96
PARTISAN REVIEW
Every yearshallyou bloom again, outfrom where you retired
you shall emerge again;
o
I do not know whether many passing by will discoveryou or
inhale yourfaint odor, but I believe afew wtll;
Do notfoldyourselfso in yourpink-ringedroots timidleaves!
Do not remain down there so ashamed, herbage ofmy breast!
Come I am determin 'd to unbare this broadchest ofmine, I
have long enough stifledandchoked;
Emblematic and capricious blades I leave you, nowyou serve me
not
I wtllsay what I have to say by itself,
I wtllsoundmyselfandcomrades only, I wtll neveragain
uttera call only their call,
Out of the cycle of the penis is born the cycle of the soul; out of his erec–
tions, ejaculations (the pun is crucial), and re-erections comes Whitman's
faith in a cycle of the world which will comprehend and conquer death. The
real sleep is the sleep of the contented lover who will not die.
