Early notebook fragments of "Song of myself": "I am your voice, it was tied in you, in my it begins to talk"; "I am the poet of reality"; "One touch of a tug of me has unhaltered all my senses but feeling"; "Afar in the sky was a nest"; "Crowds naked in the bath"; "In vain were nails driven through my hands"; "There is no word in any tongue"
Song of myself
"I wander all night in my vision" [The Sleepers]; Crossing Brooklyn ferry; Out of the cradle endlessly rocking; I eff'd with the ocean of life; When lilacs last in the dooryeard bloom'd; Poets to come; To the garden the world' From pent-up aching rivers; I sing the body electric; Woman waits for me; Spontaneous me; Ages and ages returning at intervals; O hymen! O hymenee!; I am he that aches with love; Facing west from California's shores; As Adam early in the morning; In paths untrodden; Scented herbage of my breast; Whoever you are holding me now in hand; Of the terrible doubt of appearances; City of orgies; I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing; On the beach at night; World below the brine; Hand-mirror; Dalliance of the eagles; As toilsome I wander'd Virginia's woods; Wound-dresser; Reconciliation; There was a child went forth; Chanting the square deific; Noiseless patient spider; O living always, always dying; Last invocation; Clear midnight; Good-bye my fancy; When the full-grown poet came; Good-bye my fancy!; "Respondez! Respondez!"