"A Pact," a poem by Ezra Pound for Walt Whitman / April 1913 : Poetry Magazine

American poet Ezra Pound was born on this day in 1885. Here is a poem that he wrote for American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892).


A PACT
by Ezra Pound (1885-1972)

I have made truce with you, Walt Whitman --
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as a grown child
Who has had a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends.
It was you that broke the new wood,
Now is a time for carving.
We have one sap and one root --
Let there be commerce between us.


Source: Poetry: A Magazine of Verse (April 1913)