Leaves of Grass (1855) Variorum

Menu Main Text Reviews and Extracts Image Comparison Viewer

Printed Copy Variations

Textual and Graphical Variants

Bindings and Insertions

Spatial Variants (Selected)

The printed copy variations indicated with highlighted text and a dotted underline include stop-press changes, missing characters, bindings, inserted materials, and selected spatial and typographical differences caused by the printing process. Clicking on these variations produces a list of associated copies and images. Copy identifiers link to a bibliography with more information about individual copies.

Related Manuscript Text

Relations

Clicking on "relations" displays related text from Whitman's early manuscripts and notebooks, along with links to transcriptions. The red and blue lines offer a visualization of the relations. The blue line corresponds to the number of related manuscripts or notebooks. The red line corresponds to the total number of related text segments from those manuscripts and notebooks. For more about how we have determined relations, see our editorial policy statement.

List of Related Manuscripts

"Leaves of Grass" [3] ("To Think of Time")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00023 (low)

The printed poems and the preface are each marked with a line on the right-hand side. A box next to the line gives printed or supplied 1855 titles. Repeated titles and untitled poems have been assigned a number in brackets. The poems also include their eventual (1881) titles in parentheses. Early manuscripts and notebooks that relate to some part of the preface or poem, or to the work as a whole, are linked in the box, along with a certainty (low or high) indicating how sure we are about the relation.

A Note on the Text

The images provided as thumbnails before each page correspond to a copy at the University of Iowa Special Collections and University Archives. This copy also forms the anchor for the transcription and the printed copy variations. Images from other copies, side-by-side views, and explanatory notes are available in the printed copy variations. For more information about our editorial rationale, see our editorial policy statement and the introduction to the variorum.

[Front cover]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Endpaper]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Free endpaper]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Ralph Waldo Emerson letter]

View side-by-side images (new window)

⎯⎯⎯

"LEAVES OF GRASS."—We some time since had occasion to call the attention of our readers to this original and striking collection of poems, by Mr. Whitman of Brooklyn. In so doing we could not avoid noticing certain faults which seemed to us to be prominent in the work. The following opinion, from a distinguished source, views the matter from a more positive and less critical stand-point:

"CONCORD, Mass., July 21, 1855.

"DEAR SIR:

I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of 'Leaves of Grass.' I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy. It makes the demand I am always making of what seemed the sterile and stingy nature, as if too much handiwork, or too much lymph in the temperament, were making our western wits fat and mean. "I give you joy of your free and brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment which so delights us, and which large perception only can inspire. "I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the sold sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying and encouraging. "I did not know until I last night saw the book advertised in a newspaper that I could trust the name as real and available for a post-office. I wish to see my benefactor, and have felt much like striking my tasks and visiting New-York to pay you my respects.

"WALT. WHITMAN."

"R. W. EMERSON."

Note: These copies include a newspaper clipping from the October 10, 1855, New York Tribune with a transcription of Ralph Waldo Emerson's July 21, 1855, letter to Walt Whitman. The clipping is typically pasted onto the endpaper or a flyleaf at the front of the volume. At the bottom of the clipping in the University of Iowa copy is the note, written in Whitman's hand: "Tribune Oct 10 1855."

Image: Special Collections, The University of Iowa LibrariesOpen copies in bibliography (new window)

⎯⎯⎯

CONCORD, Mass'tts, 21 July, 1855.

DEAR SIR,

I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of "LEAVES OF GRASS." I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy. It meets the demand I am always making of what seemed the sterile and stingy nature, as if too much handiwork, or too much lymph in the temperament, were making our western wits fat and mean. I give you joy of your free and brave thought. I have great joy in it. I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment which so delights us, and which large perception only can inspire. I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits, namely, of fortifying and encouraging. I did not know until I last night saw the book advertised in a newspaper that I could trust the name as real and available for a post-office. I wish to see my benefactor, and have felt much like striking my tasks and visiting New-York to pay you my respects.

R. W. EMERSON.

WALT WHITMAN.

Note: These copies include a slip with a printed version of Ralph Waldo Emerson's July 21, 1855, letter to Walt Whitman. The slip is typically pasted onto the endpaper or a flyleaf at the front of the volume. Many of these printed slips include the text "[Copy for the convenience of private reading only.]" On several of the slips this text has been crossed out in pencil. For more discussion of Whitman's lifelong practice of printing slips, see Michael Winship, "Walt Whitman," Bibliography of American Literature, Vol. 9 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991), 28-103; Jay Grossman, "Manuprint" (Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, 37.1 [2019], 46–65); and Peter Stallybrass, "Walt Whitman's Slips: Manufacturing Manuscript" (Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, 37.1 [2019], 66–106).

Image: Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of VirginiaOpen copies in bibliography (new window)

[Blank]

Image: Carolyn Wells Houghton Whitman Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Open copies in bibliography (new window)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Frontispiece leaf] [Frontispiece engraving]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves

of

Grass.

⎯⎯⎯

Brooklyn, New York:

1855.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855, by WALTER WHITMAN, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Preface]

Related Manuscripts

med.00729 (high)
med.00741 (high)
med.00746 (high)
tex.00057 (high)
tex.00088 (high)
duk.00128 (low)
duk.00130 (low)
duk.00159 (low)
duk.00263 (low)
duk.00297 (low)
duk.00302 (low)
duk.00303 (low)
duk.00800 (low)
duk.00888 (low)
loc.00387 (low)
loc.00389 (low)
loc.00483 (low)
loc.01019 (low)
loc.05314 (low)
med.00726 (low)
med.00737 (low)
med.00782 (low)
med.00903 (low)
prc.00127 (low)
rut.00010 (low)
rut.00023 (low)
tex.00031 (low)
uva.00137 (low)
uva.00238 (low)
uva.00283 (low)
uva.00287 (low)
uva.00601 (low)
yal.00138 (low)

AMERICA does not repel the past or what it has produced under its forms or amid other politics or the idea of castes or the old religions . . . .

