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I know very well I could not.

To a Stranger

Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,

You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me

as of a dream,)

I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,

All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate,

chaste, matured,

You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,

I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours

only nor left my body mine only,

You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you

take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,

I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or

wake at night alone,

I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,

I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

This Moment Yearning and Thoughtful

This moment yearning and thoughtful sitting alone,

It seems to me there are other men in other lands yearning and thoughtful,

It seems to me I can look over and behold them in Germany, Italy,

France, Spain,

Or far, far away, in China, or in Russia or talking other dialects,

And it seems to me if I could know those men I should become

attached to them as I do to men in my own lands,

O I know we should be brethren and lovers,

I know I should be happy with them.

I Hear It Was Charged Against Me

I hear it was charged against me that I sought to destroy institutions,

But really I am neither for nor against institutions,

(What indeed have I in common with them? or what with the

destruction of them?)

Only I will establish in the Mannahatta and in every city of these

States inland and seaboard,

And in the fields and woods, and above every keel little or large

that dents the water,

Without edifices or rules or trustees or any argument,

The institution of the dear love of comrades.

The Prairie-Grass Dividing

The prairie-grass dividing, its special odor breathing,

I demand of it the spiritual corresponding,

Demand the most copious and close companionship of men,

Demand the blades to rise of words, acts, beings,

Those of the open atmosphere, coarse, sunlit, fresh, nutritious,

Those that go their own gait, erect, stepping with freedom and

command, leading not following,

Those with a never-quell'd audacity, those with sweet and lusty

flesh clear of taint,

Those that look carelessly in the faces of Presidents and governors,

as to say Who are you?

Those of earth-born passion, simple, never constrain'd, never obedient,

Those of inland America.

When I Peruse the Conquer'd Fame

When I peruse the conquer'd fame of heroes and the victories of

mighty generals, I do not envy the generals,

Nor the President in his Presidency, nor the rich in his great house,

But when I hear of the brotherhood of lovers, how it was with them,

How together through life, through dangers, odium, unchanging, long

and long,

Through youth and through middle and old age, how unfaltering, how

affectionate and faithful they were,

Then I am pensive—I hastily walk away fill'd with the bitterest envy.

We Two Boys Together Clinging

We two boys together clinging,

One the other never leaving,

Up and down the roads going, North and South excursions making,

Power enjoying, elbows stretching, fingers clutching,

Arm'd and fearless, eating, drinking, sleeping, loving.

No law less than ourselves owning, sailing, soldiering, thieving,

threatening,

Misers, menials, priests alarming, air breathing, water drinking, on

the turf or the sea-beach dancing,

Cities wrenching, ease scorning, statutes mocking, feebleness chasing,

Fulfilling our foray.

A Promise to California

A promise to California,

Or inland to the great pastoral Plains, and on to Puget sound and Oregon;

Sojourning east a while longer, soon I travel toward you, to remain,

to teach robust American love,

For I know very well that I and robust love belong among you,

inland, and along the Western sea;

For these States tend inland and toward the Western sea, and I will