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Walt Whitman - In Cabin`d Ships At Sea
Work rating: Medium

IN cabin`d ships, at sea,
The boundless blue on every side expanding,
With whistling winds and music of the waves—the large imperious
         waves—In such,
Or some lone bark, buoy`d on the dense marine,
Where, joyous, full of faith, spreading white sails,
She cleaves the ether, mid the sparkle and the foam of day, or under
         many a star at night,
By sailors young and old, haply will I, a reminiscence of the land,
         be read,
In full rapport at last.

Here are our thoughts—voyagers` thoughts,
Here not the land, firm land, alone appears, may then by them be
         said;                                                        

The sky o`erarches here—we feel the undulating deck beneath our
         feet,
We feel the long pulsation—ebb and flow of endless motion;
The tones of unseen mystery—the vague and vast suggestions of the
         briny world—the liquid-flowing syllables,
The perfume, the faint creaking of the cordage, the melancholy
         rhythm,
The boundless vista, and the horizon far and dim, are all here,
And this is Ocean`s poem.

Then falter not, O book! fulfil your destiny!
You, not a reminiscence of the land alone,
You too, as a lone bark, cleaving the ether—purpos`d I know
   not whither—yet ever full of faith,                              

Consort to every ship that sails—sail you!
Bear forth to them, folded, my love—(Dear mariners! for you I fold
         it here, in every leaf 
Speed on, my Book! spread your white sails, my little bark, athwart
         the imperious waves!
Chant on—sail on—bear o`er the boundless blue, from me, to every
         shore,
This song for mariners and all their ships.
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