Saturday, July 19, 2008

Whitman: I think I could turn and live with animals...


I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and 
self-contain'd, 
I stand and look at them long and long. 

They do not sweat and whine about their condition, 
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, 
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, 
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of 
owning things, 
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of 
years ago, 
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth. 

So they show their relations to me and I accept them, 
They bring me tokens of myself, they evince them plainly in their 
possession. 

I wonder where they get those tokens, 
Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?

See also:

  1. Whitman: Resist much, obey little...
  2. Whitman: To a pupil...
  3. Whitman: Song of Myself...

12 comments:

  1. i was just looking for this poem to send to my son.
    i see u heart WW too

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  2. I have loved this for over 25 years, and I will always love it. I know that I could turn and live with animals :) Walt Whitman was a beautiful mind, and a beautiful soul :) <3

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  3. I consider Whitman as one of the greatest humans that has walked on this planet...

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  4. This poem is sooooooooo bad

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  5. Alex,
    Why is this poem is sooooooooo bad?

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  6. This poem may be the only poem I understand from Whitman

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  7. People who insult poetry just dont understand it, or are too afraid to admit that it is good. So they are scared. Animals sometimes to some poeple, are the only things that listen, have a good heart, trustworthy and are just good.
    I here rest my case to Alex and whomever gggggggggggggg is

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  8. This poem is one of my favorites :)

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  9. Anyone who refers to this as a bad poem is as deep as an ashtray!

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