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AFTER a long, long course, hundreds of years, denials, Accumulations, rous’d love and joy and thought, Hopes, wishes, aspirations, ponderings, victories, myriads of readers, Coating, compassing, covering—after ages’ and ages’ encrus- tations, Then only may these songs reach fruition.

Long I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me—O if I could but obtain knowledge! Then my lands engrossed me—Lands of the prairies, Ohio’s land, the southern savannas, engrossed me—For them I would live—I would be their orator; Then I…

LOCATIONS and times—what is it in me that meets them all, when- ever and wherever, and makes me at home? Forms, colors, densities, odors—what is it in me that corresponds with them?

LO, Victress on the peaks, Where thou with mighty brow regarding the world, (The world O Libertad, that vainly conspired against thee,) Out of its countless beleaguering toils, after thwarting them all, Dominant, with the dazzling sun around thee, Flauntest…

AND whence and why come you?   We know not whence, (was the answer,) We only know that we drift here with the rest, That we linger’d and lagg’d—but were wafted at last, and are now here, To make the passing…

The two old, simple problems ever intertwined, Close home, elusive, present, baffled, grappled. By each successive age insoluble, pass’d on, To ours to-day—and we pass on the same.

Ever the undiscouraged, resolute, struggling soul of man; (Have former armies fail’d? then we send fresh armies—and fresh again;) Ever the grappled mystery of all earth’s ages old or new; Ever the eager eyes, hurrahs, the welcome-clapping hands, the loud…

THERE are who teach only the sweet lessons of peace and safety; But I teach lessons of war and death to those I love, That they readily meet invasions, when they come.

LAWS for creations, For strong artists and leaders, for fresh broods of teachers and perfect literats for America, For noble savans and coming musicians.   All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of the…

NOT to exclude or demarcate, or pick out evils from their formid- able masses (even to expose them,) But add, fuse, complete, extend—and celebrate the immortal and the good.   Haughty this song, its words and scope, To span vast realms…