I am the teacher of athletes,
He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own
proves the width of my
own,
He most honors my style who learns under it to
destroy the teacher.
The boy I love, the same becomes a man not through
derived power, but in his own
right,
Wicked rather than virtuous out of conformity or
fear,
Fond of his sweetheart, relishing well his
steak,
Unrequited love or a slight cutting him worse than
sharp steel cuts,
First-rate to ride, to fight, to hit the bull's eye,
to sail a skiff, to sing a
song or play on the banjo,
Preferring scars and the beard and faces pitted with
small-pox over all
latherers,
And those well-tann'd to those that keep out of the
sun.
I teach straying from me, yet who can stray from
me?
I follow you whoever you are from the present
hour,
My words itch at your ears till you understand
them.
I do not say these things for a dollar or to fill up
the time while I wait for a
boat,
(It is you talking just as much as myself, I act as
the tongue of you,
Tied in your mouth, in mine it begins to be
loosen'd.)
I swear I will never again mention love or death
inside a house,
And I swear I will never translate myself at all,
only to him or her who
privately stays with me in the open air.
If you would understand me go to the heights or
water-shore,
The nearest gnat is an explanation, and a drop or
motion of waves a
key,
The maul, the oar, the hand-saw, second my
words.
No shutter'd room or school can commune with
me,
But roughs and little children better than
they.
The young mechanic is closest to me, he knows me
well,
The woodman that takes his axe and jug with him
shall take me with him all
day,
The farm-boy ploughing in the field feels good at
the sound of my voice,
In vessels that sail my words sail, I go with
fishermen and seamen and love
them.
The soldier camp'd or upon the march is mine,
On the night ere the pending battle many seek me,
and I do not fail
them,
On that solemn night (it may be their last) those
that know me seek
me.
My face rubs to the hunter's face when he lies down
alone in his blanket,
The driver thinking of me does not mind the jolt of
his wagon,
The young mother and old mother comprehend me,
The girl and the wife rest the needle a moment and
forget where they
are,
They and all would resume what I have told
them.