Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass. 32. From Noon to Starry Night. 20. Spirit That Form'd This Scene

[Written in Platte Canyon, Colorado]

Spirit that form'd this scene,
These tumbled rock-piles grim and red,
These reckless heaven-ambitious peaks,
These gorges, turbulent-clear streams, this naked freshness,
These formless wild arrays, for reasons of their own,
I know thee, savage spirit—we have communed together,
Mine too such wild arrays, for reasons of their own;
Wast charged against my chants they had forgotten art?
To fuse within themselves its rules precise and delicatesse?
The lyrist's measur'd beat, the wrought-out temple's grace—column
      and polish'd arch forgot?
But thou that revelest here—spirit that form'd this scene,
They have remember'd thee.