Thoughts

Of seeds dropping into the ground, of births,Of the steady concentration of America, inland, upward, toimpregnable and swarming places,Of what Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, and the rest, are to be,Of what a few years will show there in Nebraska, Colorado, Nevada,and the rest,(Or afar, mounting the Northern Pacific to Sitka or Aliaska,)Of what the feuillage of America is the preparation for--and of whatall sights, North, South, East and West, are,Of this Union welded in blood, of the solemn price paid, of theunnamed lost ever present in my mind;Of the temporary use of materials for identity’s sake,Of the present, passing, departing--of the growth of completer menthan any yet,Of all sloping down there where the fresh free giver the mother, theMississippi flows,Of mighty inland cities yet unsurvey’d and unsuspected,Of the new and good names, of the modern developments, ofinalienable homesteads,Of a free and original life there, of simple diet and clean andsweet blood,Of litheness, majestic faces, clear eyes, and perfect physique there,Of immense spiritual results future years far West, each side of theAnahuacs,Of these songs, well understood there, (being made for that area,)Of the native scorn of grossness and gain there,(O it lurks in me night and day--what is gain after all to savagenessand freedom?)