187 Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City (ca.1891-1892) (86/56) -- American Literature I: An Anthology of T...

187 Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City (ca.1891-1892) Walt Whitman Once I pass’d through a populous city imprinting my brain for future use with its shows, architecture, customs, traditions, Yet now of all that city I remember only a woman I casually met there who detain’d me for love of me, Day by day and night by night we were together—all else has long been forgotten by me, I remember I say only that woman who passionately clung to me, Again we wander, we love, we separate again, Again she holds me by the hand, I must not go, I see her close beside me with silent lips sad and tremulous. Source: Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman, Public Domain