Poem: “Appearances” by Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

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American Literature – Children Books – American Poetry – Walt Whitman – Poems by Walt Whitman – Walt Whitman
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Appearances

Of the terrible doubt of appearances,
Of the uncertainty after all—that we may be deluded,
That maybe reliance and hope are but speculations after all,
That maybe identity beyond the grave is a beautiful fable only,
Maybe the things I perceive—the animals, plants, men, hills, shining and
        flowing waters,
The skies of day and night—colours, densities, forms—Maybe these are (as
        doubtless they are) only apparitions, and the real something has
        yet to be known;
(How often they dart out of themselves, as if to confound me and mock me!
How often I think neither I know, nor any man knows, aught of them!)
Maybe seeming to me what they are (as doubtless they indeed but seem) as
        from my present point of view—And might prove (as of course they
        would) naught of what they appear, or naught anyhow, from entirely
        changed points of view;
—To me, these, and the like of these, are curiously answered by my lovers,
        my dear friends.
When he whom I love travels with me, or sits a long while holding me by the
        hand,
When the subtle air, the impalpable, the sense that words and reason hold
        not, surround us and pervade us,
Then I am charged with untold and untellable wisdom—I am silent—I require
        nothing further,
I cannot answer the question of appearances, or that of identity beyond the
        grave;
But I walk or sit indifferent—I am satisfied,
He ahold of my hand has completely satisfied me.

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American Literature – Children Books – American Poetry – Walt Whitman – Poems by Walt Whitman – Walt Whitman

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Appearances

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