Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman

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THEY shall arise in the States

They shall report Nature, laws, physiology, and happi-
ness;

They shall illustrate Democracy and the kosmos;

They shall be alimentive, amative, perceptive;

They shall be complete women and men—their pose
brawny and supple, their drink water, their
blood clean and clear;

They shall enjoy materialism and the sight of products
—they shall enjoy the sight of the beef, lumber,
bread-stuffs, of Chicago, the great city;

They shall train themselves to go in public to become
orators and oratresses;

Strong and sweet shall their tongues be—poems and
materials of poems shall come from their lives—
they shall be makers and finders;

Of them, and of their works, shall emerge divine con-
veyers, to convey gospels;

Characters, events, retrospections, shall be convey'd in
gospels—Trees, animals, waters, shall be con-
vey'd,

Death, the future, the invisible faith, shall all be con-
vey'd.

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