FACING WEST FROM CALIFORNIA'S SHORES
by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
- ACING west from California's shores,
- Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,
- I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar,
- Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled;
- For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,
- From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero,
- From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands,
- Long having wander'd since, round the earth having wander'd,
- Now I face home again, very pleas'd and joyous,
- (But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?)