Leaves of Grass An Athology of Thoughts Through Life Tess Wilson
Leaves of Grass An Athology of Thoughts Through Life Tess Wilson
Title
Leaves of Grass: An Anthology of Thoughts Through Life
Author
Tess Wilson
Publisher
Wilson Publishing
Copyright Year Published 2017
Table of Contents 2
I Am He That Aches with Love
3
Shut Not Your Doors
4
To You
5
To a Stranger
6
This Moment Yearning and Thoughtful
7
Hear the Frailest Leaves of Me
8
Sometimes with One I Love
9
A Child’s Amaze
10
Reversals
11
What Am I After All
Introduction These poems were carefully chosen. I connect deeply with this set of poems and believe that at some point in life the rest of humankind does as well.
1
I Am He That Aches with Love
I am he that aches with amorous love; Does the earth gravitate? does not all matter, aching, attract all matter? So the body of me to all I meet or know.
2
Shut Not Your Doors Shut not your doors to me proud libraries,
For that which was lacking on all your well-fill'd shelves,
yet needed most, I bring,
Forth from the war emerging,
a book I have made,
The words of my book nothing, the drift of it every thing, A book separate, not link'd with the rest nor felt by the intellect,
But you ye untold latencies will thrill to every page. 3
To You This poem spoke to me in many ways. Do you ever want to talk to someone but can’t work up the courage? Maybe it’s a boy you’re interested in or a girl. I feel that we have all felt this way at some point in our life.
Stranger, if you passing
meet me and desire
to speak to me,
why should you not speak to me?
4
And why should I not speak to you?
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.
To a Stranger5
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.
6
Here the Frailest Leaves of Me This poem is explaining something I often do. I tend to bottle things up and not share my views on various topics. I feel that through my art however, it all comes out.
Here the frailest leaves of me and yet my strongest lasting, Here I shade and hide my thoughts, I myself do not expose them, And yet they expose me more than all my other poems.
7
Sometimes with One I Love
Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I effuse unreturn'd love,
But now I think there is no unreturn'd love, the pay is certain one way or another,
(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not return'd, Yet out of that I have written these songs.)
8
A Child's Amaze I can vividly remember sitting in Mass when I was young being amazed at what was being spoken to me. This poem captures the amazement I felt as a child.
Silent and amazed even when a little boy, I remember I heard the preacher every Sunday put God in his statements, As contending against some being or influence.
9
Reversals Let that which stood in front go behind, Let that which was behind advance to the front,
This is something as humanknid I think we all struggle with from time to time. I often need to remind myself to let go of the past and move forward.
Let bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions, Let the old propositions be postponed, Let a man seek pleasure everywhere except in himself, Let a woman seek happiness everywhere except in herself
10
What Am I After All What am I after all but a child, pleas'd with the sound of my own name? repeating it over and over; I stand apart to hear—it never tires me. To you your name also;
Do you ever repeat your name until is sounds strange? I often did this as a child and wonderedWhat is my purpose in this world? Who am I? Who are we? What is our earth?
Did you think there was nothing but two or three pronunciations in the sound of your name?
11
Bibliography
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Project Gutenberg EBook. Release date: August 24, 2008 [EBook #13222]
12
Index A Child’s Amaze 9 Here the Frailest Leaves of Me 7 I Am He That Aches With Love 2 Reversals 10 Shut Not Your Doors 3 Sometimes With The One I Love 8 This Moment Yearning and Thoughtful 6 To a Stranger 5 To You 4 What Am I After All 11