O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love for all! We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving,įrom the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and the high plateaus,įrom the mine and from the gully, from the hunting trail we come,Ĭentral inland race are we, from Missouri, with the continental blood intervein'd,Īll the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern,

We the rivers stemming, vexing we and piercing deep the mines within,

We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world,įresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march,ĭown the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,Ĭonquering, holding, daring, venturing as we go the unknown ways, We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson, Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,ĭo they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas? So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship, We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend, We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger, Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes? The Poem Come my tan-faced children,įollow well in order, get your weapons ready, The poem was written as a tribute to Whitman's fervor for the great Westward expansion in the United States that led to things like the California Gold Rush and exploration of the far west. It was first published in Leaves of Grass in 1865. ' Pioneers! O Pioneers!' is a poem by the American poet Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman, aged 37, steel engraving by Samuel Hollyer

Walt whitman o me