Classic Poem

I too am driven to the street:
Law and order have issued their fulmin against me:
I have tried to stay in the house of comfort, to sleep in my bed of ease,
But something not outside of me, something inside of me, says: This will not do.
In night and day I am adrift, I miss the reasons for loss and reward:
In the crowd of servers and served I cannot serve or be served,
In the contention of masters and slaves I cannot command and I cannot obey,
In the cities of palaces and tenements I cannot forgive myself my legacy and I cannot accept alms,
In the bankruptcy of heaven and hell I do not want to be saved and I am not willing to be damned:
So I cannot stand it any longer: I am without ground for my feet or sky for my soul:
I say good bye: I depart: I close the door gently behind me:
I say good bye: I offer my bond to the street.

I am driven to you O street for my sustenance:
In rooms my life was in danger — I had to break out, to get away, anywhere, nowhere:
In the church my religion was in danger — I had to run from it, to blasphemy, to anything:
In the law my humanity was in danger — I had to declare my divorce from the vows of courts:
In the bed of licensed virtue my love was in danger — I had to tear myself free: O God! I had to save my love!
My inspiration was in danger in books: I stopped the presses: though there should be no more books I had to save my inspiration:
Everywhere crowded the dangers: the superior throngs pressed, choked me — threatened my destruction: I had to jeer, insult them:
The cabals of trades and arts mocked my prayers: the common labor of the hands was in danger: it was the last stroke:
I endured the perils as long as I could: I held back the floods, I submitted to the fetters:
Then the fury of resentment broke loose: I burst my bonds: the escaping rushing waters covered and nourished the earth.

You girl of the street — I am here, I have come to you:
Take me to your self, make of me the fellow of your primitive passions,
Yet be careful what you do with me — I come to you the last from all the rest:
Now you will treat me gently, you will treat me according to my dream —
You will lift me high where my faith has seen you transfigured.
I have come to you anticipating your boundless love — for your love I have given up everything else:
I rush into your arms, I nestle in your embraces, without fear, asking no pledges:
You will welcome me — draw me ecstatically to yourself — awaken from your sleep with me by your side:
I consign myself to you, I confer my inheritance upon you:
I have sinned so much against you, darling girl (with equal innocence we offended):
I come to you now with reverent petitions on my lips.

I look into the eyes of my brothers on the streets — they all seem to know me.
Here are my true mates, the Christs answering my hunger and thirst:
I find my lost heart in the streets — the streets are the way of life
I belong to the crowd: the crowd fills me with its strength and ardor —
I belong to the crowd: the crowd does not hold off — takes me at my word:
I belong to the crowd — I pass current in the crowd for genuine and square:
I am reborn in the crowd — I who died in myself am resurrected in everybody else:
And Christ — the dear Christ — my soul's Christ, my body's Christ:
The Christ killed in churches, in laws, in halls of fame, and buried deep, O so infamously deep, in the mire:
He is reborn in the crowd, on the street, in obscure places, and is laureled and beatified:
The dear Christ, my body's Christ, my soul's Christ, murdered in the letter of institutions:
The dear Christ, my body's Christ, my soul's Christ, restored in the spirit of the street.

Take me, O fonder streets: make me over to your uses: absolve me from my traditions!
Take me, O clamoring streets: transmute my closet treasons into common loyalties!
I come to you penniless: I come to you with my property off my back:
I come to you free: I come to you with arts and sciences and ambitions off my back:
I do not come to you on my knees: I come standing up: I take my place without asking leave or giving thanks: I come standing up:
Take me, fill me with wanton presences: pass me current as modest coin in the barter of the affections:
I am yours: I throw myself upon your mercy: take me: count me in your assets.

I have tried the easy way: it was too hard:
Now I will try the hard way: I guess it will be easier:
I have tried not to love because I could not love that which deserved love:
I have tried not to think because I could only think that which accused my thought
What is there for me to do but to say good bye and leave? What is there for me to do?
What can I do but fly from death and go where I find life?
I see no other course: good bye dear accustomed companions and places!
I see no other course: good bye dear virtues and conformities!
I go — I go: the streets are gay for me: they pour out their hordes in acclaim:
I go — I go: I hear my name called in a thousand tongues: a thousand cities contend for the prodigal:
I go — I go to my beloved: my heart went long ago: I follow my heart:
I too am driven to the street.