Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

327. Two Rivulets

TWO Rivulets side by side,

Two blended, parallel, strolling tides,

Companions, travelers, gossiping as they journey.

For the Eternal Ocean bound,

These ripples, passing surges, streams of Death and Life,

Object and Subject hurrying, whirling by,

The Real and Ideal,

Alternate ebb and flow the Days and Nights,

(Strands of a Trio twining, Present, Future, Past.)

In You, whoe’er you are, my book perusing,

In I myself—in all the World—these ripples flow,

All, all, toward the mystic Ocean tending.

(O yearnful waves! the kisses of your lips!

Your breast so broad, with open arms, O firm, expanded shore!)