CITY of orgies, walks and joys!
City whom that I have lived and sung in your midst will one day make you illustrious,
Not the pageants of younot your shifting tableaux, your spectacles, repay me;
Not the interminable rows of your housesnor the ships at the wharves,
Nor the processions in the streets, nor the bright windows, with goods in them;
Nor to converse with learnd persons, or bear my share in the soiree or feast;
Not thosebut, as I pass, O Manhattan! your frequent and swift flash of eyes offering
me
love,
Offering response to my ownthese repay me;
Lovers, continual lovers, only repay me.
City of Orgies.
written byWalt Whitman
© Walt Whitman