Wishing Chair - Whitman lyrics

My name it is Whitman I am only a man Though my words or my looks might offend For those ladies at tea Will read nothing by me And no gentleman calls me his friend I went down to the docks just to watch the ferries cross And the sweat on the deckhands shimmer And the seagulls grey Like the clouds that play Across the hayfields and frame houses My name it is Whitman I am only a man Though my words or my looks might offend For those ladies at tea Will read nothing by me And no gentleman calls me his friend Now Emerson said I had promise But I soon came to push him too far And the jobs that I lost And the rivers I crossed Only add to that song of my spirit My name it is Whitman I am only a man Though my words or my looks might offend For those ladies at tea Will read nothing by me And no gentleman calls me his friend The talk at the saloon was of war coming soon And my mouth it went dry at the thought of it But Lincoln's my man And the South could be damned If they break up this glorious Union Captain my Captain Who'll lead us now All the young men I've tended or buried No cider or bread For those beautiful d**h And the gra** their just resurrection Now you across time Your thoughts might be mine I've had hunger and fears and regrets And I've sorrowed its true But my words saw me through And love sang my body electric My name it is Whitman I am only a man Though my words or my looks might offend For those ladies at tea Will read nothing by me And no gentleman calls me his friend