Poem of Procreation

A WOMAN waits for me—she contains all,

      nothing is lacking,

Yet all were lacking, if sex were lacking, or if the moisture of the right man were lacking.

Sex contains all,

Bodies, souls, meanings, proofs, purities, delica-ciesdelicacies, results, promulgations,

Songs, commands, health, pride, the maternal

      mystery, the semitic milk,

All hopes, benefactions, bestowals,

All the passions, loves, beauties, delights of the earth,

All the governments, judges, gods, followed per-sonspersons of the earth,

These are contained in sex, as parts of itself and justifications of itself.

Without shame the man I like knows and avows

      the deliciousness of his sex,

Without shame the woman I like knows and

      avows hers.

O I will fetch bully breeds of children yet!

They cannot be fetched, I say, on less terms than mine,

Electric growth from the male, and rich ripe fibre from the female, are the terms.

I will dismiss myself from impassive women,

I will go stay with her who waits for me, and

      with those women that are warm-blooded and

      sufficient for me,

I see that they understand me, and do not deny me,

I see that they are worthy of me—so I will be

      the robust husband of those women!

They are not one jot less than I am,

They are tanned in the face by shining suns and blowing winds,

Their flesh has the old divine suppleness and

      strength,

They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle,

      shoot, run, strike, retreat, advance, resist,

      defend themselves,

They are ultimate in their own right—they are

      calm, clear, well-possessed of themselves.

I draw you close to me, you women!

I cannot let you go, I would do you good,

I am for you, and you are for me, not only for our own sake, but for others' sakes,

Enveloped in you sleep greater heroes and bards,

They refuse to awake at the touch of any man but me.

It is I, you women—I make my way,

I am stern, acrid, large, undissuadable—but I

      love you,

I do not hurt you any more than is necessary for you,

I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters fit for

      These States—I press with slow rude muscle,

I brace myself effectually—I listen to no en-treatiesentreaties,

I dare not withdraw till I deposite what has so long accumulated within me.

Through you I drain the pent-up rivers of myself,

In you I wrap a thousand onward years,

On you I graft the grafts of the best-beloved of me and of America,

The drops I distil upon you are drops of fierce and athletic girls, and of new artists, musi-ciansmusicians, singers,

The babes I beget upon you are to beget babes in their turn,

I shall demand perfect men and women out of my love-spendings,

I shall expect them to interpenetrate with others, as I and you interpenetrate now,

I shall count on the fruits of the gushing showers of them, as I count on the fruits of the gush-inggushing showers I give now,

I shall look for loving crops from the birth, life, death, immortality I plant so lovingly now.