And the look of the bay mare shames silliness out of me.

In this line Whitman suggests that an encounter with an animal—specifically a bay mare—has a moral and psychological effect: the mare’s steady, unselfconscious presence “shames” the speaker out of frivolity or pretension. The phrasing fits Whitman’s recurring contrast between human self-importance and the candid, grounded being of animals. The “look” functions as a silent rebuke, implying that authenticity and calm strength can correct human “silliness” more effectively than argument. The moment also reflects Whitman’s tendency to find instruction in ordinary, bodily life and in nonverbal communion with the natural world.