Early notebook fragments of "Song of myself": "I am your voice, it was tied in you, in my it begins to talk"; "I am the poet of reality"; "One touch of a tug of me has unhaltered all my senses but feeling"; "Afar in the sky was a nest"; "Crowds naked in the bath"; "In vain were nails driven through my hands"; "There is no word in any tongue"
"I wander all night in my vision" [The Sleepers]; Crossing Brooklyn ferry; Out of the cradle endlessly rocking; I eff'd with the ocean of life; When lilacs last in the dooryeard bloom'd; Poets to come; To the garden the world' From pent-up aching rivers; I sing the body electric; Woman waits for me; Spontaneous me; Ages and ages returning at intervals; O hymen! O hymenee!; I am he that aches with love; Facing west from California's shores; As Adam early in the morning; In paths untrodden; Scented herbage of my breast; Whoever you are holding me now in hand; Of the terrible doubt of appearances; City of orgies; I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing; On the beach at night; World below the brine; Hand-mirror; Dalliance of the eagles; As toilsome I wander'd Virginia's woods; Wound-dresser; Reconciliation; There was a child went forth; Chanting the square deific; Noiseless patient spider; O living always, always dying; Last invocation; Clear midnight; Good-bye my fancy; When the full-grown poet came; Good-bye my fancy!; "Respondez! Respondez!"
Europe: the 72nd and 73rd years of these states --
A song for occupations --
I sing the body electric --
There was a child went forth --
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry --
On the beach at night alone --
To a foil'd European revolutionaire --
Out of the cradle endlessly rocking --
As I ebb'd with the ocean of life --
I hear America singing --
From pent-up aching rivers --
Once I pass'd through a populous city --
Facing west from California's shores.
As Adam early in the morning --
Scented herbage of my breast --
Cavalry crossing a ford --
Bivouac on a mountain side --
An Army corps on the march --
By the bivouac's fitful flame --
Come up from the fields Father --
Vigil strange I kept on the field one night --
A march in the banks hard-prest, and the road unknown --
A night in camp in the daybreak gray and dim --
As toilsome I wander'd Virginia's woods --
When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd --
O captain! My captain! --
A noiseless patient spider --
The dalliance of the eagles --
