Not Heaving from my Ribb'd Breast Only

Not heaving from my ribb'd breast only,
Not in sighs at night in rage dissatisfied with myself,
Not in those long-drawn, ill-supprest sighs,
Not in many a oath and promise broken,
Not in my wilful and savage soul's volition,
Not in the subtle nourishment of the air,
Not at the beating and pounding at my temples and wrists,
Not in the curious systole and diastole within, which will one day cease,
Not in many a hungry wish told to the skies only,
Not in cries, laughter, defiances, thrown from me when alone far in the
............................wilds,
Not in husky pantings through clinch'd teeth,
Not in sounded and resounded words, chattering words, echoes, dead
.............................words,
Not in the murmurs of my dreams while I sleep,
Nor in the murmurs of these incredible dreams of everyday,
Nor in the limbs and senses of my body, that take you and dismiss you
.............................continually - not there,
Not in any or all of them O adhesiveness! O pulse of my life!
Need I that you exist and show yourself any more than in these songs.

Walt Whitman, Folhas de Erva:Leaves of Grass, vol. I, Maria de Lourdes Guimarães (Trad.), Relógio d'Água, 2002.

WE TWO, HOW LONG WE WERE FOOLED

We two, how long we were fool'd,
Now transmuted, we swiftly escape as Nature escapes,
We are Nature, long have we been absent, but now we return,
We become plants, trunks, foliage, roots, bark,
We are bedded in the ground, we are rocks,
We are oaks, we grow in the openings side by side,
We browse, we are two among the wild herds spontaneous as any,
We are two fishes swimming in the sea together,
We are what the locust blossoms are, we drop scent around the lanes,
.....................mornings and evenings,
We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals,
We are two predatory hawks, we soar above and look down,
We are two resplendent suns, we it is who balances ourselves orbic and
.....................stellar, we are as two comets,
We prowl fang'd and four footed in the woods, we spring on prey,
We are two clouds forenoons and afternoons driving overhead,
We are seas mingling, we are two of those cheerful waves rolling over
......................each other and interwetting each other,
We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious, imper-
......................vious,
We are snow, rain, cold, darkness, we are each product and influence of
.......................the globe,
We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again, we two
We have voided all but freedom and all but our own joy.

Walt Whitman, Folhas de Erva:Leaves of Grass, vol. I, Maria de Lourdes Guimarães (Trad.), Relógio d'Água, 2002.

34

Now I tell what I know in Texas in my early youth,
(I tell not the fall of Alamo,
the hundred and fifty are dumb yet at Alamo,)
'Tis the tale of the murder in could blood of four hundred and twelve
...........................young men.

Retreating they had form'd in a hollow square with their baggage for
.........................brbreastworks,
Nine hundred lives out of the surrounding enemy's, nine times their
.........................number, was the price they took in advance,
Their colonel was wounded and their amunition gone,
They threated for an honorable capitulation, receiv'd writing and seal,
..........................gave up their arms and march'd back prisoners of war.

They were the glory of the race of rangers,
Matchless with horse, rifle, song, supper, courtship,
Large, turbulent, generous, handsome, proud, and affectionate,
Bearded, sunburnt, drest in the free costume of hunters,
Not a single one over thirty years of age.

The second First-day morning they were brought out in squads and mas-
...............................sacred, it was beautiful early summer,
The work commenced about five o'clock and was over by eight.

None obey'd the command to kneel,
Some made a mad and helpless rush, some stood stark and straight,
A few fell at once, shot in the temple or heart, the living and dead lay
.........................together,
The maim'd and mangled dug in the dirt, the new-comers saw them there,
Some half-kill'd attempted to crawl away,
These were despatch'd with bayonets or batter'd with the blunts of
.............................muskets.

A youth not seventeen years old seiz'd his assassin till two more came
..........................to release him,
The three were all torn and cover'd with the boy's blood.

At eleven o'clock began the burning of bodies;
That is the tale of the murder of the four hundred and twelve young men.

Walt Whitman, Folhas de Erva:Leaves of Grass, vol. I, Maria de Lourdes Guimarães (Trad.), Relógio d'Água, 2002.

Deathless

(...)
I know I am deathless,
I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,
I know that I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt stick at
...................................night.
(...)

Walt Whitman, Folhas de Erva:Leaves of Grass, vol. I, Maria de Lourdes Guimarães (Trad.), Relógio d'Água, 2002.