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw07	American under takes receives with calmness the spirit of the past

accepts the lesson with calmness . . . is not so impatient as has been supposed that the slough still sticks to opinions and manners and literature while the life which served its requirements has passed into the new life of the new forms . . . perceives that the corpse is slowly borne from the eating and sleeping rooms of the house . . .

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw07	American under takes receives with calmness the spirit of the past

perceives that it waits a little while in the door . . . that it was fittest for its days . . .

that its action has descended to the stalwart and wellshaped heir who approaches . . .

and that he shall be fittest for his days.

The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature.

The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.

document	location	text
rut.00010	#q01	America herself appears (she does not at all appear hitherto) in the spirit and the form of her poems, and all other literary works.—

In the history of the earth hitherto the largest and most stirring appear tame and orderly to their ampler largeness and stir.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#ab11	vast and tremendous is the scheme! It involves no less than constructing a state nation of nations—a state whose integral state whose grandeur and comprehensiveness of territory and people make the mightiest of the past almost insignificant—and

Here at last is something in the doings of man that corresponds with the broadcast doings of the day and night.

Here is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#ab11	vast and tremendous is the scheme! It involves no less than constructing a state nation of nations—a state whose integral state whose grandeur and comprehensiveness of territory and people make the mightiest of the past almost insignificant—and

Here is action untied from strings necessarily blind to particulars and details magnificently moving in vast masses.

Here is the hospitality which forever indicates heroes . . . . Here are the roughs and beards and space and ruggedness and nonchalance that the soul loves.

Here the performance disdaining the trivial unapproached in the tremendous audacity of its crowds and groupings and the push of its perspective spreads with crampless and flowing breadth and showers its prolific and splendid extravagance.

One sees it must indeed own the riches of the summer and winter, and need never be bankrupt while corn grows from the ground or the orchards drop apples or the bays contain fish or men beget children upon women.

Other states indicate themselves in their deputies . . . . but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors . . . but always most in the common people.

document	location	text
duk.00297	#seg05	and In in tTheir indefinable excellence giving gives us out something as superior to all much above beyond the _^special productions [of colleges and pews and parlors as the morning air of the prairie or the sea-shore outsmells the costliest scents of the perfume shop.]
yal.00138	#seg27	a lLiterature for a mighty race breed of men male and women female, represented no longer in their legislatures and executives, but represented better by _^their successions of poets, orators, debaters, readers, musicians, philosophers, equals and mixers with the rest, springing from all trades and employments, _^and effusing them and from sailors and landsmen, and from the city and the country, treading under their feet Literature making _^of the vaunted of the past but a support to their feet and so treading them it under their feet.—

Their manners speech dress friendships—the freshness and candor of their physiognomy—

the picturesque looseness of their carriage . . . their deathless attachment to freedom—their aversion to anything indecorous or soft or mean—the practical acknowledgment of the citizens of one state by the citizens of all other states—the fierceness of their roused resentment—

their curiosity and welcome of novelty—their self-esteem and wonderful sympathy—their susceptibility to a slight—

the air they have of persons who never knew how it felt to stand in the presence of superiors—

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw05	I never yet knew what it was to feel how it felt to _^think I stanood in the presence of my superior.—I could now abase myself if God If the presence of Jah were God were made visible immediately before _^me, I could not abase myself.—How do I know but I shall myself
med.00782	#ab01	I want no more of these deferences to authority—this taking off of hats and saying Sir—I want to encourage in the young men the spirit that does not know what it is to feel that it stands in the presence of superiors

the fluency of their speech—their delight in music, the sure symptom of manly tenderness and native elegance of soul . . . their good temper and openhandedness—

the terrible significance of their elections—the President's taking off his hat to them not they to him—these too are unrhymed poetry.

document	location	text
med.00782	#ab01	I want no more of these deferences to authority—this taking off of hats and saying Sir—I want to encourage in the young men the spirit that does not know what it is to feel that it stands in the presence of superiors

It awaits the gigantic and generous treatment worthy of it.

The largeness of nature or the nation were monstrous without a corresponding largeness and generosity of the spirit of the citizen.

Not nature nor swarming states nor streets and steamships nor prosperous business nor farms nor capital nor learning may suffice for the ideal of man . . . nor suffice the poet.

No reminiscences may suffice either.

A live nation can always cut a deep mark and can have the best authority the cheapest . . . namely from its own soul.

This is the sum of the profitable uses of individuals or states and of present action and grandeur and of the subjects of poets.—

As if it were necessary to trot back generation after generation to the eastern records!

As if the beauty and sacredness of the demonstrable must fall behind that of the mythical!

As if men do not make their mark out of any times!

As if the opening of the western continent by discovery and what has transpired since in North and South America were less than the small theatre of the antique or the aimless sleepwalking of the middle ages!

The pride of the United States leaves the wealth and finesse of the cities and all returns of commerce and agriculture and all the magnitude of geography or

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

iv shows of exterior victory to enjoy the breed of fullsized men or one fullsized man unconquerable and simple.

The American poets are to enclose old and new for America is the race of races.

Of them a bard is to be commensurate with a people.

To him the other continents arrive as contributions . . . he gives them reception for their sake and his own sake.

His spirit responds to his country's spirit . . . .

document	location	text
duk.00128	#p01	It is not that he gives his country great poems; it is that he gives his country the spirit which makes the greatest poems [illegible] and the greatest material for poems.—

he incarnates its geography and natural life and rivers and lakes.

Mississippi with annual freshets and changing chutes, Missouri and Columbia and Ohio and Saint Lawrence with the falls and beautiful masculine Hudson, do not embouchure where they spend themselves more than they embouchure into him.

The blue breadth over the inland sea of Virginia and Maryland and the sea off Massachusetts and Maine and over Manhattan bay and over Champlain and Erie and over Ontario and Huron and Michigan and Superior, and over the Texan and Mexican and Floridian and Cuban seas and over the seas off California and Oregon, is not tallied by the blue breadth of the waters below more than the breadth of above and below is tallied by him.

When the long Atlantic coast stretches longer and the Pacific coast stretches longer he easily stretches with them north or south.

