quote · Legacy record
As I have walked in Alabama my morning walk, I have seen where the she-bird—the mocking-bird sat on her nest in the briers hatching her brood, I have seen the he-bird also, I have paused to hear him near at hand inflating his throat and joyfully singing, And while I paused it came to me that what he really sang for was not there only, Nor for his mate nor for himself only, nor All sent back by the echoes, But subtle, clandestine, away beyond, A charge transmitted and gift occult for those being born.
As I have walked in Alabama my morning walk, I have seen where the she-bird—the mocking-bird sat on her nest in the briers hatching her brood, I have seen the he-bird also, I have paused to hear him near at hand inflating his throat and joyfully singing, And while I paused it came to me that what he really sang for was not there only, Nor for his mate nor for himself only, nor All sent back by the echoes, But subtle, clandestine, away beyond, A charge transmitted and gift occult for those being born.
Approximate author period: c. 1855 AD · industrial
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Walt Whitman
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1855 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1819–1892)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911) (1911 AD)
Complete signed selection 116; printed byline: Walt Whitman; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.