AFTER WHITMAN

NATURE, continuous Me!

Saltness, and vigorous, never torpi-yeast of Me!

Florid, unceasing, forever expansive;

Not Schooled, not dizened, not washed and powdered;

Strait-laced not at all; far otherwise than polite;

Not modest, nor immodest;

Divinely tanned and freckled; gloriously unkempt;

Ultimate yet unceasing; capricious though determined;

Speak as thou listeth, and tell the askers that which they seek to know.

Thy speech to them will be not quite intelligible.

Never mind! utter thy wild commonplaces;

Yawp them loudly, shrilly;

Silence with shrill noise the lisps of the foo-foos.

Answer in precise terms of barbaric vagueness

The question that the Fun editor hath sparked through Atlantic cable

To W..T W..TM.N, the speaker of the pass-word primeval;

The signaller of the signal of democracy;

The seer and hearer of things in general;

The poet translucent; fleshy, disorderly, sensually inclined;

Each tag and part of whom is a miracle.

(Thirteen pages of MS. relating to Mr. W..t W..tm.n are here omitted.)

Rhapsodically state the fact that is and is not;

That is not, being past; that is, being eternal;

If indeed it ever was, which is exactly the point in question.

Anonymous.