Poetry Friday - On the Beach at Night, Alone

I spent the afternoon at the pool with a well-worn copy of Leaves of Grass. My reading inspired me to share this poem.

On the Beach at Night, Alone
by Walt Whitman

On the beach at night alone,   
As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song,   
As I watch the bright stars shining—I think a thought of the clef of the universes, and of the future.   
 
A vast similitude  interlocks all,   
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets, comets, asteroids,            
All the substances of the same, and all that is spiritual upon the same,
All distances of place, however wide,   
All distances of time—all inanimate forms,   
All Souls—all living bodies, though they be ever so different, or in different worlds,   
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes—the fishes, the brutes,
All men and women—me also;   
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages;   
All identities that have existed, or may exist, on this globe, or any globe;   
All lives and deaths—all of the past, present, future;   
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann’d, and shall forever span them, and compactly hold them, and enclose them.

The round up is being hosted by Karen Edmisten. Do stop by and take in all the wonderful poetry being shared this week. Happy poetry Friday all!