Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A HAND-MIRROR, by WALT WHITMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A HAND-MIRROR, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hold it up sternly -- see this it sends back, (who is it? Is it you?)
Last Line: Such a result so soon -- and from such a beginning!
Subject(s): Hate; Mirrors


Hold it up sternly -- see this it sends back, (who is it? is it you?)
Outside fair costume, within ashes and filth,
No more a flashing eye, no more a sonorous voice or springy step,
Now some slave's eye, voice, hands, step,
A drunkard's breath, unwholesome eater's face, venerealee's flesh,
Lungs rotting away piecemeal, stomach sour and cankerous,
Joints rheumatic, bowels clogged with abomination,
Blood circulating dark and poisonous streams,
Words babble, hearing and touch callous,
No brain, no heart left, no magnetism of sex;
Such from one look in this looking-glass ere you go hence,
Such a result so soon -- and from such a beginning!





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