Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman

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OF persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies, wealth,
scholarships, and the like;

To me, all that those persons have arrived at, sinks
away from them, except as it results to their
Bodies and Souls,

So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked;

And often, to me, each one mocks the others, and mocks
himself or herself,

And of each one, the core of life, namely happiness, is
full of the rotten excrement of maggots,

And often, to me, those men and women pass unwit-
tingly the true realities of life, and go toward
false realities,

And often, to me, they are alive after what custom has
served them, but nothing more,

And often, to me, they are sad, hasty, unwaked sonnam-
bules, walking the dusk.

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