Yonnondio
Walt Whitman
Track 319 on Leaves of Grass
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Yonnondio Lyrics
A song, a poem of itself—the word itself a dirge,
Amid the wilds, the rocks, the storm and wintry night,
To me such misty, strange tableaux the syllables calling up;
Yonnondio—I see, far in the west or north, a limitless ravine, with
plains and mountains dark,
I see swarms of stalwart chieftains, medicine-men, and warriors,
As flitting by like clouds of ghosts, they pass and are gone in the
twilight,
(Race of the woods, the landscapes free, and the falls!
No picture, poem, statement, passing them to the future:)
Yonnondio! Yonnondio!—unlimn'd they disappear;
To-day gives place, and fades—the cities, farms, factories fade;
A muffled sonorous sound, a wailing word is borne through the air
for a moment,
Then blank and gone and still, and utterly lost.
Amid the wilds, the rocks, the storm and wintry night,
To me such misty, strange tableaux the syllables calling up;
Yonnondio—I see, far in the west or north, a limitless ravine, with
plains and mountains dark,
I see swarms of stalwart chieftains, medicine-men, and warriors,
As flitting by like clouds of ghosts, they pass and are gone in the
twilight,
(Race of the woods, the landscapes free, and the falls!
No picture, poem, statement, passing them to the future:)
Yonnondio! Yonnondio!—unlimn'd they disappear;
To-day gives place, and fades—the cities, farms, factories fade;
A muffled sonorous sound, a wailing word is borne through the air
for a moment,
Then blank and gone and still, and utterly lost.
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- 7.Eidolons
- 11.Beginners
- 12.To the States
- 15.Me Imperturbe
- 16.Savantism
- 22.Poets to Come
- 24.Thou Reader
- 26.Song of Myself
- 38.Native Moments
- 56.Trickle Drops
- 57.City of Orgies
- 60.To a Stranger
- 76.To a Western Boy
- 81.Full of Life Now
- 82.Salut au Monde!
- 87.A Song of Joys
- 96.To You II
- 98.Myself and Mine
- 100.With Antecedents
- 101.A Broadway Pageant
- 104.Tears
- 111.Patroling Barnegat
- 112.After the Sea-Ship
- 116.Gods
- 117.Germs
- 118.Thoughts
- 119.Perfections
- 121.To a President
- 122.I Sit and Look Out
- 123.To Rich Givers
- 128.The Runner
- 129.Beautiful Women
- 130.Mother and Babe
- 131.Thought
- 132.Visor’d
- 133.Thought-II
- 134.Gliding O’er all
- 136.Thought-III
- 137.To Old Age
- 138.Locations and Times
- 139.Offerings
- 142.Eighteen Sixty-One
- 143.Beat! Beat! Drums!
- 147.Virginia—The West
- 148.City of Ships
- 159.Not the Pilot
- 161.The Wound-Dresser
- 170.Race of Veterans
- 174.Reconciliation
- 181.Adieu to a Soldier
- 182.Turn O Libertad
- 189.Reversals
- 190.As Consequent, Etc.
- 193.Old Ireland
- 194.The City Dead-House
- 195.This Compost
- 197.Unnamed Land
- 198.Song of Prudence
- 203.Vocalism
- 206.Laws for Creations
- 209.Thought2
- 212.To a Pupil
- 214.What Am I After All
- 215.Kosmos
- 218.Tests
- 219.The Torch
- 221.The Ox-Tamer
- 222.Wandering at Morn
- 223.With All Thy Gifts
- 224.My Picture-Gallery
- 225.The Prairie States
- 228.Prayer of Columbus
- 230.Transpositions
- 238.Assurances
- 239.Quicksand Years
- 246.Thought-IV
- 247.The Last Invocation
- 251.A Paumanok Picture
- 253.Faces
- 254.The Mystic Trumpeter
- 256.O Magnet-South
- 258.All Is Truth
- 259.A Riddle Song
- 260.Excelsior
- 262.Thoughts-V
- 263.Mediums
- 265.Spain, 1873-74
- 268.Old War-Dreams
- 273.Years of the Modern
- 274.Ashes of Soldiers
- 275.Thoughts VI
- 276.Song at Sunset
- 278.My Legacy
- 280.Camps of Green
- 283.Joy, Shipmate, Joy!
- 285.Portals
- 286.These Carols
- 289.Mannahatta II
- 290.Paumanok
- 291.From Montauk Point
- 294.The Bravest Soldiers
- 295.A Font of Type
- 297.My Canary Bird
- 300.The First Dandelion
- 302.Memories
- 303.To-Day and Thee
- 307.Halcyon Days
- 314.Broadway
- 316.Old Salt Kossabone
- 317.The Dead Tenor
- 319.Yonnondio
- 320.Life
- 321.“Going Somewhere”
- 323.True Conquerors
- 326.Thanks in Old Age
- 327.Life and Death
- 331.The Dying Veteran
- 332.Stronger Lessons
- 333.A Prairie Sunset
- 334.Twenty Years
- 336.Twilight
- 339.The Dead Emperor
- 341.The Dismantled Ship
- 343.An Evening Lull
- 347.Lingering Last Drops
- 350.MY 71st Year
- 351.Apparitions
- 352.The Pallid Wreath
- 353.An Ended Day
- 355.To the Pending Year
- 357.Long, Long Hence
- 359.Interpolation Sounds
- 361.Old Chants
- 362.A Christmas Greeting
- 363.Sounds of the Winter
- 364.A Twilight Song
- 366.Osceola
- 367.A Voice from Death
- 368.A Persian Lesson
- 369.The Commonplace
- 371.Mirages
- 372.L. of G.’s Purport
- 373.The Unexpress’d
- 374.Grand Is the Seen
- 375.Unseen Buds
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