Elemental Drifts Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABC DEBFGFHIFJK LLMJFCLFEL FFCNFNF OPHQFFLMR FS TCU VBHU CFN BFLCF NCB NTHC WNCXV UCY YLLFBLNZA2B2BC2NLXVB F LC

ELEMENTAL driftsA
How I wish I could impress others as you have just been impressingB
meC
-
As I ebb'd with an ebb of the ocean of lifeD
As I wended the shores I knowE
As I walk'd where the ripples continually wash you PaumanokB
Where they rustle up hoarse and sibilantF
Where the fierce old mother endlessly cries for her castawaysG
I musing late in the autumn day gazing off southwardF
Alone held by this eternal Self of me out of the pride of which IH
utter my poemsI
Was seiz'd by the spirit that trails in the lines underfootF
In the rim the sediment that stands for all the water and all theJ
land of the globeK
-
Fascinated my eyes reverting from the south dropt to follow thoseL
slender winrowsL
Chaff straw splinters of wood weeds and the sea glutenM
Scum scales from shining rocks leaves of salt lettuce left by theJ
tideF
Miles walking the sound of breaking waves the other side of meC
Paumanok there and then as I thought the old thought of likenessesL
These you presented to me you fish shaped islandF
As I wended the shores I knowE
As I walk'd with that eternal Self of me seeking typesL
-
-
As I wend to the shores I know notF
As I list to the dirge the voices of men and women wreck'dF
As I inhale the impalpable breezes that set in upon meC
As the ocean so mysterious rolls toward me closer and closerN
I too but signify at the utmost a little wash'd up driftF
A few sands and dead leaves to gatherN
Gather and merge myself as part of the sands and driftF
-
O baffled balk'd bent to the very earthO
Oppress'd with myself that I have dared to open my mouthP
Aware now that amid all that blab whose echoes recoil upon me IH
have not once had the least idea who or what I amQ
But that before all my insolent poems the real ME stands yetF
untouch'd untold altogether unreach'dF
Withdrawn far mocking me with mock congratulatory signs and bowsL
With peals of distant ironical laughter at every word I have writtenM
Pointing in silence to these songs and then to the sand beneathR
-
Now I perceive I have not understood anything not a single objectF
and that no man ever canS
-
I perceive Nature here in sight of the sea is taking advantage ofT
me to dart upon me and sting meC
Because I have dared to open my mouth to sing at allU
-
-
You oceans both I close with youV
We murmur alike reproachfully rolling our sands and drift knowingB
not whyH
These little shreds indeed standing for you and me and allU
-
You friable shore with trails of debrisC
You fish shaped island I take what is underfootF
What is yours is mine my fatherN
-
I too PaumanokB
I too have bubbled up floated the measureless float and been wash'dF
on your shoresL
I too am but a trail of drift and debrisC
I too leave little wrecks upon you you fish shaped islandF
-
I throw myself upon your breast my fatherN
I cling to you so that you cannot unloose meC
I hold you so firm till you answer me somethingB
-
Kiss me my fatherN
Touch me with your lips as I touch those I loveT
Breathe to me while I hold you close the secret of the murmuring IH
envyC
-
-
Ebb ocean of life the flow will returnW
Cease not your moaning you fierce old motherN
Endlessly cry for your castaways but fear not deny not meC
Rustle not up so hoarse and angry against my feet as I touch you orX
gather from youV
-
I mean tenderly by you and allU
I gather for myself and for this phantom looking down where weC
lead and following me and mineY
-
Me and mineY
We loose winrows little corpsesL
Froth snowy white and bubblesL
See from my dead lips the ooze exuding at lastF
See the prismatic colors glistening and rollingB
Tufts of straw sands fragmentsL
Buoy'd hither from many moods one contradicting anotherN
From the storm the long calm the darkness the swellZ
Musing pondering a breath a briny tear a dab of liquid or soilA2
Up just as much out of fathomless workings fermented and thrownB2
A limp blossom or two torn just as much over waves floatingB
drifted at randomC2
Just as much for us that sobbing dirge of NatureN
Just as much whence we come that blare of the cloud trumpetsL
We capricious brought hither we know not whence spread out beforeX
youV
You up there walking or sittingB
Whoever you are we too lie in drifts at your feetF
-
Sea raff Crook tongued wavesL
O I will yet sing some day what you have said to meC

Walt Whitman



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