land and tide,
Some three days since on their own soil live-sprouting,
Now here their sweetness through my room unfolding,
A bunch of orange buds by mail from Florida.

1888 1888-9

TWILIGHT

THE soft voluptuous opiate shades,
The sun just gone, the eager light dispell'd —
     (I too will soon be gone, dispell'd,)
A haze — nirwana — rest and night
     — oblivion.

(1887) 1888-9

YOU LINGERING SPARSE LEAVES OF ME

YOU lingering sparse leaves of me on winter-nearing
     boughs,
And I some well-shorn tree of field or orchard- row;
You tokens diminute and lorn — (not now
     the flush of May, or July clover-bloom — no
     grain of August now;)
You pallid banner-staves — you pennants value-
    less — you overstay'd of time,
Yet me soul-dearest leaves confirming all the rest,
The faithfulest — hardiest — last.

1887 1888-9

NOT MEAGRE, LATENT BOUGHS ALONE

NOT meagre, latent boughs alone, O songs! (scaly
     and bare, like eagles' talons,)
But haply for some sunny day (who knows?) some
     future spring, some summer — bursting forth,
To verdant leaves, or sheltering shade — to
     nourishing fruit,
Apples and grapes — the stalwart limbs of trees
     emerging — the fresh, free, open air,
And love and faith, like scented roses blooming.

1887 1888-9

THE DEAD EMPEROR

TO-DAY, with bending head and eyes, thou, too, Columbia,
Less for the mighty crown laid low in sorrow — less
     for the Emperor,
Thy true condolence breathest, sendest out o'er many a salt
     sea mile,
Mourning a good old man — a faithful shepherd, patriot.

1888 1888-9

AS THE GREEK'S SIGNAL FLAME

AS the Greek's signal flame, by antique records told,
Rose from the hill-top, like applause and glory,
Welcoming in fame some special veteran, hero,
With rosy tinge reddening the land he'd served,
So I aloft from Mannahatta's ship-fringed shore,
Lift high a kindled brand for thee, Old Poet.

1887 1888-9

THE DISMANTLED SHIP

IN some unused lagoon, some nameless bay,
On sluggish, lonesome waters, anchor'd near the shore,
An old, dismasted, gray and batter'd ship, disabled, done,
After free voyages to all the seas of earth, haul'd up at last
     and hawser'd tight,
Lies rusting, mouldering.

1888 1888-9

NOW PRECEDENT SONGS, FAREWELL

NOW precedent songs, farewell — by every
     name farewell,
(Trains of a staggering line in many a strange procession,
     waggons,
From ups and downs — with intervals —
     from elder years, mid-age, or youth,)
``In Cabin'd Ships'', or ``Thee Old Cause'' or ``Poets to
     Come''

Or ``Paumanok'', ``Song of Myself'', ``Calamus'',
     or ``Adam'',
Or ``Beat! Beat! Drums!'' or ``To the Leaven'd Soil
     they Trod,''
Or ``Captain! My Captain!'' ``Kosmos'', ``Quicksand
     Years'', or ``Thoughts'',
``Thou Mother with thy Equal Brood'', and many, many
     more unspecified,
From fibre heart of mine — from throat and tongue
     — (My life's hot pulsing blood,
The personal urge and form for me — not merely
     paper, automatic type and ink,)
Each song of mine — each utterance in the past
     — having its long, long history,
Of life or