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Leaves of Grass (1871-72)
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EUROPE,
The 72d and 73d Years of These States.
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1 SUDDENLY, out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of
slaves,
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Like lightning it le'pt forth, half startled at itself, |
Its feet upon the ashes and the rags—its hands tight to
the throats of kings.
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O aching close of exiled patriots' lives! |
Turn back unto this day, and make yourselves afresh. |
3 And you, paid to defile the People! you liars, mark! |
Not for numberless agonies, murders, lusts, |
For court thieving in its manifold mean forms, worming
from his simplicity the poor man's wages,
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For many a promise sworn by royal lips, and broken,
and laugh'd at in the breaking,
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Then in their power, not for all these, did the blows
strike revenge, or the heads of the nobles fall;
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The People scorn'd the ferocity of kings; |
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4 But the sweetness of mercy brew'd bitter destruction,
and the frighten'd monarchs come back;
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Each comes in state, with his train—hangman, priest,
tax-gatherer,
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Soldier, lawyer, lord, jailer, and sycophant. |
5 Yet behind all, lowering, stealing—lo, a Shape, |
Vague as the night, draped interminably, head, front
and form, in scarlet folds,
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Whose face and eyes none may see, |
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Out of its robes only this—the red robes, lifted by the
arm,
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One finger, crook'd, pointed high over the top, like the
head of a snake appears.
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6 Meanwhile, corpses lie in new-made graves—bloody
corpses of young men,
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The rope of the gibbet hangs heavily, the bullets of
princes are flying, the creatures of power laugh
aloud,
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And all these things bear fruits—and they are good. |
7 Those corpses of young men, |
Those martyrs that hang from the gibbets—those hearts
pierc'd by the gray lead,
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Cold and motionless as they seem, live elsewhere with
unslaughter'd vitality.
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8 They live in other young men, O kings! |
They live in brothers, again ready to defy you! |
They were purified by death—they were taught and
exalted.
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9 Not a grave of the murder'd for freedom, but grows
seed for freedom, in its turn to bear seed,
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Which the winds carry afar and re-sow, and the rains
and the snows nourish.
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10 Not a disembodied spirit can the weapons of tyrants
let loose,
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But it stalks invisibly over the earth, whispering, coun-
seling, cautioning.
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11 Liberty! let others despair of you! I never despair
of you.
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12 Is the house shut? Is the master away? |
Nevertheless, be ready—be not weary of watching; |
He will soon return—his messengers come anon. |
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