Pilgrimage
If ever you go to Camden
Where Campbell's Soup was made,
Be sure to visit the little house
Where Walter Whitman stayed.

On Mickle Street some blocks away
From where Delaware waters pass
The poet lived for years and years
Expanding Leaves of Grass.

There you'll see how ordinary
Was the life that Whitman led,
Only occasionally capturing
A new line in his head.

Most poets are like the rest of us,
Struggling to pay the bills.
Few are the ones who can afford
To tramp Wordsworthian hills.

They teach in colleges and give
Workshops and seminars.
They'd rather be Bukowski-ing
In seedy dim-lit bars.

Yes, go to Camden and observe
The Muse amid kitchen ware,
And learn of the simple quiet life
Walt lived till death right there.

Then drive to Harleigh graveyard
(It will not take you long)
To see the mausoleum he designed,
Of the Self his final Song.

And when you return from Camden
One fact for sure you'll know:
At the only house Walt Whitman owned
There was no lawn to mow.