Two Rivulets

Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)



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,                         10
   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!)

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 15, 2023

31 sec read
128

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXX XXXX XX AXA XX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 666
Words 103
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 3, 4, 2, 3, 2

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. more…

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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