Are You the New Person Drawn Toward Me?

by Walt Whitman — a poem card from Justes Mots

Whitman warns a potential lover not to idealize or simplify him, questioning whether friendship and intimacy can be uncomplicated or whether all human connection may be illusion. This honest, cautionary poem explores the gap between perception and reality in relationships. Suitable for introspective reflection.

Are you the new person drawn toward me?
To begin with take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;
Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?
Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy’d satisfaction?
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
Do you see no further than this facade, this smooth and tolerant
manner of me?…

Themes: love · new-baby · wedding · friendship