Election Day, November 1884
From BluWiki
If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show, �Twould not be you, Niagara�nor you, ye limitless prairies�nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado, Nor you, Yosemite�nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic geyserloops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing, Nor Oregon�s white cones�nor Huron�s belt of mighty lakes�nor Mississippi�s stream: �This seething hemisphere�s humanity, as now, I�d name�the still small voice vibrating�America�s choosing day, (The heart of it not in the chosen�the act itself the main, the quadrennial choosing,) The stretch of North and South arous�d-sea-board and inland-Texas to Maine�the Prairie States�Vermont, Virginia, California, The final ballot-shower from East to West�the paradox and conflict, The countless snow-flakes falling�(a swordless conflict, Yet more than all Rome�s wars of old, or modern Napoleon�s:) the peaceful choice of all, Or good or ill humanity�welcoming the darker odds, the dross: �Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify�while the heart pants, life glows: These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships, Swell�d Washington�s, Jefferson�s, Lincoln�s sails.
I Hear America Singing
from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1900)
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics�each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat�the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench�the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter�s song�the ploughboy�s, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother�or of the young wife at work�or of the girl sewing or washing�
Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day�
At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.