He spans between them also from east to west and reflects what is between them.

On him rise solid growths that offset the growths of pine and cedar and hemlock and liveoak and locust and chestnut and cypress and hickory and limetree and cottonwood and tuliptree and cactus and wildvine and tamarind and persimmon . . . .

document	location	text
loc.00141	#p03	—he would be growing fragrantly in the air, like a the locust blossoms—he would rumble and crash like the thunder in the sky—he would spring like a cat on his prey—he would splash like a whale in [the?]
loc.05589	#ab16	he does not lose by comparison with the orange tree or magnolia or with the fields that nourish the sugarplant or the cottonplant . . . . all that what strengthens or clothes adorns or is luscious can be had _^through subtle counterparts from him—from him the[illegible] magnolias and oranges and sugarplant and cottonplant and all fruits and flowers and all the sorts and productions of the earth.—
uva.00601	#p01	[cut away] cottonwood—mulberry— chickadee—large brown water-dog— —black-snake—garter snake— —vinegar-plums—persimmon— —wh white-blossominged dog-wood— —sweet potato—plum-trees—plumborchard —cedar—chestnut—
	#item02	locust, birch with white and ringed birch cypress—buttonwood—

and tangles as tangled as any canebrake or swamp . . . .

and forests coated with transparent ice and icicles hanging from the boughs and crackling in the wind . . . . and sides and peaks of mountains . . . .

and pasturage sweet and free as savannah or upland or prairie . . . .

with flights and songs and screams that answer those of the wildpigeon and highhold and orchard-oriole and coot and surf-duck and redshouldered-hawk and fish-hawk and white-ibis and indian-hen and cat-owl and water-pheasant and qua-bird and pied-sheldrake and blackbird and mockingbird and buzzard and condor and night-heron and eagle.

To him the hereditary countenance descends both mother's and father's.

To him enter the essences of the real things and past and present events—

of the enormous diversity of temperature and agriculture and mines—

the tribes of red aborigines—

the weatherbeaten vessels entering new ports or making landings on rocky coasts—the first settlements north or south—the rapid stature and muscle—

the haughty defiance of '76, and the war and peace and formation of the constitution . . . .

the union always surrounded by blatherers and always calm and impregnable—

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab17	blatherers

the perpetual coming of immigrants—

the wharf hem'd cities and superior marine—

the unsurveyed interior—the loghouses and clearings and wild animals and hunters and trappers . . . .

the free commerce—the fisheries and whaling and gold-digging—

the endless gestation of new states—

the convening of Congress every December, the members duly coming up from all climates and the uttermost parts . . . .

the noble character of the young mechanics and of all free American workmen and workwomen . . . .

the general ardor and friendliness and enterprise—

the perfect equality of the female with the male . . . .

document	location	text
loc.00389	#p01	The idea that the Woman of America is to become the perfect equal of the man.—

the large amativeness—

the fluid movement of the population—

the factories and mercantile life and laborsaving machinery—

the Yankee swap—the New-York firemen and the target excursion—the southern plantation life—

the character of the northeast and of the northwest and southwest—

slavery and the tremulous spreading of hands to protect it,

and the stern opposition to it which shall never cease till it ceases or the speaking of tongues and the moving of lips cease.

For such the expression of the American poet is to be transcendant and new.

It is to be indirect and not direct or descriptive or epic.

Its quality goes through these to much more.

Let the age and wars of other nations be chanted and their eras and characters be illustrated and that finish the verse.

Not so the great psalm of the republic.

Here the theme is creative and has vista.

Here comes one among the wellbeloved stonecutters and plans with decision and science and sees the solid and beautiful forms of the future where there are now no solid forms.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab06	The architect that comes among the stonecutters and the heaps of cut stone

Of all nations the United States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets and will doubtless have the greatest and use them the greatest.

Their Presidents shall not be their common referee so much as their poets shall.

Of all mankind the great poet is the equable man.

Not in him but off from him things are grotesque or eccentric or fail of their sanity.

Nothing out of its place is good and nothing in its place is bad.

He bestows on every object or quality its fit proportions neither more nor less.

He is the arbiter of the diverse and he is the key.

He is the equalizer of his age and land . . . .

he supplies what wants supplying and checks what wants checking.

If peace is the routine out of him speaks the spirit of peace, large, rich, thrifty, building vast and populous cities, encouraging agriculture and the arts and commerce—lighting the study of man, the soul, immortality—federal, state or municipal government,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

v marriage, health, freetrade, intertravel by land and sea . . . .

nothing too close, nothing too far off . . . the stars not too far off.

In war he is the most deadly force of the war.

Who recruits him recruits horse and foot . . . he fetches parks of artillery the best that engineer ever knew.

document	location	text
loc.00025	#ab06	Give _^me the commander who carries a thousand regiments in his breast _^both horses foot; and _^in his head whole packs of artillery, the swiftest and best disciplined in the world

If the time becomes slothful and heavy he knows how to arouse it . . . he can make every word he speaks draw blood.

Whatever stagnates in the flat of custom or obedience or legislation he never stagnates.

Obedience does not master him, he masters it.

High up out of reach he stands turning a concentrated light . . . he turns the pivot with his finger . . . he baffles the swiftest runners as he stands and easily overtakes and envelops them.

The time straying toward infidelity and confections and persiflage he withholds by his steady faith . . .

he spreads out his dishes . . . he offers the sweet firmfibred meat that grows men and women.

His brain is the ultimate brain.

He is no arguer . . . he is judgment.

He judges not as the judge judges but as the sun falling around a helpless thing.

As he sees the farthest he has the most faith.

His thoughts are the hymns of the praise of things.

document	location	text
loc.00005	#head01	Poem "Praise of things"

In the talk on the soul and eternity and God off of his equal plane he is silent.

He sees eternity less like a play with a prologue and denouement . . . .

he sees eternity in men and women . . . he does not see men and women as dreams or dots.

Faith is the antiseptic of the soul . . . it pervades the common people and preserves them . . . they never give up believing and expecting and trusting.

