Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/160

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152
Leaves of Grass.

The plumbob, trowel, level, the wall-scaffold, the
work of walls and ceilings, or any mason-work,
The steam-engine, lever, crank, axle, piston, shaft,
air-pump, boiler, beam, pulley, hinge, flange,
band, bolt, throttle, governors, up and down
rods,
The ship's compass, the sailor's tarpaulin, the stays
and lanyards, the ground tackle for anchoring or
mooring, the life-boat for wrecks,
The sloop's tiller, the pilot's wheel and bell, the yacht
or fish-smack—the great gay-pennanted three-hundred-foot
steamboat, under full headway, with
her proud fat breasts, and her delicate swift-flashing
paddles,
The trail, line, hooks, sinkers, and the seine, and
hauling the seine,
The arsenal, small-arms, rifles, gunpowder, shot, caps,
wadding, ordnance for war, and carriages;
Every-day objects, house-chairs, carpet, bed, counterpane
of the bed, him or her sleeping at night,
wind blowing, indefinite noises,
The snow-storm or rain-storm, the tow-trowsers, the
lodge-hut in the woods, the still-hunt,
City and country, fire-place, candle, gas-light, heater,
aqueduct,
The message of the Governor, Mayor, Chief of Police
—the dishes of breakfast, dinner, supper,
The bunk-room, the fire-engine, the string-team, the
car or truck behind,
The paper I write on or you write on, every word we
write, every cross and twirl of the pen, and the
curious way we write what we think, yet very
faintly,