WEBVTT

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Now, this-- well, actually,
it was last month.

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But anyway, this whole
spring, poets in this country

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are celebrating the
centenary of Walt Whitman,

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the anniversary of his death.

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And there are a lot of
readings being held, here

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and there and everywhere.

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And I would like to
read a poem of his, now.

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And I don't actually
have my Whitman with me,

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so I am going to do one
that I think I remember.

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A section near the
end of Song of Myself,

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where one hears Whitman's
very public voice as he

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addresses the people.

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Of course, the people in his
own time didn't hear him.

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However, here we all are.

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And last week, there
were about 1,500 people

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in the Cathedral of St. John the
Divine in New York, and so on.

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When people say poetry
has a very small audience,

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it is no doubt true.

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But it is an audience, in the
case of poems, that endure,

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that continues and grows
throughout, at least,

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the life of the civilization.

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"Each man and each
woman of you, I

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lead upon a knoll, my
left hand hooking you

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around the waist, my
right hand pointing

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to landscapes of continents
and the public road.

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Not I, not anyone else can
travel that road for you.

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You must travel it for yourself.

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It is not far, it
is within reach.

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Perhaps you have been on it
since you were born and did not

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know.

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Perhaps it is everywhere
on water and on land.

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Shoulder your duds, and I will
mine, and let us hasten forth,

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wonderful cities and
free nations which

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we shall fetch as we go.

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If you tire, give
me both burdens

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and rest the chuff of your
hand on my hip, and in due time

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you shall repay the
same service to me,

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for after we start we
never lie by again.

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This day before dawn,
I ascended a hill

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and looked at the
crowded heaven.

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And I said to my
spirit, When we become

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the enfolders of those orbs,
and the pleasure and knowledge

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of everything in them, shall we
be filled and satisfied then?

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And my spirit said, No, we
but level that lift, to pass

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and continue beyond.

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Sit a while, wayfarer.

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Here are biscuits to eat,
and here is milk to drink.

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But as soon as you
sleep and renew yourself

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in sweet clothes, I kiss
you with a goodbye kiss

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and open the gate for
your egress hence.

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Long enough have
you dreamed, now

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I wash the gum from your eyes.

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You must habit yourself
to the dazzle of the light

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and of every moment
of your life.

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Long enough have you waded
holding a plank close

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by the shore.

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Now I will you to
be a bold swimmer."

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[APPLAUSE]