There is that indescribable freshness and unconsciousness about an illiterate person that humbles and mocks the power of the noblest expressive genius.

The poet sees for a certainty how one not a great artist may be just as sacred and perfect as the greatest artist. . . . . .

The power to destroy or remould is freely used by him but never the power of attack.

What is past is past.

If he does not expose superior models and prove himself by every step he takes he is not what is wanted.

The presence of the greatest poet conquers . . . not parleying or struggling or any prepared attempts.

Now he has passed that way see after him!

there is not left any vestige of despair or misanthropy or cunning or exclusiveness or the ignominy of a nativity or color or delusion of hell or the necessity of hell . . . . . and no man thenceforward shall be degraded for ignorance or weakness or sin.

The greatest poet hardly knows pettiness or triviality.

If he breathes into any thing that was before thought small it dilates with the grandeur and life of the universe.

He is a seer . . . . he is individual . . . he is complete in himself . . . . the others are as good as he, only he sees it and they do not.

He is not one of the chorus . . . . he does not stop for any regulation . . . he is the president of regulation.

What the eyesight does to the rest he does to the rest.

Who knows the curious mystery of the eyesight?

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q12	We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any _^all or _^the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—_^By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *

The other senses corroborate themselves, but this is removed from any proof but its own and foreruns the identities of the spiritual world.

document	location	text
duk.00159	#seg01	Pure and Positive Truth _^About Metaphysical points.—It seems to me, _^In metaphysical points, here is what I guess about pure and positive truths. I guess that after all reasoning and analogy and their most palpable demonstrations of any thing, we have the _^only real satisfaction comes only when the soul tells and tests by its own arch-chemic power—something as superior to the learnedest and reasoning proofs and finest reasoning, as one glance of the _^living sight, is more than quarto volumes of the elaborate description _^and and of maps.— filling a thousand quarto volumes.
prc.00127	#l19	We do not doubt _^ sight.—

A single glance of it mocks all the investigations of man and all the instruments and books of the earth and all reasoning.

document	location	text
duk.00159	#seg01	Pure and Positive Truth _^About Metaphysical points.—It seems to me, _^In metaphysical points, here is what I guess about pure and positive truths. I guess that after all reasoning and analogy and their most palpable demonstrations of any thing, we have the _^only real satisfaction comes only when the soul tells and tests by its own arch-chemic power—something as superior to the learnedest and reasoning proofs and finest reasoning, as one glance of the _^living sight, is more than quarto volumes of the elaborate description _^and and of maps.— filling a thousand quarto volumes.
prc.00127	#l19	We do not doubt _^ sight.—

What is marvellous? what is unlikely? what is impossible or baseless or vague? after you have once just opened the space of a peachpit and given audience to far and near and to the sunset and had all things enter with electric swiftness softly and duly without confusion or jostling or jam.

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q12	We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any _^all or _^the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—_^By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *
	#ab21	* of the whole world to come to me.—with silence and with swiftness.—In an instant I ma Then make I fluid and draw to myself, however dense _^keeping each to its distinct isolation, and no hubbub or jam or confusion, or jam, the whole of physical nature, though rocks are dense and hills are ponderous, and the stars are far away off sextillions of miles.—All the years of all the beings that have ever life lived on the earth,

The land and sea, the animals fishes and birds, the sky of heaven and the orbs, the forests mountains and rivers, are not small themes . . . but folks expect of the poet to indicate more than the beauty and dignity which always attach to dumb real objects . . . . they expect him to indicate the path between reality and their souls.

document	location	text
nyp.00129	#seg05	All expr that makes clear this relation, and tracks defines the road between between any thing conceivable objects and the human spirit, _^and explains what those objects mean, is poetry, coarse or fine.

Men and women perceive the beauty well enough . . probably as well as he.

The passionate tenacity of hunters, woodmen, early risers, cultivators of gardens and orchards and fields, the love of healthy women for the manly form, seafaring persons, drivers of horses, the passion for light and the open air, all is an old varied sign of the unfailing perception of beauty and of a residence of the poetic in outdoor people.

document	location	text
duk.00263	#ab01	[I see you and stand before you driver of horses,]
duk.00297	#seg01	Outdoors is the best antise[ptic] yet.—What a [cha]rm there is about in men that have lived main[ly?] [cut away] the open air—among horses—at sea—on the [ca]nals—digging clams—cutting timber timberers—rafting, rafters, or steamboating.ers, or house framers of houses,—and mechanics generally.—
loc.05589	#l11	If you have sons habit custom them to be drivers of horses
	#l12	I knew six brothers drivers of horses

They can never be assisted by poets to perceive . . . some may but they never can.

The poetic quality is not marshalled in rhyme or uniformity or abstract addresses to things nor in melancholy complaints or good precepts, but is the life of these and much else and is in the soul.

document	location	text
med.00737	#p01	One obligation of great fresh bards remains . . . the clink of words is empty and offensive . . . the poetic quality blooms simple and earnest as the laws of the world.

The profit of rhyme is that it drops seeds of a sweeter and more luxuriant rhyme, and of uniformity that it conveys itself into its own roots in the ground out of sight.

The rhyme and uniformity of perfect poems show the free growth of metrical laws and bud from them as unerringly and loosely as lilacs or roses on a bush, and take shapes as compact as the shapes of chestnuts and oranges and melons and pears, and shed the perfume impalpable to form.

The fluency and ornaments of the finest poems or music or orations or recitations are not independent but dependent.

All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain.

If the greatnesses are in conjunction in a man or woman it is enough . . . . the fact will prevail through the universe . . . . but the gaggery and gilt of a million years will not prevail.

Who troubles himself about his ornaments or fluency is lost.

This is what you

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

vi shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches,

give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others,

hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,

document	location	text
med.00782	#ab01	I want no more of these deferences to authority—this taking off of hats and saying Sir—I want to encourage in the young men the spirit that does not know what it is to feel that it stands in the presence of superiors

go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families,

read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,

re examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book,

document	location	text
yal.00138	#seg06	Absorb no more longer, mon ami, from the schools text-books.—
	#seg07	or t Go no more not, for some years, to the labors of the recitation room, or the desk or on the accepted track of the tourists.—

dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body. . . . . . . .

