Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman

contents | previous | next

DID YOU ask dulcet rhymes from me?

Did you find what I sang erewhile so hard to follow,
to understand?

Why I was not singing erewhile for you to follow, to
understand—nor am I now;

—What to such as you, anyhow, such a poet as I?
—therefore leave my works,

And go lull yourself with what you can understand;

For I lull nobody—and you will never understand me.

contents | previous | next