Leaves of Grass 1
Part of the cluster LEAVES OF GRASS.
1.
1 THINK of the Soul; I swear to you that body of yours gives proportionsto your Soul somehow to live in other spheres; I do not know how, but I know it is so. 2Think of loving and being loved; I swear to you, whoever you are, you can interfuse
yourself with such things that everybody that
sees you shall look longingly upon you. 3Think of the past; I warn you that in a little while, others will find their
past in you and your times. 4The race is never separated—nor man nor woman
escapes; All is inextricable—things, spirits, nature, nations,
you too—from precedents you come. 5Recall the ever-welcome defiers, (The mothers pre-
cede them;) Recall the sages, poets, saviors, inventors, lawgivers,
of the earth; Recall Christ, brother of rejected persons—brother of
slaves, felons, idiots, and of insane and diseas'd
persons. 6Think of the time when you was not yet born; Think of times you stood at the side of the dying; Think of the time when your own body will be dying. [ begin page 286 ]
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7Think of spiritual results,
Sure as the earth swims through the heavens, does every one of its objects pass into spiritual
results. 8Think of manhood, and you to be a man; Do you count manhood, and the sweet of manhood,
nothing? 9Think of womanhood, and you to be a woman; The creation is womanhood; Have I not said that womanhood involves all? Have I not told how the universe has nothing better
than the best womanhood?
Part of the cluster LEAVES OF GRASS.