by Whitman · Cluster: Transience · Decay · Carpe Diem
Abstract
Short lyric in which amid the dissolving quicksand of politics and shows only the strong-possessed Self/soul remains the final sure substance.
Connections
Motifs: Time Themes & Concepts: Self-Knowledge, Identity, Transience Forms & Genres: Lyric
Testo integrale / Full text
Cluster: WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH
Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither,
Your schemes, politics, fail, lines give way, substances mock and elude me,
Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess’d soul, eludes not,
One’s-self must never give way—that is the final substance—that
out of all is sure,
Out of politics, triumphs, battles, life, what at last finally remains?
When shows break up what but One’s-Self is sure?