Happy 4th of July!

The Library is closed today for the holiday, have a safe holiday and we'll see you tomorrow!

By way of celebration, I'd like to share this Walt Whitman poem with you.

I Hear America Singing

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
        singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or
        at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of
        the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows,
        robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

The poem is found in many anthologies, as well as in books of Whitman's poetry such as Poetry for Young People: Walt Whitman [J 811 WHI].

Photo by Russell Lee courtesy Library of Congress.