Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass (1860)

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21.

¹ NOW I make a leaf of Voices—for I have found noth-
ing mightier than they are,

And I have found that no word spoken, but is beau-
tiful, in its place.

² O what is it in me that makes me tremble so at
voices?

³ Surely, whoever speaks to me in the right voice, him
         or her I shall follow, as the waters follow the
         moon, silently, with fluid steps, any where around
         the globe.

⁴ Now I believe that all waits for the right voices;

Where is the practised and perfect organ? Where is
the developed Soul?

For I see every word uttered thence has deeper,
sweeter, new sounds, impossible on less terms.

⁵ I see brains and lips closed—I see tympans and tem-
ples unstruck,

Until that comes which has the quality to strike and
to unclose,

Until that comes which has the quality to bring forth
what lies slumbering, forever ready, in all words.

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