The poet shall not spend his time in unneeded work.

He shall know that the ground is always ready ploughed and manured . . . . others may not know it but he shall.

He shall go directly to the creation.

His trust shall master the trust of everything he touches . . . . and shall master all attachment.

The known universe has one complete lover and that is the greatest poet.

He consumes an eternal passion and is indifferent which chance happens and which possible contingency of fortune or misfortune and persuades daily and hourly his delicious pay.

What balks or breaks others is fuel for his burning progress to contact and amorous joy.

Other proportions of the reception of pleasure dwindle to nothing to his proportions.

All expected from heaven or from the highest he is rapport with in the sight of the daybreak or a scene of the winter woods or the presence of children playing or with his arm round the neck of a man or woman.

His love above all love has leisure and expanse . . . . he leaves room ahead of himself.

He is no irresolute or suspicious lover . . . he is sure . . . he scorns intervals.

His experience and the showers and thrills are not for nothing.

Nothing can jar him . . . . suffering and darkness cannot—death and fear cannot.

To him complaint and jealousy and envy are corpses buried and rotten in the earth . . . . he saw them buried.

The sea is not surer of the shore or the shore of the sea than he is of the fruition of his love and of all perfection and beauty.

The fruition of beauty is no chance of hit or miss . . . it is inevitable as life . . . . it is exact and plumb as gravitation.

From the eyesight proceeds another eyesight and from the hearing proceeds another hearing and from the voice proceeds another voice eternally curious of the harmony of things with man.

To these respond perfections not only in the committees that were supposed to stand for the rest but in the rest themselves just the same.

These understand the law of perfection in masses and floods . . . that its finish is to each for itself and onward from itself . . . that it is profuse and impartial . . . that there is not a minute of the light or dark nor an acre of the earth or sea without it—nor any direction of the sky nor any trade or employment nor any turn of events.

document	location	text
loc.01019	#seg05	Every hour, every atom, every where is chock with beautiful miracles,
tex.00057	#l01	And to me each minute of the night and day is chock with something as vital and visible vital live as flesh is
	#l06	And on to me each acre of the earth land and sea, I behold exhibits to me perpetual _^unending marvellous pictures;
	#l08	And to me each every minute of the night and day is filled with a [live?] joy

This is the reason that about the proper expression of beauty there is precision and balance . . . one part does not need to be thrust above another.

The best singer is not the one who has the most lithe and powerful organ . . . the pleasure of poems is not in them that take the handsomest measure and similes and sound.

Without effort and without exposing in the least how it is done the greatest poet brings the spirit of any or all events and passions and scenes and persons some more and some less to bear on your individual character as you hear or read.

document	location	text
med.00729	#q03	But to bring the Spirit of all events and persons and passions to the formation of the one individual that hears or reads . . . . . of you up there now.

To do this well is to compete with the laws that pursue and follow time.

What is the purpose must surely be there and the clue of it must be there . . . . and the faintest indication is the indication of the best and then becomes the clearest indication.

Past and present and future are not disjoined but joined.

document	location	text
duk.00060	#l01	We call it one the past, and we call another the future
	#l02	But both are alike the present
	#l03	It is not the past, though we call it so,—nor
	#l04	IAnd it is not the future, though we call it so,
	#l05	It is [Ready?] to [at?], All the while it is the present only—that both pa future and past are the present only.—

The greatest poet forms the consistence of what is to be from what has been and is.

He drags the dead out of their coffins and stands them again on their feet . . . . he says to the past, Rise and walk before me that I may realize you.

He learns the lesson . . . . he places himself where the future becomes present.

The greatest poet does not only dazzle his rays over character and scenes and passions . . . he finally ascends and finishes all . . . he exhibits the pinnacles that no man can tell what they are for or what is beyond . . . . he glows a moment on the extremest verge.

document	location	text
med.00729	#q01	Not to dazzle with profuse descriptions of character and events and passions. The greatest poet is not content with dazzling his rays over character and events and passions and scenery and does not descend to moralize or make applications of morals.

He is most wonderful in his last half-hidden smile or frown . . . by that flash of the moment of parting the one that sees it shall be encouraged or terrified afterward for many years.

The greatest poet does not moralize or make applications of morals . . . he knows the soul.

document	location	text
med.00729	#q01	Not to dazzle with profuse descriptions of character and events and passions. The greatest poet is not content with dazzling his rays over character and events and passions and scenery and does not descend to moralize or make applications of morals.

The soul has that measureless pride which consists in never acknowledging any lessons but its own.

document	location	text
med.00729	#q02	The soul has that measureless pride which consists in never acknowledging any lessons but its own . . . . this invariably.

But it has sympathy as measureless as its pride and the one balances the other and neither can stretch too far while it stretches in company with the other.

The inmost secrets of art sleep with the twain.

The greatest poet has lain close betwixt both and they are vital in his style and thoughts.

The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity.

Nothing is better than simplicity . . . . nothing ca make up for excess or for the lack of definiteness

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

vii

To carry on the heave of impulse and pierce intellectual depths and give all subjects their articulations are powers neither common nor very uncommon.

But to speak in literature with the perfect rectitude and insousiance of the movements of animals and the unimpeachableness of the sentiment of trees in the woods and grass by the roadside is the flawless triumph of art.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab18	Insouciance een soo se áwnz
	#ab20	and the unimpeachableness of the sentiment of trees

If you have looked on him who has achieved it you have looked on one of the masters of the artists of all nations and times.

You shall not contemplate the flight of the graygull over the bay or the mettlesome action of the blood horse or the tall leaning of sunflowers on their stalk or the appearance of the sun journeying through heaven or the appearance of the moon afterward with any more satisfaction than you shall contemplate him.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab19	or the mettlesome action of the blood horse

The greatest poet has less a marked style and is more the channel of thoughts and things without increase or diminution, and is the free channel of himself.

He swears to his art, I will not be meddlesome, I will not have in my writing any elegance or effect or originality to hang in the way between me and the rest like curtains.

