The Zen of Walt Whitman

Considered one of America's most influential poets, Walt Whitman aimed to transcend traditional epics and eschew normal aesthetic form to mirror the potential freedoms to be found in America.

Read more: Biography

O Me! O Life! 

Walt Whitman 

Questions

Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, 

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, 

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) 

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d, 

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me, 

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined, 

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

 

                                       Answer

That you are here—that life exists and identity, 

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. 

O me! O Life! 
 Zen Pencils