Now, this-- well, actually, it was last month.
But anyway, this whole spring, poets in this country
are celebrating the centenary of Walt Whitman,
the anniversary of his death.
And there are a lot of readings being held, here
and there and everywhere.
And I would like to read a poem of his, now.
And I don't actually have my Whitman with me,
so I am going to do one that I think I remember.
A section near the end of Song of Myself,
where one hears Whitman's very public voice as he
addresses the people.
Of course, the people in his own time didn't hear him.
However, here we all are.
And last week, there were about 1,500 people
in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, and so on.
When people say poetry has a very small audience,
it is no doubt true.
But it is an audience, in the case of poems, that endure,
that continues and grows throughout, at least,
the life of the civilization.
"Each man and each woman of you, I
lead upon a knoll, my left hand hooking you
around the waist, my right hand pointing
to landscapes of continents and the public road.
Not I, not anyone else can travel that road for you.
You must travel it for yourself.
It is not far, it is within reach.
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not
know.
Perhaps it is everywhere on water and on land.
Shoulder your duds, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth,
wonderful cities and free nations which
we shall fetch as we go.
If you tire, give me both burdens
and rest the chuff of your hand on my hip, and in due time
you shall repay the same service to me,
for after we start we never lie by again.
This day before dawn, I ascended a hill
and looked at the crowded heaven.
And I said to my spirit, When we become
the enfolders of those orbs, and the pleasure and knowledge
of everything in them, shall we be filled and satisfied then?
And my spirit said, No, we but level that lift, to pass
and continue beyond.
Sit a while, wayfarer.
Here are biscuits to eat, and here is milk to drink.
But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself
in sweet clothes, I kiss you with a goodbye kiss
and open the gate for your egress hence.
Long enough have you dreamed, now
I wash the gum from your eyes.
You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light
and of every moment of your life.
Long enough have you waded holding a plank close
by the shore.
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer."
[APPLAUSE]