Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE BATH OF CROWDS by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS

First Line: I FEEL THE SWINGING HUMAN SEA
Last Line: AND NEWLY PURIFIES!
Subject(s): BATHS & BATHING;

I feel the swinging human sea,
I hear the calling human tide,
The hail of mortal mystery
Where all the deeps abide.

The tangled surf and surge of men,
The sweep of men, the rise and fall
Of souls that clash and clash again,
Impetuously they call.

Oh, plunge with me! and feel the waves
Beneath and over and around,
The blended lives of saints and knaves,
The toss of sense and sound.

Lie on the billows, float and rest,
Merge in the universal man,
Or rolling swell or leaping crest,
Without a name or plan.

Oh, bath of human brotherhood!
What salty vigors it applies!
How rubs away the deadened good,
And newly purifies!



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