I see those who in any land have died for the good cause,
The seed is spare, nevertheless the crop shall never run out,

(Mind you O foreign kings, O priests, the crop shall never
     run out.)

I see the blood wash'd entirely away from the axe,
Both blade and helve are clean,
They spirt no more the blood of European nobles, they clasp
     no more the necks of queens.

I see the headsman withdraw and become useless,
I see the scaffold untrodden and mouldy, I see no longer any
     axe upon it,
I see the mighty and friendly emblem of the power of my own
     race, the newest, largest race.

(America! I do not vaunt my love for you,
I have what I have.)

The axe leaps!
The solid forest gives fluid utterances,
They tumble forth, they rise and form,
Hut, tent, landing, survey,
Flail, plough, pick, crowbar, spade,
Shingle, rail, prop, wainscot, jamb, lath, panel, gable,
Citadel, ceiling, saloon, academy, organ, exhibition-house,
     library,
Cornice, trellis, pilaster, balcony, window, turret, porch,
Hoe, rake, pitchfork, pencil, wagon, staff, saw, jack-plane,
     mallet, wedge, rounce,
Chair, tub, hoop, table, wicket, vane, sash, floor,
Work-box, chest, string'd instrument, boat, frame, and
     what not,
Capitols of States, and capitol of the nation of States,
Long stately rows in avenues, hospitals for orphans or for the
     poor or sick,
Manhattan steamboats and clippers taking the measure of
     all seas.

The shapes arise!
Shapes of the using of axes anyhow, and the users and all that
     neighbors them,

Cutters down of wood and haulers of it to the Penobscot or
     Kennebec,
Dwellers in cabins among the Californian mountains or by the
     little lakes, or on the Columbia,
Dwellers south on the banks of the Gila or Rio Grande, friendly
     gatherings, the characters and fun,
Dwellers along the St. Lawrence, or north in Kanada, or down
     by the Yellowstone, dwellers on coasts and off coasts,
Seal-fishers, whalers, arctic seamen breaking passages through
     the ice.

The shapes arise!
Shapes of factories, arsenals, foundries, markets,
Shapes of the two-threaded tracks of railroads,
Shapes of the sleepers of bridges, vast frameworks, girders,
     arches,
Shapes of the fleets of barges, tows, lake and canal craft, river
     craft,
Ship-yards and dry-docks along the Eastern and Western seas,
     and in many a bay and by-place,
The live-oak kelsons, the pine planks, the spars, the hackmatack-
    roots for knees,
The ships themselves on their ways, the tiers of scaffolds, the
     workmen busy outside and inside,
The tools lying around, the great auger and little auger, the adze,
     bolt, line, square, gouge, and bead-plane.

The shapes arise!
The shape measur'd, saw'd, jack'd, join'd, stain'd,
The coffin-shape for the dead to lie within in his shroud,
The shape got out in posts, in the bedstead posts, in the
     posts of the bride's bed,
The shape of the little trough, the shape of the rockers
     beneath, the shape of the babe's cradle,
The shape of the floor-planks, the floor-planks for dancer's
     feet,
The shape of the planks of the family home, the home of the
     friendly parents and children,

The shape of the roof of the home of the happy young man and
     woman, the roof over the well-married young man and woman,
The roof over the supper joyously cook'd by the chaste wife, and
     joyously eaten by the chaste husband, content after his day's
     work.

The shapes arise!
The shape of the prisoner's place in the court-room, and of him
     or her seated in the place.
The shape of the liquor-bar lean'd against by the young rum-drinker
     and the old rum-drinker,
The shape of the shamed and angry stairs trod by sneaking footsteps,
The shape of the sly settee, and the