in all men,
I believe the main purport of these States is to found a superb
     friendship, exaltè, previously unknown,
Because I perceive it waits, and has been always waiting,
     latent in all men.

1860 1867

SOMETIMES WITH ONE I LOVE

SOMETIMES with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I
     effuse unreturn'd love,
But now I think there is no unreturn'd love, the pay is certain
     one way or another,
(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not
     return'd,
Yet out of that I have written these songs.)

1860 1867

TO A WESTERN BOY

MANY things to absorb I teach to help you become eleve of
     mine;
Yet if blood like mine circle not in your veins,
If you be not silently selected by lovers and do not silently
     select lovers,
Of what use is it that you seek to become eleve of mine?

1860 1881

FAST-ANCHOR'D ETERNAL O LOVE!

FAST-ANCHOR'D eternal O love! O woman I love!
O bride! O wife! more resistless than I can tell, the thought
     of you!
Then separate, as disembodied or another born,
Ethereal, the last athletic reality, my consolation,
I ascend, I float in the regions of your love O man,
O sharer of my roving life.

1860 1867

AMONG THE MULTITUDE

AMONG the men and women the multitude,
I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs,
Acknowledging none else, not parent, wife, husband,
     brother, child, any nearer than I am,
Some are baffled, but that one is not — that one knows me.

Ah lover and perfect equal,
I meant that you should discover me so by faint indirections,
And I when I meet you mean to discover you by the like in
     you.

1860 1881

O YOU WHOM I OFTEN AND SILENTLY COME

O YOU whom I often and silently come where you are that I
     may be with you,
As I walk by your side or sit near, or remain in the same
     room with you,
Little you know the subtle electric fire that for your sake is
     playing within me.

1860 1867

THAT SHADOW MY LIKENESS

THAT shadow my likeness that goes to and fro seeking a
     livelihood, chattering, chaffering,
How often I find myself standing and looking at it where it
     flits,
How often I question and doubt whether that is really me;
But among my lovers and caroling these songs,
O I never doubt whether that is really me.

(1859?)
1881

FULL OF LIFE NOW

FULL of life now, compact, visible,
I, forty years old the eighty-third year of the States,
To one a century hence or any number of centuries hence,
To you yet unborn these, seeking you.

When you read these I that was visible am become invisible,
Now it is you, compact, visible, realizing my poems, seeking
     me,
Fancying how happy you were if I could be with you and
     become your comrade;
Be it as if I were with you. (Be not too certain but I am now
     with you.)

1860 1871