From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a Bird

by Walt Whitman · 1865
Published 01/07/1865

FROM Paumanok 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 Michi-gan 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 insep-arableinseparable,

And then the song of each member of These States.

#cultural diversity #national unity #travel #walt whitman

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