Poetry &Sprituality Entropy | 03 Mar 2009
Miracles
Wish to share wonderful & spiritual poem by Walt Whitman- Quintessential American poet who sang of individual freedom, democracy & brotherhood of man..
Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night
with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet
and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim–the rocks–the motion of the waves–the
ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?
on 03 Mar 2009 at 4:01 pm 1.molly said …
I love Walt Whitman. I believe my favorite poem by him is Song of the Open Road. This one you have posted is very moving also.
on 03 Mar 2009 at 5:01 pm 2.Magda said …
Yes, yes, yes… Wonderful. I have heard about Walt Whitman, but now is my very first meeting with him, thank you! :-)
on 03 Mar 2009 at 8:03 pm 3.fleur said …
This one I did not know but I like it vey much.
Very powerful as most of W.Whitman’s poems.
One of my preferred is this one written after A. Lincoln assassination
below is the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Captain!_My_Captain!
and here is the poem
from the book “Leaves of Grass”
O Captain! My Captain!
O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
*********
on 04 Mar 2009 at 1:13 pm 4.michele said …
“To me the sea is a continual miracle”…
you have to pass in front of the pacific ocean like I did for years (twice a day) to really understand the truth of this beautiful verse.
somehow you never get used to its majesty, can never be blasé about it, can never take it for granted—on its blue days, gray days, choppy days, pacific days…
on 09 Mar 2009 at 12:52 pm 5.nishith said …
Wonderful!!
The beauty is to see miracle in all things that naturally pass our eyes which we let pass.
Miracles happen even in our lives everyday. Lot of us are too bogged by daily rote to even see these miracles. One needs the innocence of a child to see them. Look at everything with that innocence and the miracle unfolds all around us.
Lets all get back to our childhood in the way we perceive the world around us. It is still beautiful. It has not changed. Only we have !!
NISH