Beyond this
Ah, not this
granite dead and cold.
|
Beyond this
Ah not th
e
is
granite dead and cold, |
| Far
,
far
far
fromthis base and shaft expanding—the |
| round zones circling, comprehending, |
| No lurid fame exceptional, nor monstrous intellect, nor conquest's dominations c
|
Thou, Washington , ar
e
t
^
all the world's, humanity's
freedom's
|
| Freedom's, Law's, —not yours alone, America |
|
Thy fame, (no lurid fame exceptional, for the nor
|
|
intellect, nor conquest's domination,)
|
|
By deathless waves of emanation the race's
|
|
common ownership,
|
| Europe's,
^
as well, in castle or in cot laborer's cot—the |
| Arab's in his tent—the African's, |
| Old Asia's there with venerable smile seated |
| amid the past, |
| (Greets the antique the hero new? 'tis but the |
| same—the eternal heart and arm—the |
| heir legitimate |
| Courage, alertness, patience, hope, the same— |
| e'en in defeat defeated not, the same;)
|
|
No lurid fame exceptional, nor monstrous intellect, nor conquest's domination;)
|
| Through teeming cities' streets, indoors or out, |
| factories or farms, |
| Where'er ship sails, or house is built on land, |
| or night or day, |
| Now, or to come, or past—where patriot |
| bra wills existed or exist |
| Wherever Freedom, pois'd by toleration, sway'd by Law, |
Rising or risen,of thee are monuments
there are
is thy monumen
ts
t
. |
|
-
Date
- This manuscript was probably composed in early 1885, shortly before the poem commemorating the dedication of the Washington Monument was published.
-
Editorial note
- "Ah, Not This Granite Dead and Cold" was published first on February 22, 1885, in the Philadelphia Press. The poem was ultimately titled "Washington's Monument, February 22, 1885."
- The verso of the manuscript leaf is blank.
-
Location
- Ah, not this granite dead and cold MA 627 | The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.
-
Whitman Archive ID
- pml.00001
|
