WALT WHITMAN and men of all ages and lands

"Whoever degrades another degrades me"

With Music Strong I Come

By: Walt Whitman

With music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums,
I play not marches for accepted victors only, I play marches for
conquer’d and slain persons.

Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?
I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit
in which they are won.

I beat and pound for the dead,
I blow through my embouchures my loudest and gayest for them.

Vivas to those who have fail’d!
And to those whose war-vessels sank in the sea!
And to those themselves who sank in the sea!
And to all generals that lost engagements, and all overcome heroes!
And the numberless unknown heroes equal to the greatest heroes
known!

                                  Extrait du recueil : Song of Myself

Walter Whitman, plus connu sous le nom de Walt Whitman, né le 31 mai 1819 à West Hills, New York et mort le 26 mars 1892 à Camden, est un poète, romancier, journaliste, éditeur américain.

These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me,

If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing,

If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,

If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.

This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is,

This the common air that bathes the globe.

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          Walt Whitman's Leaves of grass/Song of Myself : a new musical, vocal and theatrical approach, understanding and interpretation

by the composer Pierre Mercoeur