"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" is a poem by Walt Whitman, and is part of his collection Leaves of Grass.
The speaker begins half an hour before sunset, and continues into the evening with a description comparing the tides to the attraction of New York City.
Cataloguing and an appeal of the body and soul feature prominently in the poem, relating to Whitman's experiences in growing up in Brooklyn from 1823 to 1833 and then 1845 to 1863.
Whitman was inspired by the Fulton Ferry and those who used it for daily commutes before the construction of bridges connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan.
[2] Despite the mundanity of the trip, Whitman portrays a celebration of the cityscape and the water, as well as the people taking the ferry, and humanity in general.