Election Day, November, 1884

9 Nov 2016

      This poem, thanks to Leslie Forbes -- 
Walt Whitman, 1819 - 1892

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulestscene and show,
‘Twould not be you, Niagara—nor you, ye limitless prairies—nor your huge riftsof canyons, Colorado,
Nor you, Yosemite—nor Yellowstone, with all itsspasmic geyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,
Nor Oregon’s white cones—nor Huron’s belt of mightylakes—nor Mississippi’s stream:
—This seething hemisphere’s humanity, as now, I’d name—thestill small voice vibrating—America’s choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen—the act itselfthe main, the quadriennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous’d—sea-boardand inland—Texas to Maine—the Prairie States—Vermont, Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West—theparadox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling—(a swordlessconflict,
Yet more than all Rome’s wars of old, or modernNapoleon’s:) the peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity—welcoming the darker odds,the dross:
—Foams and ferments the wine? it serves topurify—while the heart pants, life glows:
These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
Swell’d Washington’s, Jefferson’s, Lincoln’s sails.

 Jim Wiegel  
“If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!”. Joanna Macy
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