Poetry  |  Walt Whitman  |  Leaves of Grass  |  Autumn Rivulets

Leaves of Grass — Autumn Rivulets (Part 18 of 18)

of life, and here the groupings of death;
Here, do you know this? this is cicerone himself,
With finger rais'd he points to the prodigal pictures.

1880 1881

THE PRAIRIE STATES

A never garden of creation, no primal solitude,
Dense, joyous, modern, populous millions, cities and farms,
With iron interlaced, composite, tied, many in one,
By all the world contributed — freedom's and law's and
    thrift's society,
The crown and teeming paradise, so far, of time's
    accumulations,
To justify the past.

1880 1881