O to make the most jubilant song! Full of musicâ âfull of manhood, womanhood, infancy! Full of common employmentsâ âfull of grain and trees.
O for the voices of animalsâ âO for the swiftness and balance of fishes! O for the dropping of raindrops in a song! O for the sunshine and motion of waves in a song!
O the joy of my spiritâ âit is uncagedâ âit darts like lightning! It is not enough to have this globe or a certain time, I will have thousands of globes and all time.
O the engineerâs joys! to go with a locomotive! To hear the hiss of steam, the merry shriek, the steam-whistle, the laughing locomotive! To push with resistless way and speed off in the distance.
O the gleesome saunter over fields and hillsides! The leaves and flowers of the commonest weeds, the moist fresh stillness of the woods, The exquisite smell of the earth at daybreak, and all through the forenoon.
O the horsemanâs and horsewomanâs joys! The saddle, the gallop, the pressure upon the seat, the cool gurgling by the ears and hair.
O the firemanâs joys! I hear the alarm at dead of night, I hear bells, shouts! I pass the crowd, I run! The sight of the flames maddens me with pleasure.
O the joy of the strong-brawnâd fighter, towering in the arena in perfect condition, conscious of power, thirsting to meet his opponent.
O the joy of that vast elemental sympathy which only the human soul is capable of generating and emitting in steady and limitless floods.