Mannahatta

Walt Whitman

I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,

Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.

Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient,

I see that the word of my city is that word from of old,

Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb,

Rich, hemm'd thick all around with sailships and steamships, an island sixteen miles long, solid-founded,

Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender, strong, light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies,

Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown,

The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining islands, the heights, the villas,

The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-model'd,

The down-town streets, the jobbers' houses of business, the houses of business of the ship-merchants and money-brokers, the river-streets,

Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week,

The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses, the brown-faced sailors,

The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft,

The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the river, passing along up or down with the flood-tide or ebb-tide,

The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form'd, beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,

Trottoirs throng'd, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the shops and shows,

A million people—manners free and superb—open voices—hospitality—the most courageous and friendly young men,

City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts!

City nested in bays! my city!  

월트 휘트만(1819-1892)

롱아일랜드 헌팅턴에서 9남매 중 둘째로 태어나 네살 때 브루클린하이츠로 이주해 성장했다. 11살 때 학교를 중퇴하고, 돈을 벌기 위해 변호사의 사환, 인쇄소의 견습공, 교사, 정부의 사무직원 등으로 일했으며, 인쇄와 조판기술을 배웠다. 브루클린 지역 신문 '브루클린 데일리 이글(Brooklyn Daily Eagle)'의 기자로도 활동했다. 1855년 자비로 시집 '풀잎(Leaves of Grass)'를 출판해 자유시의 대표주자가 된다. 노년에 뉴저지 캠덴으로 이주, 72세로 사망했다.