I’m no poet and I’ve never pretended to be a connoisseur of poetry. In fact, I haven’t read or listened to much poetry in my life, except what was mandatory in school (and that was mainly Swedish and Finnish classic stuff). However, every now and then something arresting or beautiful comes across, making me think that perhaps I should spend more time around this art form.
In his great book book Vagabonding Rolf Potts points to many interesting sources for inspiration, one of them being Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892). He is probably very familiar to Americans, but obviously not a household name in Europe, or at least not in Finland.
I may not know much about poetry, but one thing I know is that you shouldn’t over-analyze poems. Therefore I shall not fall into that trap when describing Song of the Open Road. Suffice it to say that it’s an ode to traveling and vagabonding. Encyclopædia Britannica goes as far as to describe it “an optimistic paean to wanderlust”.
The poem celebrates the pleasures of carefree travelling and encourages us to break free from our domestic shackles. Inspired by the expansive American landscape, Whitman calls upon the reader to become his fellow traveler.
It’s a pretty long poem, so I’m just going to quote a few verses that I found particularly uplifting. There’s good stuff right in the beginning:
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
The celebration picks up speed:
The earth expanding right hand and left hand,
The picture alive, every part in its best light,
The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road, the gay fresh sentiment of the road.
Whitman clearly has faith in the goodness of human nature:
I think whatever I shall meet on the road I shall like,
and whoever beholds me shall like me,
I think whoever I see must be happy.
Anybody is welcome to join the journey:
Allons! whoever you are come travel with me!
Traveling with me you find what never tires.
But you need to have the right attitude and endurance:
He traveling with me needs the best blood, thews, endurance,
None may come to the trial till he or she bring courage and health,
Come not here if you have already spent the best of yourself,
Only those may come who come in sweet and determin'd bodies,
No diseas'd person, no rum-drinker or venereal taint is permitted here.
And finally the call-to-action:
Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?