FEINBERG / WHITMAN LITERARY FILE POETRY FILE "Thou Vast Rondure, Swimming in Space" (1868). Offprint. Box 29 Folder 43 Includes A. MS. Quotation J. T. Trowbridge from W. W. THOU VAST RONDURE, SWIMMING IN SPACE. BY WALT WHITMAN 1. Thou vast Rondure, swimming in space! Cover'd all over with visible power and beauty! Alternate light and day, and the teeming, spiritual darkness! Unspeakable, high processions of sun and moon, and countless stars, above! Below, the manifold grass and waters, animals, mountains, trees! With ever-inscrutable purpose—some hidden, prophetic intention; Now, first, it sees, my thought begins to span thee. 2. Adam and Eve appear, and their myriad progeny after them, Wandering, yearning, curious—full of aspirations, Full of questionings, baffled, formless, feverish—with never-happy hearts; With that sad, incessant refrain, Wherefore, unsatisfied Soul? and, Whither, O mocking Life? Ah, who shall soothe these feverish children? Who speak the secret of impassive Earth? Who bind it to us? What is this separate Nature, so unnatural? What is this Earth, to our affections? (unloving earth, without a throb to answer ours; Cold earth, the place of graves.) 3. Yet haply, finally, shall come to the Poet, worthy that name; The true Son of God shall come, singing his songs; Then all these hearts, as of fretted children, shall be sooth'd, All affection shall be fully responded to—the secret shall be told; All these separations and gaps shall be taken up, and hook'd and link'd together; The Earth—aye, this cold, impassive, voiceless Earth, shall be completely justified; Trinitas divine shall gloriously accomplish and compact itself; Nature and restless Man shall be disjoin'd and diffused no more; The true Son of God shall absolutely fuse them. is to app in London Fortnighly for April [*1684*] 1868[*9?*] April ? Thou Vast Rondure, Swimming in Space: Offprint. A.MS.s (1p. 32 x 13½ cm.) Written in ink, with notation on verso in blue pencil, on an off- print of 'Thou Vast Rondure, Swimming in Space', a 25-line poem (in three parts), with printed signature, presentation on face, at the top, 6 words: J. T. Trowbridge from W. W. and notation on verso, 8 words: is to app. in London Fortnightly for April (The poem became Section 6 of "Passage to India", 1871.) Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.