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Leaves of Grass (1871-72)
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GREAT ARE THE MYTHS.
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| 1 GREAT are the myths—I too delight in them; |
Great are Adam and Eve—I too look back and accept
them;
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Great the risen and fallen nations and their poets,
women, sages, inventors, rulers, warriors, and
priests.
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2 Great is Liberty! great is Equality! I am their fol-
lower;
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Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft! where you
sail, I sail,
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| I weather it out with you, or sink with you. |
3 Great is Youth—equally great is Old Age—great are
the Day and Night;
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Great is Wealth—great is Poverty—great is Expression
—great is Silence.
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4 Youth, large, lusty, loving—Youth, full of grace, force,
fascination!
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Do you know that Old Age may come after you, with
equal grace, force, fascination?
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5 Day, full-blown and splendid—Day of the immense
sun, action, ambition, laughter,
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The Night follows close, with millions of suns, and
sleep, and restoring darkness.
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6 Wealth, with the flush hand, fine clothes, hospi-
tality;
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But then the Soul's wealth, which is candor, knowl-
edge, pride, enfolding love;
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(Who goes for men and women showing Poverty richer
than wealth?)
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7 Expression of speech! in what is written or said, for-
get not that Silence is also expressive,
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That anguish as hot as the hottest, and contempt as
cold as the coldest, may be without words.
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| 8 Great is the Earth, and the way it became what it is; |
Do you imagine it has stopt at this? the increase aban-
don'd?
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Understand then that it goes as far onward from this,
as this is from the times when it lay in covering
waters and gases, before man had appear'd.
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| 9 Great is the quality of Truth in man; |
The quality of truth in man supports itself through all
changes,
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It is inevitably in the man—he and it are in love, and
never leave each other.
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10 The truth in man is no dictum, it is vital as eye-
sight;
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If there be any Soul, there is truth—if there be man or
woman there is truth—if there be physical or
moral, there is truth;
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If there be equilibrium or volition, there is truth—if
there be things at all upon the earth, there is
truth.
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11 O truth of the earth! I am determin'd to press my
way toward you;
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Sound your voice! I scale mountains, or dive in the
sea after you.
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12 Great is Language—it is the mightiest of the sci-
ences,
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It is the fulness, color, form, diversity of the earth, and
of men and women, and of all qualities and pro-
cesses;
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It is greater than wealth—it is greater than buildings,
ships, religions, paintings, music.
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13 Great is the English speech—what speech is so great
as the English?
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Great is the English brood—what brood has so vast a
destiny as the English?
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It is the mother of the brood that must rule the earth
with the new rule;
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The new rule shall rule as the Soul rules, and as the
love, justice, equality in the Soul rule.
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14 Great is Law—great are the few old land-marks of
the law,
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They are the same in all times, and shall not be dis-
turb'd.
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4
Justice is not settled by legislators and laws—it is in
the Soul;
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It cannot be varied by statutes, any more than love,
pride, the attraction of gravity, can;
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It is immutable—it does not depend on majorities—
majorities or what not, come at last before the
same passionless and exact tribunal.
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16 For justice are the grand natural lawyers, and per-
fect judges—is it in their Souls;
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It is well assorted—they have not studied for nothing
—the great includes the less;
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They rule on the highest grounds—they oversee all
eras, states, administrations.
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17 The perfect judge fears nothing—he could go front to
front before God;
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Before the perfect judge all shall stand back—life and
death shall stand back—heaven and hell shall
stand back.
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18 Great is Life, real and mystical, wherever and who-
ever;
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Great is Death—sure as life holds all parts together,
Death holds all parts together.
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19 Has Life much purport?—Ah, Death has the great-
est purport.
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