Mannahatta

I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.

Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly,musical, self-sufficient,I see that the word of my city is that word from of old,Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb,Rich, hemm’d thick all around with sailships and steamships, anisland sixteen miles long, solid-founded,Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender, strong,light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies,Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown,The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoiningislands, the heights, the villas,The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, theferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-model’d,The down-town streets, the jobbers’ houses of business, the housesof business of the ship-merchants and money-brokers, the river-streets,Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week,The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses, thebrown-faced sailors,The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft,The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the river,passing along up or down with the flood-tide or ebb-tide,The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form’d,beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,Trottoirs throng’d, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the shops and shows,A million people--manners free and superb--open voices--hospitality--the most courageous and friendly young men,City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts!City nested in bays! my city!