Long Island Poem for Mother's Day Sunday, May 13th 2012

Today, Mother's Day, we present two poems by Walt Whitman, a Long Island native: short but lovely "Mother and Babe" and excerpts from "There was a Child went Forth" - retrospection on poet's formative years with some touching words on his mother.

Mother and Babe
Walt Whitman

I SEE the sleeping babe, nestling the breast of its
         mother;
The sleeping mother and babe—hush'd, I study them
         long and long.

"Mother and Babe" by Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass.
Reprinted after The Walt Whitman Archive. In public domain.

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There was a Child went Forth
Walt Whitman

THERE was a child went forth every day,
And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became,
And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part
         of the day,
Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.

(...)

His own parents, he that had father'd him and she that had con-
         ceiv'd him in her womb and birth'd him,
They gave this child more of themselves than that,
They gave him afterward every day, they became part of him.

The mother at home quietly placing the dishes on the supper-
         table,
The mother with mild words, clean her cap and gown, a whole-
         some odor falling off her person and clothes as she walks by,

(...)

"There was a Child went Forth" by Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass.
Reprinted after The Walt Whitman Archive. In public domain.

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Previous Long Island Poem for Sunday, May 6th, 2012

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