Mememe

FREEVERSE

After the Sea-Ship
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
After the Sea-Ship-after the whistling winds;
After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and
ropes,
Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up
their necks,
Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship:
Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, blithely
prying,
Waves, undulating waves—liquid, uneven, emulous
waves,
Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant,
with curves,
Where the great Vessel, sailing and tacking, displaced
the surface;
Larger and smaller waves, in the spread of the ocean,
yearnfully flowing;
The wake of the Sea-Ship, after she passes—flashing
and frolicsome, under the sun,
A motley procession, with many a fleck of foam, and
many fragments,
Following the stately and rapid Ship—in the wake
following.

[pic]

Ballad

John Henry

John Henry was a railroad man.
He worked from six 'till five,
"Raise 'em up bullies and let 'em drop down,
I'll beat you to the bottom or die."

John Henry said to his captain:
"You are nothing but a common man,
Before that steam drill shall beat me down,
I'll die with my hammer in my hand."

John Henry said to the Shakers:
"You must listen to my call,
Before that steam drill shall beat me down,
I'll jar these mountains till they fall."

John Henry's captain said to him:
"I believe these mountains are caving in."
John Henry said to his captain: "Oh, Lord!"
"That's my hammer you hear in the wind."

John Henry he said to his captain:
"Your money is getting mighty slim,
When I hammer through this old mountain,
Oh Captain will you walk in?"

John Henry's captain came to him
With fifty dollars in his hand,
He laid his hand on his shoulder and said:
"This belongs to a steel driving man."

John Henry was hammering on the right side,
The big steam drill on the left,
Before that steam drill could beat him down,
He hammered his fool self to death.

They carried John Henry to the...