| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 368. Mannahatta |
| | | By Walt Whitman |
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| I WAS asking for something specific and perfect for my city, | |
| Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name. | |
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| Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient, | |
| I see that the word of my city is that word from of old, | |
| Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb, | 5 |
| Rich, hemmed thick all around with sail ships and steam ships, an island sixteen miles long, solid-founded, | |
| Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender, strong, light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies, | |
| Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, towards sundown, | |
| The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining islands, the heights, the villas, | |
| The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-modelled, | 10 |
| The down-town streets, the jobbers’ houses of business, the houses of business of the ship-merchants and money brokers, the river-streets, | |
| Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week, | |
| The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses, the brown-faced sailors, | |
| The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft, | |
| The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the river, passing along up or down with the flood-tide or ebb-tide, | 15 |
| The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-formed, beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes, | |
| Trottoirs thronged, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the shops and shows, | |
| A million people—manners free and superb—open voices—hospitality—the most courageous and friendly young men, | |
| City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts! | |
| City nested in bays! my city! | 20 |
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