I will have nothing hang in the way, not the richest curtains.

What I tell I tell for precisely what it is.

Let who may exalt or startle or fascinate or sooth I will have purposes as health or heat or snow has and be as regardless of observation.

What I experience or portray shall go from my composition without a shred of my composition.

You shall stand by my side and look in the mirror with me.

The old red blood and stainless gentility of great poets will be proved by their unconstraint.

A heroic person walks at his ease through and out of that custom or precedent or authority that suits him not.

document	location	text
duk.00888	#seg01	The mere authority of law, custom, or precedent, must be nothing, absolutely nothing at all, with him.—

Of the traits of the brotherhood of writers savans musicians inventors and artists nothing is finer than silent defiance advancing from new free forms.

In the need of poems philosophy politics mechanism science behaviour, the craft of art, an appropriate native grand-opera, shipcraft, or any craft, he is greatest forever and forever who contributes the greatest original practical example.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab41	Always A truly the any great and original persons, teacher, inventor, poet or artist or poet, must himself make the taste and by which _^only he will be appreciated or even received.

The cleanest expression is that which finds no sphere worthy of itself and makes one.

The messages of great poets to each man and woman are, Come to us on equal terms, Only then can you understand us, We are no better than you, What we enclose you enclose, What we enjoy you may enjoy.

document	location	text
loc.00163	#q13	I [am?]remain with my fellows,—with mechanics, and farmers and common people;
	#q14	I remain with them all on equal terms
tex.00031	#l28	I remain with common people on equal average terms.—

Did you suppose there could be only one Supreme?

document	location	text
med.00746	#q01	Why has it been taught that there is only one Supreme?—

We affirm there can be unnumbered Supremes, and that one does not countervail another any more than one eyesight countervails another . . and that men can be good or grand only of the consciousness of their supremacy within them.

document	location	text
med.00746	#q02	I say there are and must be myriads of Supremes. I say that that is blasphemous petty and infidel which denies any immortal soul to be eligible to advance onward to be as supreme as any—I say that all goes on to be eligible to become one of the Supremes—

What do you think is the grandeur of storms and dismemberments and the deadliest battles and wrecks and the wildest fury of the elements and the power of the sea and the motion of nature and of the throes of human desires and dignity and hate and love?

document	location	text
uva.00287	#l01	Man, before the rage of whose passions the storms of Heaven are but a breath;
	#l03	Man, microcosm of all Creation's wildness, terror, beauty and power,

It is that something in the soul which says, Rage on, Whirl on, I tread master here and everywhere, Master of the spasms of the sky and of the shatter of the sea, Master of nature and passion and death, And of all terror and all pain.

The American bards shall be marked for generosity and affection and for encouraging competitors . .

They shall be kosmos . . without monopoly or secresy . . glad to pass any thing to any one . . hungry for equals night and day.

They shall not be careful of riches and privilege . . . . they shall be riches and privilege . . . . they shall perceive who the most affluent man is.

The most affluent man is he that confronts all the shows he sees by equivalents out of the stronger wealth of himself.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab60	The wealthiesty affluent man is he who answers all the _^confronts wealth whatever the grandest show sees [illegible] by its an equivalent or more than equivalent [in?] from the depths bottomless grander riches wealth of himself.—

The American bard shall delineate no class of persons nor one or two out of the strata of interests nor love most nor truth most nor the soul most nor the body most . . . . and not be for the eastern states more than the western or the northern states more than the southern.

Exact science and its practical movements are no checks on the greatest poet but always his encouragement and support.

The outset and remembrance are there . . there the arms that lifted him first and brace him best . . . . there he returns after all his goings and comings.

The sailor and traveler . .

the anatomist chemist astronomer geologist phrenologist spiritualist mathematician historian and lexicographer are not poets, but they are the lawgivers of poets and their construction underlies the structure of every perfect poem.

No matter what rises or is uttered they sent the seed of the conception of it . . . of them and by them stand the visible proofs of souls . . . . . always of their fatherstuff must be begotten the sinewy races of bards.

If there shall be love and content between the father and the son and if the greatness of the son is the exuding of the greatness of the father there shall be love between the poet and the man of demonstrable science.

In the beauty of poems are the tuft and final applause of science.

Great is the faith of the flush of knowledge and of the investigation of the depths of qualities and things.

Cleaving and circling here swells the soul of the poet yet it president of itself always.

The depths are fathomless and therefore calm.

The innocence and nakedness are resumed . . . they are neither modest nor immodest.

The whole theory of the special and supernatural and all that was twined with it or educed out of it departs as a dream.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

viii

What has ever happened . . . . what happens and whatever may or shall happen, the vital laws enclose all . . . . they are sufficient for any case and for all cases . . . none to be hurried or retarded . . . .

any miracle of affairs or persons inadmissible in the vast clear scheme where every motion and every spear of grass and the frames and spirits of men and women and all that concerns them are unspeakably perfect miracles all referring to all and each distinct and in its place.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw06	Different objects which decay, and by the chemistry of nature, their bodies are into spears of grass—
	#tw08	Bring all the art and science of the world, and baffle and humble it with one spear of grass
	#tw15	My life is a miracle and my body which lives is a miracle
med.00726	#seg01	For example, whisper privately in your ear . . . the studies . . . be a rich investment if they . . . to bring the hat instantly off the . . . all his learning and bend himself to feel and fully enjoy . . . superb wonder of a blade of grass growing up green and crispy from the ground.

It is also not consistent with the reality of the soul to admit that there is anything in the known universe more divine than men and women.

Men and women and the earth and all upon it are simply to be taken as they are, and the investigation of their past and present and future shall be unintermitted and shall be done with perfect candor.

