Leaves of Grass eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 476 pages of information about Leaves of Grass.
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Leaves of Grass eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 476 pages of information about Leaves of Grass.

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 Kenebec,
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.

     10
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 dancers’ 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 foot- steps,
The shape of the sly settee, and the adulterous unwholesome couple,
The shape of the gambling-board with its devilish winnings and losings,
The shape of the step-ladder for the convicted and sentenced
    murderer, the murderer with haggard face and pinion’d arms,
The sheriff at hand with his deputies, the silent and white-lipp’d
    crowd, the dangling of the rope.

The shapes arise! 
Shapes of doors giving many exits and entrances,
The door passing the dissever’d friend flush’d and in haste,
The door that admits good news and bad news,
The door whence the son left home confident and puff’d up,
The door he enter’d again from a long and scandalous absence,
    diseas’d, broken down, without innocence, without means.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Leaves of Grass from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.