A Broadway Pagent（二）

    Superb-faced Manhattan！

    Comrade Americanos！ to us， then at last the Orient comes.

    To us， my city，

    Where our tall-topt marble and iron beauties range on

    opposite sides， to walk in the space between，

    To-day our Antipodes comes.

    The Originatress comes，

    The nest of languages， the bequeather of poems， the race of

    eld，

    Florid with blood， pensive¹， rapt with musings， hot with

    passion，

    Sultry with perfume， with ample and flowing garments，

    With sunburnt visage， with intense soul and glittering eyes，

    The race of Brahma comes.

    See my cantabile！ these and more are flashing to us from the

    procession，

    As it moves changing， a kaleidoscope divine it moves changing

    before us.

    For not the envoys² nor the tann'd Japanee from his island

    only，

    Lithe³ and silent the Hindoo appears， the Asiatic continent

    itself appears， the past， the dead，

    The murky⁴ night-morning of wonder and fable⁵ inscrutable，

    The envelop'd mysteries， the old and unknown hive-bees，

    The north， the sweltering south， eastern Assyria， the Hebrews，

    the ancient of ancients，

    Vast desolated⁶ cities， the gliding⁷ present， all of these and

    more are in the pageant⁸-procession.

    Geography， the world， is in it，

    The Great Sea， the brood of islands， Polynesia， the coast

    beyond，

    The coast you henceforth are facing - you， Libertad！ from

    your Western golden shores，

    The countries there with their populations， the millions enmasse

    are curiously¹⁰ here，

    The swarming¹¹ market-places， the temples with idols¹² ranged

    along the sides or at the end， bonze， brahmin， and llama，

    Mandarin¹³， farmer， merchant， mechanic， and fisherman，

    The singing-girl and the dancing-girl， the ecstatic persons，

    the secluded¹⁴ emperors，

    Confucius himself， the great poets and heroes， the warriors¹⁵，

    the castes， all，

    Trooping up， crowding from all directions， from the Altay

    mountains，

    From Thibet， from the four winding¹⁶ and far-flowing rivers of

    China，

    From the southern peninsulas and the demi-continental

    islands， from Malaysia，

    These and whatever belongs to them palpable show forth⁹ to

    me， and are seiz'd by me，

    And I am seiz'd by them， and friendlily held by them，

    Till as here them all I chant， Libertad！ for themselves and

    for you.

    For I too raising my voice join the ranks of this pageant，

    I am the chanter， I chant aloud over the pageant，

    I chant the world on my Western sea，

    I chant copious¹⁷ the islands beyond， thick as stars in the

    sky，

    I chant the new empire grander than any before， as in a

    vision it comes to me，

    I chant America the mistress， I chant a greater supremacy¹⁸，

    I chant projected a thousand blooming cities yet in time on

    those groups of sea-islands，

    My sail-ships and steam-ships threading the archipelagoes，

    My stars and stripes fluttering in the wind，

    Commerce opening， the sleep of ages having done its work，

    races reborn， refresh'd，

    Lives， works resumed - the object I know not - but the old，

    the Asiatic renew'd as it must be，

    Commencing from this day surrounded by the world.