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Day upon day and year upon year O city, walking your streets,
Where you hold me enchain'd a certain time refusing to give me
up,
up,
Yet giving to make me glutted, enrich'd of soul, you give me
forever faces;
forever faces;
(O I see what I sought to escape, confronting, reversing my cries,
I see my own soul trampling down what it ask'd for.)
2
Keep your splendid silent sun,
Keep your woods O Nature, and the quiet places by the
woods,
woods,
Keep your fields of clover and timothy, and your corn-fields and
orchards,
orchards,
Keep the blossoming buckwheat fields where the Ninth-month
bees hum;
bees hum;
Give me faces and streets—give me these phantoms incessant
and endless along the trottoirs!
and endless along the trottoirs!
Give me interminable eyes—give me women—give me comrades
and lovers by the thousand!
and lovers by the thousand!
Let me see new ones every day—let me hold new ones by the
hand every day!
hand every day!
Give me such shows—give me the streets of Manhattan!
Give me Broadway, with the soldiers marching—give me the
sound of the trumpets and drums!
sound of the trumpets and drums!
(The soldiers in companies or regiments—some starting away,
flush'd and reckless,
flush'd and reckless,
Some, their time up, returning with thinn'd ranks, young, yet very
old, worn, marching, noticing nothing;)
old, worn, marching, noticing nothing;)
Give me the shores and wharves heavy-fringed with black
ships!
ships!
O such for me! O an intense life, full to repletion and varied!
The life of the theatre, bar-room, huge hotel, for me!
The saloon of the steamer! the crowded excursion for me! the
torchlight procession!
torchlight procession!
The dense brigade bound for the war, with high piled military
wagons following;
wagons following;
People, endless, streaming, with strong voices, passions, pageants,
Manhattan streets with their powerful throbs, with beating drums
as now,
as now,
The endless and noisy chorus, the rustle and clank of muskets,
(even the sight of the wounded,)
(even the sight of the wounded,)
Manhattan crowds, with their turbulent musical chorus!
Manhattan faces and eyes forever for me.