Poem by 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.

1. Leaves of Grass. 34. Sands at Seventy. 56. Old Age's Lambent Peaks
2. Leaves of Grass. 24. Autumn Rivulets. 13. Out from Behind This Mask [To Confront a Portrait]
3. Leaves of Grass. 34. Sands at Seventy. 32. Life
4. Leaves of Grass. 5. Calamus. 16. Behold This Swarthy Face
5. Leaves of Grass. 5. Calamus. 21. The Prairie-Grass Dividing

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