Upon this basis philosophy speculates ever looking toward the poet, ever regarding the eternal tendencies of all toward happiness never inconsistent with what is clear to the senses and to the soul.

document	location	text
loc.00346	#ab04	We know that sympathy or love is the law of over all laws, because in nothing else but love does is the soul conscious of pure happiness, which is appears to be the ultimate resting place of and point of all things.—

For the eternal tendencies of all toward happiness make the only point of sane philosophy.

document	location	text
loc.00346	#ab04	We know that sympathy or love is the law of over all laws, because in nothing else but love does is the soul conscious of pure happiness, which is appears to be the ultimate resting place of and point of all things.—

Whatever comprehends less than that . . . whatever is less than the laws of light and of astronomical motion . . . or less than the laws that follow the thief the liar the glutton and the drunkard through this life and doubtless afterward . . . . . . or less than vast stretches of time or the slow formation of density or the patient upheaving of strata—is of no account.

Whatever would put God in a poem or system of philosophy as contending against some being or influence is also of no account.

Sanity and ensemble characterise the great master . . . spoilt in one principle all is spoilt.

The great master has nothing to do with miracles.

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab01	Can he be religious and have nothing to do with churches or prayers?

He sees health for himself in being one of the mass . . . . he sees the hiatus in singular eminence.

To the perfect shape comes common ground.

To be under the general law is great for that is to correspond with it.

The master knows that he is unspeakably great and that all are unspeakably great . . . . that nothing for instance is greater than to conceive children and bring them up well . . . that to be is just as great as to perceive or tell.

In the make of the great masters the idea of political liberty is indispensible.

Liberty takes the adherence of heroes wherever men and women exist . . . . but never takes any adherence or welcome from the rest more than from poets.

They are the voice and exposition of liberty.

They out of ages are worthy the grand idea . . . . to them it is confided and they must sustain it.

Nothing has precedence of it and nothing can warp or degrade it.

The attitude of great poets is to cheer up slaves and horrify despots.

The turn of their necks, the sound of their feet, the motions of their wrists, are full of hazard to the one and hope to the other.

Come nigh them awhile and though they neither speak or advise you shall learn the faithful American lesson.

Liberty is poorly served by men whose good intent is quelled from one failure or two failures or any number of failures,

or from the casual indifference or ingratitude of the people,

or from the sharp show of the tushes of power, or the bringing to bear soldiers and cannon or any penal statutes.

Liberty relies upon itself, invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive and composed, and knows no discouragement.

The battle rages with many a loud alarm and frequent advance and retreat . . . .

the enemy triumphs . . . .

the prison, the handcuffs, the iron necklace and anklet, the scaffold, garrote and leadballs do their work . . . .

the cause is asleep . . . . the strong throats are choked with their own blood . . . .

the young men drop their eyelashes toward the ground when they pass each other . . . .

and is liberty gone out of that place? No never.

When liberty goes it is not the first to go nor the second or third to go . .

it waits for all the rest to go . . it is the last. . .

When the memories of the old martyrs are faded utterly away . . . .

when the large names of patriots are laughed at in the public halls from the lips of the orators . . . .

when the boys are no more christened after the same but christened after tyrants and traitors instead . . . .

when the laws of the free are grudgingly permitted and laws for informers and bloodmoney are sweet to the taste of the people . . . .

when I and you walk abroad upon the earth stung with compassion at the sight of numberless brothers answering our equal friendship and calling no man master—and when we are elated with noble joy at the sight of slaves . . . .

when the soul retires in the cool communion of the night and surveys its experience and has much extasy over the word and deed that put back a helpless innocent person into the gripe of the gripers or into any cruel inferiority . . . .

when those in all parts of these states who could easier realize the true American character but do not yet—

when the swarms of cringers, suckers, doughfaces, lice of politics, planners of sly involutions for their own preferment to city offices or state legislatures or the judiciary or congress or the presidency, obtain a response of love and natural deference from the people whether they get the offices or no . . . .

when it is better to be a bound booby and rogue in office at a high salary than the poorest free mechanic or farmer with his hat unmoved from his head and firm eyes and a candid and generous heart . . . .

and when servility by town or state or the federal government or any oppression on a large

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ix scale or small scale can be tried on without its own punishment following duly after in exact proportion against the smallest chance of escape . . . .

or rather when all life and all the souls of men and women are discharged from any part of the earth—

then only shall the instinct of liberty be discharged from that part of the earth.

As the attributes of the poets of the kosmos concentre in the real body and soul and in the pleasure of things they possess the superiority of genuineness over all fiction and romance.

As they emit themselves facts are showered over with light . . . . the daylight is lit with more volatile light . . . . also the deep between the setting and rising sun goes deeper many fold.

Each precise object or condition or combination or process exhibits a beauty . . . . the multiplication table its—old age its—the carpenter's trade its—the grand-opera its . . . .

the hugehulled cleanshaped New-York clipper at sea under steam or full sail gleams with unmatched beauty . . . .

the American circles and large harmonies of government gleam with theirs . . . . and the commonest definite intentions and actions with theirs.

The poets of the kosmos advance through all interpositions and coverings and turmoils and stratagems to first principles.

They are of use . . . . they dissolve poverty from its need and riches from its conceit.

You large proprietor they say shall not realize or perceive more than any one else.

The owner of the library is not he who holds a legal title to it having bought and paid for it.

document	location	text
rut.00023	#p02	But the true owner of the [library?]
uva.00238	#l03	Those He They aredo not own the libraryies who have bought the buy the books and can sell them again,

Any one and every one is owner of the library who can read the same through all the varieties of tongues and subjects and styles, and in whom they enter with ease and take residence and force toward paternity and maternity, and make supple and powerful and rich and large. . . . . . . . .

document	location	text
rut.00023	#p02	But the true owner of the [library?]
uva.00238	#l02	It is The books are written in numberless tongues,—always perfect, always and alive;
	#l04	I am the owner of the libraryies, for I read ev read every page, and enjoy the meaning of the same

These American states strong and healthy and accomplished shall receive no pleasure from violations of natural models and must not permit them.

In paintings or mouldings or carvings in mineral or wood, or in the illustrations of books or newspapers, or in any comic or tragic prints, or in the patterns of woven stuffs or any thing to beautify rooms or furniture or costumes, or to put upon cornices or monuments or on the prows or sterns of ships, or to put anywhere before the human eye indoors or out, that which distorts honest shapes or which creates unearthly beings or places or contingencies is a nuisance and revolt.

