armpit, elbow-socket, lower-arm, arm-sinews,
     arm-bones,
Wrist and wrist-joints, hand, palm, knuckles, thumb,
     forefinger, finger-joints, finger-nails,
Broad breast-front, curling hair of the breast, breast-bone,
     breast-side,
Ribs, belly, backbone, joints of the backbone,
Hips, hip-sockets, hip-strength, inward and outward round,
     man-balls, man-root,
Strong set of thighs, well carrying the trunk above,
Leg-fibres, knee, knee-pan, upper-leg, under-leg,
Ankles, instep, foot-ball, toes, toe-joints, the heel;
All attitudes, all the shapeliness, all the belongings of my or
     your body or of any one's body, male or female,
The lung-sponges, the stomach-sac, the bowels sweet and
     clean,

The brain in its folds inside the skull-frame,
Sympathies, heart-valves, palate-valves, sexuality, maternity,
Womanhood and all that is a woman, and the man that comes
     from woman,
The womb, the teats, nipples, breast-milk, tears, laughter,
     weeping, love-looks, love-perturbations and risings,
The voice, articulation, language, whispering, shouting aloud,
Food, drink, pulse, digestion, sweat, sleep, walking, swimming,
Poise on the hips, leaping, reclining, embracing, arm-curving
     and tightening,
The continual changes of the flex of the mouth, and around
     the eyes,
The skin, the sunburnt shade, freckles, hair,
The curious sympathy one feels when feeling with the hand
     the naked meat of the body,
The circling rivers the breath, and breathing it in and out,
The beauty of the waist, and thence of the hips, and thence
     downward toward the knees,
The thin red jellies within you or within me, the bones and
     the marrow in the bones,
The exquisite realization of health;
O I say these are not the parts and poems of the body only,
     but of the soul,
O I say now these are the soul!

1855 1881

A WOMAN WAITS FOR ME

A WOMEN waits for me, she contains all, nothing is lacking,
Yet all were lacking if sex were lacking, or if the moisture of
     the right man were lacking.
Sex contains all, bodies, souls,
Meanings, proofs, purities, delicacies, results, promulgations,
Songs, commands, health, pride, the maternal mystery, the
     seminal milk,
All hopes, benefactions, bestowals, all the passions, loves,
     beauties, delights of the earth,
All the governments, judges, gods, follow'd persons of the earth,

These are contain'd in sex as parts of itself and justifications
     of itself.

Without shame the man I like knows and avows the
     deliciousness of his sex,
Without shame the woman I like knows and avows hers.

Now I will dismiss myself from impassive women,
I will go stay with her who waits for me, and with those
     women that are warm-blooded and sufficient for me,
I see that they understand me and do not deny me,
I see that they are worthy of me, I will be the robust husband
     of those women.

They are not one jot less than I am,
They are tann'd in the face by shining suns and blowing
     winds,
Their flesh has the old divine suppleness and strength,
They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle, shoot, run,
     strike, retreat, advance, resist, defend themselves,
They are ultimate in their own right — they are calm, clear,
     well-possess'd of themselves.

I draw you close to me, you women,
I cannot let you go, I would do you good,
I am for you, and you are for me, not only for our own sake,
     but for others' sakes,
Envelop'd in you sleep greater heroes and bards,
They refuse to awake at the touch of any man but me.

It is I, you women, I make my way,
I am stern, acrid, large, undissuadable, but I love you,
I do not hurt you any more than is necessary for you,
I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters fit for these States,
     I press with slow rude muscle,
I brace myself effectually, I listen to no entreaties,
I dare not withdraw till I deposit what has so long
     accumulated within me.

Through you I drain the pent-up rivers of myself,
In you I wrap a thousand onward years,

On you I graft the grafts of the best-beloved of me and
     America,
The drops I distil upon you shall grow fierce and athletic
     girls, new artists, musicians, and singers,
The babes I beget upon you are to beget