So Long Walt Whitman

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To conclude—I announce what comes after me;
I announce mightier offspring, orators, days, and then, for the present, depart

I remember I said, before my leaves sprang at all
I would raise my voice jocund and strong, with reference to consummations

When America does what was promis’d
When there are plentiful athletic bards, inland and seaboard
When through These States walk a hundred millions of superb persons
When the rest part away for superb persons, and contribute to them
When breeds of the most perfect mothers denote America
Then to me and mine our due fruition

I have press’d through in my own right
I have sung the Body and the Soul—War and Peace have I sung
And the songs of Life and of Birth—and shown that there are many births:
I have offer’d my style to everyone—I have journey’d with confident step;
While my pleasure is yet at the full, I whisper, So long!
And take the young woman’s hand, and the young man’s hand, for the last time


2

I announce natural persons to arise;
I announce justice triumphant;
I announce uncompromising liberty and equality;
I announce the justification of candor, and the justification of pride