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Flood-tide below me! I watch you face to face;Flood-tide below me! I watch you face to face
Flood-tide below me! I watch you face to face; Clouds of the west—sun there half an hour high—I see you also face to face. Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious you are to me! On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose, And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose. The impalpable sustenance of me from all things at all hours of the day, The simple, compact, well-join’d scheme, myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated yet part of the scheme, The similitudes of the past and those of the future, The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings, on the walk in the street and the passage over the river, The current rushing so swiftly and swimming with me far away, The others that are to follow me, the ties between me and them, The certainty of others, the life, love, sight, hearing of others.
The tide is rising below me; I am watching it closely. I see the clouds in the west and the sun setting; I am looking at them closely too. I find the crowds of people in their usual clothes very interesting. The many people on the ferry-boats going home are more interesting to me than you think. And those who will cross the river in the future are even more important to me and my thoughts than you might think. I am nourished by everything around me at all times of the day. Everything is part of a simple, well-connected plan, even though we are all separate. The similarities between the past and the future. The beautiful moments in my smallest experiences, like walking on the street or crossing the river. The strong current carries me far away. The people who will come after me and the connections we share. The certainty of other people's lives, love, sight, and hearing.