Tag Archives: Whitman

That Life Exists, and Identity.

Locked in an epic cosmic waltz 9 billion light years away, two
supermassive black holes appear to be orbiting around each
other every two years, according to NASA. The two giant bodies each have
masses that are hundreds of millions of times larger than that
of our sun, and the objects are separated by a distance
roughly 50 times that which separates our sun and Pluto.
When the pair merge in roughly 10,000 years, the titanic
collision is expected to shake space and time itself, sending
gravitational waves across the universe.

Ode to O Life!

O Me! O Life!

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.

— Walt Whitman