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Thoughts 1

Part of the cluster THOUGHTS.

1.

OF these years I sing, How they pass through convuls'd pains, as through  
 parturitions;
How America illustrates birth, gigantic youth, the  
 promise, the sure fulfilment, despite of people  
 —Illustrates evil as well as good;
How many hold despairingly yet to the models de- 
 parted, caste, myths, obedience, compulsion, and  
 to infidelity;
How few see the arrived models, the Athletes, The  
 States—or see freedom or spirituality—or hold  
 any faith in results,
(But I see the Athletes—and I see the results glorious  
 and inevitable—and they again leading to other  
 results;)
How the great cities appear—How the Democratic  
 masses, turbulent, wilful, as I love them,
How the whirl, the contest, the wrestle of evil with  
 good, the sounding and resounding, keep on  
 and on;
How society waits unform'd, and is between things  
 ended and things begun;
How America is the continent of glories, and of the  
 triumph of freedom, and of the Democracies,  
 and of the fruits of society, and of all that is  
 begun;
And how The States are complete in themselves—  
 And how all triumphs and glories are complete  
 in themselves, to lead onward,
And how these of mine, and of The States, will in  
 their turn be convuls'd, and serve other par- 
 turitions and transitions,
And how all people, sights, combinations, the Demo- 
 cratic masses, too, serve—and how every fact  
 serves,
  [ begin page 26c ]ppp.00473.460.jpg And how now, or at any time, each serves the exquisite  
 transition of Death.

Part of the cluster THOUGHTS.

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