May 7 – Hum of the Highway

Hum of the Highway
Sound of America singing
Not Walt Whitman’s song

All day long, like white noise (by itself a terrible nuance of this age) or the low drone of of a far off bagpipe, I hear the hum of thousand’s of engines. The low whoosh of cars and trucks forcing their way through air.

It’s background music for this techno era of auto tuned electronics.

Not the same music Walt Whitman wrote about.

I Hear America Singing

BY WALT WHITMAN

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.