From Paumanok Starting

Walt Whitman

   FROM Paumanock starting, I fly like a bird,
   Around and around to soar, to sing the idea of all;
   To the north betaking myself, to sing there arctic songs,
   To Kanada, till I absorb Kanada in myself--to Michigan then,
   To Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, to sing their songs, (they are
         inimitable;)
   Then to Ohio and Indiana to sing theirs--to Missouri and Kansas and
         Arkansas, to sing theirs,
   To Tennessee and Kentucky--to the Carolinas and Georgia, to sing
         theirs,
   To Texas, and so along up toward California, to roam accepted
         everywhere;
   To sing first, (to the tap of the war-drum, if need be,)
   The idea of all--of the western world, one and inseparable.        10
   And then the song of each member of These States.

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