Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DEBRIS, by WALT WHITMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DEBRIS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: He is wisest who has the most caution
Last Line: And those appear that perplex me.


He is wisest who has the most caution,
He only wins who goes far enough.

Any thing is as good as established, when that is
established that will produce and continue it.

What General has a good army in himself, has a good army;
He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy,
But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than
you can beget or conceive a child by others.
One sweeps by, attended by an immense train,
All emblematic of peace -- not a soldier or menial among them.

One sweeps by, old, with black eyes, and profuse white hair,
He has the simple magnificence of health and strength,
His face strikes as with flashes of lightning whoever it turns toward.

Three old men slowly pass, followed by three others, and
they by three others,
They are beautiful -- the one in the middle of each group
holds his companions by the hand,
As they walk, they give out perfume wherever they walk.

What weeping face is that looking from the window?
Why does it stream those sorrowful tears?
Is it for some burial place, vast and dry?
Is it to wet the soil of graves?

I will take an egg out of the robin's nest in the orchard,
I will take a branch of gooseberries from the old bush in
the garden, and go and preach to the world;
You shall see I will not meet a single heretic or scorner,
You shall see how I stump clergymen, and confound them,
You shall see me showing a scarlet tomato, and a white
pebble from the beach.

Behavior -- fresh, native, copious, each one for himself or herself,
Nature and the Soul expressed -- America and freedom
expressed -- in it the finest art,
In it pride, cleanliness, sympathy, to have their chance,
In it physique, intellect, faith -- in it just as much as
to manage an army or a city, or to write a book -- perhaps more,
The youth, the laboring person, the poor person, rivalling
all the rest -- perhaps outdoing the rest,
The effects of the universe no greater than its;
For there is nothing in the whole universe that can be more
effective than a man's or a woman's daily behavior can be,
In any position, in any one of These States.

I thought I was not alone, walking here by the shore,
But the one I thought was with me, as now I walk by the shore,
As I lean and look through the glimmering light -- that one
has utterly disappeared,
And those appear that perplex me.





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