Leaves of Grass (1871-72)


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TO RICH GIVERS.

WHAT you give me, I cheerfully accept,
A little sustenance, a hut and garden, a little money—
         these, as I rendezvous with my poems;
A traveler's lodging and breakfast as I journey through
         The States—Why should I be ashamed to own
         such gifts? Why to advertise for them?
For I myself am not one who bestows nothing upon
         man and woman;
For I bestow upon any man or woman the entrance to
         all the gifts of the universe.
 
 
 
 
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