Turn, O Libertad

Walt Whitman

   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,                                                        10
   To where the future, greater than all the past,
   Is swiftly, surely preparing for you.

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