| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 369. From “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” |
| | | By Walt Whitman |
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| AH, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than mast-hemmed Manhattan? | |
| River and sunset and scallop-edged waves of flood-tide? | |
| The sea-gulls oscillating their bodies, the hay-boat in the twilight, and the belated lighter? | |
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| Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide! | |
| Frolic on, crested and scallop-edged waves! | 5 |
| Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! drench with your splendor me, or the men and women generations after me! | |
| Cross from shore to shore, countless crowds of passengers! | |
| Stand up, tall masts of Mannahatta! Stand up, beautiful hills of Brooklyn! | |
| Throb, baffled and curious brain! throw out questions and answers! | |
| Suspend here and everywhere, eternal float of solution! | 10 |
| Gaze, loving and thirsting eyes, in the house or street or public assembly! | |
| Sound out, voices of young men! loudly and musically call me by my nighest name! | |
| Live, old life! play the part that looks back on the actor or actress! | |
| Play the old role, the role that is great or small according as one makes it! | |
| Consider, you who peruse me, whether I may not in unknown ways be looking upon you; | 15 |
| Be firm, rail over the river, to support those who lean idly, yet haste with the hasting current; | |
| Fly on, sea-birds! fly sideways, or wheel in large circles high in the air; | |
| Receive the summer sky, you water, and faithfully hold it till all downcast eyes have time to take it from you! | |
| Diverge, fine spokes of light, from the shape of my head, or any one’s head, in the sunlit water! | |
| Come on, ships from the lower bay! pass up or down, white-sailed schooners, sloops, lighters! | 20 |
| Flaunt away, flags of all nations! be duly lowered at sunset! | |
| Burn high your fires, foundry chimneys! cast black shadows at nightfall! cast red and yellow light over the tops of the houses! | |
| Appearances, now or henceforth, indicate what you are, | |
| You necessary film, continue to envelop the soul, | |
| About my body for me, and your body for you, be hung our divinest aromas, | 25 |
| Thrive, cities—bring your freight, bring your shows, ample and sufficient rivers, | |
| Expand, being than which none else is perhaps more spiritual, | |
| Keep your places, objects than which none else is more lasting. | |
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