Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" is a poem by the American poet Walt Whitman. Originally published in 1856 as "Sun-Down Poem", it was retitled "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" in the 1860 Leaves of Grass collection. As with many of Whitman's early poems, he made minor revisions to it until the final version appeared in the 1881 edition of Leaves of Grass.

The poem describes a ferry-boat trip across the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn. This was during the decades before the Brooklyn Bridge when ferry-boats frequently traversed that section of the East River as a means of commuting between New York City boroughs. As the poet stands on the boat's deck and vividly conveys the sights and sounds, he has an epiphany when he realizes that all people, even in future generations long after his death, will have the same thoughts and feelings he is experiencing while crossing the river.