From Paumanok Starting I Fly like a Bird

From Paumanok starting, I fly like a bird, While I repeat my chorus, and fountain, and show, And deja vu what the earth looks like from below.

Oh, it’s the line, the tendency of being, Of the land of the long island, At twilight you can see the silhouette of the hills, And I shout my freedom to the waves!

• Walt Whitman