Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Whitman, "Oh Me!, Oh Life!"

Apple has recently developed a commercial that is simply brilliant, and quotes from Whitman's poem, "Oh Me!, Oh Life!".  There is far more going on here than selling IPads.  These lines were penned more than a century ago, and yet, seem so fresh and current to our world.  The questions asked here are deep and profound, and seem more pertinent the older I get.  There is Gospel in the answer to this poem.


O Me! O Life!

By Walt Whitman
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                       Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
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