Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Poem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy

by Walt Whitman

YOU just maturing youth! You male or female!

Remember the organic compact of These States,

Remember the pledge of the Old Thirteen thenceforward to the rights, life, liberty,

equality of

man,

Remember what was promulged by the founders, ratified by The States, signed in black and

white

by the Commissioners, and read by Washington at the head of the army,

Remember the purposes of the founders,—Remember Washington;

Remember the copious humanity streaming from every direction toward America;

Remember the hospitality that belongs to nations and men; (Cursed be nation, woman, man,

without hospitality!)

Remember, government is to subserve individuals,

Not any, not the President, is to have one jot more than you or me,

Not any habitan of America is to have one jot less than you or me.

Anticipate when the thirty or fifty millions, are to become the hundred, or two hundred

millions, of equal freemen and freewomen, amicably joined.

Recall ages—One age is but a part—ages are but a part;

Recall the angers, bickerings, delusions, superstitions, of the idea of caste,

Recall the bloody cruelties and crimes.

Anticipate the best women;

I say an unnumbered new race of hardy and well-defined women are to spread through all

These

States,

I say a girl fit for These States must be free, capable, dauntless, just the same as a

boy.

Anticipate your own life—retract with merciless power,

Shirk nothing—retract in time—Do you see those errors, diseases, weaknesses,

lies,

thefts?

Do you see that lost character?—Do you see decay, consumption, rum-drinking, dropsy,

fever, mortal cancer or inflammation?

Do you see death, and the approach of death?

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“Poem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy” by Walt Whitman — quilloak.com/poems/poem-of-remembrance-for-a-girl-or-a-boy

Quick facts

Poem: Poem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy
Poet: Walt Whitman
Length: 33 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss, Childhood, War & Remembrance

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 33 lines · 5 stanzas of 2–15 lines
End rhyme: No regular perfect end rhyme. The poem may still be using slant rhyme, assonance, or internal echo, which this check does not score.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Walt Whitman1819–1892
Source record: PoetryDBPoem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy by walt-whitman, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 d8a5b66561930751…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.