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Spirit that Form'd this Scene


Written in Platte Cañon, Colorado


Spirit that form'd this scene,
These tumbled rock-piles grim and red,
These reckless heaven-ambitious peaks,
These gorges, turbulent-clear streams, this naked freshness,


These formless wild arrays, for reasons of their own,
I know thee, savage spirit--we have communed together,
Mine too such wild arrays, for reasons of their own;
Was't charged against my chants they had forgotten art?
To fuse within themselves its rules precise and delicatesse?
The lyrist's measur'd beat, the wrought-out temple's
      grace--column and polish'd arch forgot?
But thou that revelest here--spirit that form'd this scene,
They have remember'd thee.

Written by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

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