Poem for Friday and <a href

From 'Leaves of Grass' (1855 edition)
By Walt Whitman

I am he that walks with the tender and growing night;
I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.

Press close barebosomed night! Press close magnetic nourishing night!
Night of south winds! Night of the large few stars!
Still nodding night! Mad naked summer night!

Smile O voluptuous coolbreathed earth!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
Earth of departed sunset! Earth of the mountains misty- topt!
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!
Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!
Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!
Far-swooping elbowed earth! Rich apple-blossomed earth!
Smile, for your lover comes!

Prodigal! you have given me love!...therefore I to you give love!
O unspeakable passionate love!

Thruster holding me tight and that I hold tight!
We hurt each other as the bridegroom and the bride hurt each other.

You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft...rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet...I can repay you.

Sea of stretched ground-swells!
Sea breathing broad and convulsive breaths!
Sea of the brine of life! Sea of unshovelled and always- ready graves!
Howler and scooper of storms! Capricious and dainty sea!
I am integral with you...I too am of one phase and of all phases.

Partaker of influx and efflux...extoler of hate and conciliation,
Extoler of amies and those that sleep in each others' arms.

I am he attesting sympathy;
Shall I make my list of things in the house and skip the house that supports them?

I am the poet of commonsense and of the demonstrable and of immortality;
And am not the poet of goodness only...I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also.

--------


Friday Five

1. How much time do you spend online each day?
My computer is on pretty much whenever I'm awake and it's online, though I'm not in front of it much of the time. I work online, so it's rare for me to be completely without access for more than a couple of hours.

2. What is your browser homepage set to?
It's blank. Don't like to wait for it to load a page I don't necessarily need.

3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
Trillian, which lets me use AIM, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN. I use AIM nearly all of the time but pop onto the others to look for specific people.

4. Where was your first webpage located?
America Online's member pages, quickly moved to Geocities.

5. How long have you had your current website?
I've had the domain for about three years and my current web host for two.


Capitol Pillars, National Aboretum

Talked to who has no power and no phone (she was on a failing mobile) but who is well despite the blackout, though probably overheated. Still have not spoken to my sister, my college roommate or any of my New York friends. LL, if you are reading this, do let me know if the lights are on in Metropolis. Hope everyone else is coping with the disruptions and no one was in an elevator or on a subway when the power went out.