TURN, O Libertad, for the war is over,
(From it and all henceforth expanding, doubting no more, resolute, sweeping the world,)
Turn from lands retrospective, recording proofs of the past;
From the singers that sing the trailing glories of the past;
From the chants of the feudal world-the triumphs of kings, slavery, caste;
Turn to the world, the triumphs reserv’d and to come-give up that backward
world;
Leave to the singers of hitherto-give them the trailing past;
But what remains, remains for singers for you-wars to come are for you;
(Lo! how the wars of the past have duly inured to you-and the wars of the present
also
inure:)
-Then turn, and be not alarm’d, O Libertad-turn your undying face,
To where the future, greater than all the past,
Is swiftly, surely preparing for you.
(Walt Whitman)
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Based on Topics: World Poems, War & Peace Poems, Faces Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Past Poems, Future Poems, Present Poems, Slavery Poems, Musicians PoemsBased on Keywords: recording, reserv, caste, feudal, inured, retrospective, inure, world-the, libertad, you-and