Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Songtext
von Robin Williamson

I too many and many a time
Cross′d the river of old
Watch'd the twelve-month sea-gulls
Saw them high in the air
Floating with motionless wings
Oscillating their bodies
Saw how the glistening yellow
Lit up parts of their bodies
And left the rest in strong shadow
Saw the slow wheeling circles
And the gradual edging
Toward the south
Saw the reflection
Of the summer sky in the water
Had my eyes dazzled
By the shimmering track of beams
Look′d at the fine centrifugal
Spokes of light
Round the shape of my head
In the sunlit water


Look'd on the haze on the hills
Southward and southwestward
Look'd on the vapor
As it flew in fleeces
Ting′d with violet
Look′d toward the lower bay
To notice the vessels arriving
Saw their approach
Saw aboard those that were near me
Saw the white sails
Of schooners and sloops
Saw the ships at anchor
The sailors at work in the rigging
Or out astride the spars
The round masts
The swinging motion of the hulls
The slender serpentine pennants
The large and small steamers in motion
The pilots in their pilot-houses
The white wake left by the passage
The quick tremulous whirl of the wheels
The flags of all nations
The falling of them at sunset
The scallop-edged waves in the twilight
The ladled cups
The frolicsome crests glistening
The stretch afar
Growing dimmer, dimmer
The gray walls
Of the granite storehouses by the docks
On the river the shadowy group
The big steam-tug
Closely flank'd on each side
By the barges, the hay-boat
The belated lighter
On the neighboring shore
The fires from the foundry chimneys
Burning high and glaringly
Into the night
Casting their flicker of black
Contrasted with wild red and yellow light
Over the tops of houses
And down into the cleft of streets
What is it then between us
What is the count of the scores
Or hundreds of years between us
Whatever it is avails not
I too lived
Brooklyn of ample hills was mine
I too walk′d the streets of Manhattan Island
I too felt the curious abrupt questionings
Stir within me
In the day
Among crowds of people
Sometimes they came upon me
In my walks home
Late at night
Or as I lay in my bed
They came upon me
I too had been struck from the float
Forever held in solution
I too had received
Identity by my body
That I was
I knew was of my body
And what I should be I knewIt is not
On you alone the dark patches fall
The dark threw down its patches on me also
The best I had done seemed to me blank and suspicious
My great thoughts as I supposed them
As I supposed them
Were they not in reality meagre?
Nor is it you alone who knows what it is to be evil
I am he who knew what it was to be evil
I too knitted the old knot of contrariety
Blabbed, blushed, resented, lied, stole, grudged
Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly, malignant
The wolf, the snake, the hog not wanting in me
The cheating look, the frivolous word not wanting
Refusals, hates, postponements
Was one with the rest
Lived the same life with the rest
The same old laughing, knowing, sleeping
Played the part that still looks back on the actor or actress
The same old role
The role that is what we make it
As great as we like
Or as small as we like
Or both great and small
Flow on river, flow with the flood tide
Ebb with the ebb tide
Frolic on crested and scalloped edged waves
Gorgeous clouds of the sunset
Drench with your splendour
Me and the men and women generations after me
Cross from shore to shore
Countless crowds of passengers
Stand up tall masts of Manhattan
Stand up beautiful hills of Brooklyn
Throb baffled and curious brain
Throw out questions and answers
Suspend here and everywhere
Eternal float of solution
Gaze loving and thirsting eyes
In the house or street
Or public assembly
Sound out voices of young men loudly and musically
Call me by my mightiest name
Live old life
Play the part that looks back on the actor or actress
Play the old roleThe role that is great or small
According as one makes it
Consider you who hear me whether I may not
In unknown ways be looking out upon you
Be firm rail over the river to support those who lean idly
Yet haste with the hasting current
Fly on sea birds
Fly sideways or wheel in large circles high in the air
Receive the summer sky you water
And faithfully hold it
Till all downcast eyes have time to take it from you
Diverge fine spokes of light from the shape of my head
Or anyone's head in the sunlit water
Come on ships from the lower bay
Pass up and down the white sails
Schooners, sloops, lighters
Mmmmmm
Flaunt away flags of all nations
Be duly lowered at sunset
Burn high you fires
Foundry chimneys cast black shadows at nightfall
Cast red and yellow lights over the tops of the houses
Appearances now or henceforth indicate what you are
You necessary film continue
To envelop the soul about my body
For me or about your body
For you be hung our divinest aromas
Thrive cities
Thrive cities
Bring your freight
Bring your shows
Ample and sufficient rivers
Expand being than which none else perhaps is more spiritual
Keep your place as objects than which none else is more lasting
You have waited
You always wait
You dumb beautiful ministers
We receive you with free sense at last
We are insatiate henceforward
Not you anymore
Shall be able to foil us
Or withhold yourselves from us
We use you
And do not cast you aside
We plant you permanently within us
We fathom you not
We love you
There is perfection in you
As you furnish your parts towards eternity
Great or small
You furnish your parts towards the soul