From Pent-up Aching Rivers

Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)




   FROM pent-up, aching rivers;
   From that of myself, without which I were nothing;
   From what I am determin'd to make illustrious, even if I stand sole
         among men;
   From my own voice resonant--singing the phallus,
   Singing the song of procreation,
   Singing the need of superb children, and therein superb grown people,
   Singing the muscular urge and the blending,
   Singing the bedfellow's song, (O resistless yearning!
   O for any and each, the body correlative attracting!
   O for you, whoever you are, your correlative body! O it, more than
         all else, you delighting!)                                   10
   --From the hungry gnaw that eats me night and day;
   From native moments--from bashful pains--singing them;
   Singing something yet unfound, though I have diligently sought it,
         many a long year;
   Singing the true song of the Soul, fitful, at random;
   Singing what, to the Soul, entirely redeem'd her, the faithful one,
         even the prostitute, who detain'd me when I went to the city;
   Singing the song of prostitutes;
   Renascent with grossest Nature, or among animals;
   Of that--of them, and what goes with them, my poems informing;
   Of the smell of apples and lemons--of the pairing of birds,
   Of the wet of woods--of the lapping of waves,                      20
   Of the mad pushes of waves upon the land--I them chanting;
   The overture lightly sounding--the strain anticipating;
   The welcome nearness--the sight of the perfect body;
   The swimmer swimming naked in the bath, or motionless on his back
         lying and floating;
   The female form approaching--I, pensive, love-flesh tremulous,
         aching;
   The divine list, for myself or you, or for any one, making;
   The face--the limbs--the index from head to foot, and what it
         arouses;
   The mystic deliria--the madness amorous--the utter abandonment;
   (Hark close, and still, what I now whisper to you,
   I love you---O you entirely possess me, 30
   O I wish that you and I escape from the rest, and go utterly off--O
         free and lawless,
   Two hawks in the air--two fishes swimming in the sea not more lawless
         than we;)
   --The furious storm through me careering--I passionately trembling;
   The oath of the inseparableness of two together--of the woman that
         loves me, and whom I love more than my life--that oath
         swearing;
   (O I willingly stake all, for you!
   O let me be lost, if it must be so!
   O you and I--what is it to us what the rest do or think?
   What is all else to us? only that we enjoy each other, and exhaust
         each other, if it must be so:)
   --From the master--the pilot I yield the vessel to;
   The general commanding me, commanding all--from him permission
         taking;                                                      40
   From time the programme hastening, (I have loiter'd too long, as it
         is;)
   From sex--From the warp and from the woof;
   (To talk to the perfect girl who understands me,
   To waft to her these from my own lips--to effuse them from my own
         body;)
   From privacy--from frequent repinings alone;
   From plenty of persons near, and yet the right person not near;
   From the soft sliding of hands over me, and thrusting of fingers
         through my hair and beard;
   From the long sustain'd kiss upon the mouth or bosom;
   From the close pressure that makes me or any man drunk, fainting with
         excess;
   From what the divine husband knows--from the work of fatherhood;   50
   From exultation, victory, and relief--from the bedfellow's embrace in
         the night;
   From the act-poems of eyes, hands, hips, and bosoms,
   From the cling of the trembling arm,
   From the bending curve and the clinch,
   From side by side, the pliant coverlid off-throwing,
   From the one so unwilling to have me leave--and me just as unwilling
         to leave,
   (Yet a moment, O tender waiter, and I return;)
   --From the hour of shining stars and dropping dews,
   From the night, a moment, I, emerging, flitting out,
   Celebrate you, act divine--and you, children prepared for,         60
   And you, stalwart loins.

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

3:17 min read
121

Quick analysis:

Scheme Text too long
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 4,141
Words 650
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 80

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. more…

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

35 fans

Discuss the poem From Pent-up Aching Rivers with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "From Pent-up Aching Rivers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/38015/from-pent-up-aching-rivers>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    20
    hours
    39
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who wrote the poem “Funeral Blues"?
    A Pablo Neruda
    B Amy Clampitt
    C W. H. Auden
    D Victor Hugo