Of the human form especially it is so great it must never be made ridiculous.

Of ornaments to a work nothing outre can be allowed . . but those ornaments can be allowed that conform to the perfect facts of the open air and that flow out of the nature of the work and come irrepressibly from it and are necessary to the completion of the work.

document	location	text
duk.00130	#p01	A perfectly transparent, plate-glassy style, artless, with no ornaments, or attempts at ornaments, for their own sake,—_^they only coming in where answering looking well when like the beauties of the person or character, by nature and intuition, _^and never lugged in [in?] in by the colla to show off, which founders nullifies the best of them, no matter under when and where, or under of the most favorable cases.
duk.00302	#p01	It seems to me—to avoid all poetical similes—to be faithful to the perfect likelihoods of nature—healthy, exact simple, disdaining ornament.

Most works are most beautiful without ornament. . .

Exaggerations will be revenged in human physiology.

Clean and vigorous children are jetted and conceived only in those communities where the models of natural forms are public every day. . . . .

Great genius and the people of these states must never be demeaned to romances.

document	location	text
loc.05314	#seg02	Who of all these swarms in the East & West, of writers and speakers courageously steps up to own the _^celebrate the savage and free genius of These States?—I know not one.—
med.00741	#seg01	Why need genius and the people of These States be demeaned to romances?

As soon as histories are properly told there is no more need of romances.

document	location	text
med.00741	#seg02	Let facts and histories be properly told, there is no more need of romances.

The great poets are also to be known by the absence in them of tricks and by the justification of perfect personal candor.

Then folks echo a new cheap joy and a divine voice leaping from their brains: How beautiful is candor!

All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor.

Henceforth let no man of us lie, for we have seen that openness wins the inner and outer world and that there is no single exception, and that never since our earth gathered itself in a mass have deceit or subterfuge or prevarication attracted its smallest particle or the faintest tinge of a shade—

and that through the enveloping wealth and rank of a state or the whole republic of states a sneak or sly person shall be discovered and despised . . . . and that the soul has never been once fooled and never can be fooled . . . . and thrift without the loving nod of the soul is only a fœtid puff . . . .

and there never grew up in any of the continents of the globe nor upon any planet or satellite or star, nor upon the asteroids, nor in any part of ethereal space, nor in the midst of density, nor under the fluid wet of the sea, nor in that condition which precedes the birth of babes, nor at any time during the changes of life, nor in that condition that follows what we term death, nor in any stretch of abeyance or action afterward of vitality, nor in any process of formation or reformation anywhere, a being whose instinct hated the truth.

document	location	text
duk.00060	#seg02	The existences on the innumerable stars, with their varied degrees of perfection, climate, swiftness
	#seg03	Whatever it is that follows death,
nyp.00129	#p10	* It is this which is the source of all Poetry; for there is _^in all men an instinct of the truth. in all men There is a file We have a saw-toothed appetite _^with which restlessly hankers for some satisfactory food out of this immense and varied earth, beyond men something more _^satisfactory than

Extreme caution or prudence, the soundest organic health, large hope and comparison and fondness for women and children, large alimentiveness and destructiveness and causality, with a perfect sense of the oneness of nature and the propriety of the same spirit applied to human affairs . .

these are called up of the float of the brain of the world to be parts of the greatest poet from his birth out of his mother's womb and from her birth out of her mother's.

document	location	text
uva.00283	#l01	Who wills with his own brain, the good sweet of the float of the earth descends and surrounds him,

Caution seldom goes far enough.

It has been thought that the prudent citizen was the citizen who applied himself to solid gains and did well for himself and his family and completed a lawful life without debt or crime.

The greatest poet sees and admits these economies as he sees the economies of food and sleep, but has higher notions of prudence than to think he gives much when he gives

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

x a few slight attentions at the latch of the gate.

The premises of the prudence of life are not the hospitality of it or the ripeness and harvest of it.

Beyond the independence of a little sum laid aside for burial-money,

and of a few clapboards around and shingles overhead on a lot of American soil owned,

and the easy dollars that supply the year's plain clothing and meals,

the melancholy prudence of the abandonment of such a great being as a man is to the toss and pallor of years of moneymaking with all their scorching days and icy nights

and all their stifling deceits and underhanded dodgings, or infinitessimals of parlors, or shameless stuffing while others starve . .

document	location	text
duk.00800	#p02	It is the perpetual endless delusion of the big and little smouchers, of the at in all their varieties, circumstances and degre what-not of their greedines whether usurping the rule of an empire, or thieving a negro and selling him,—or slyly pocketing a roll of rolled ribbon from the counter whatever and whichever any of the ways in which _^that legislators, lawyers, and the priests and [the?] educated _^and pious, classes, under the prefer certain _^political a advantages to themselves, over equal the vast armies retinues of the [poor?] the laboring, ignorant men, black men, sinners, [and?] so on—to suppose that they have succeded when the documents are signed and sealed, and they enter in possession of their gains.—_^These Shallow Ddriblets ? of a ? day! ! you [open?] are worse _^shallower less in your their high success, than the lowest dullest of those you have the [visions?] people they would overtopped.—[I?] If there be Whatever it be, liberty wea or wealth or knowledge privilege
loc.00141	#tr03	(3 every bite, I put between them, and if I my my belly is the victor, it that will not cannot then so _^even then be foiled, but follows the crust innocent food down my throat my throat and is like _^makes it _^turns it to fire and lead within me?—What _^angry [man?] snake that hisses whistles softly hisses at my ear, as saying, deny your greed and this night your soul shall O fool will you stuff your greed and starve your soul?
	#ab01	(And what is _^it but my [earl?] soul that hisses like an angry snake, O fFool! will you stuff your greed and starve me?
loc.00387	#seg01	Lofty sirs! you are very select and very [or?][cut away] and will have reserved seats in the ninetieth heaven no doubt, [a?] and move among _^recognize only the best dressed and most polite angels, well dressed, [illegible] and with real spirits and whose names are on silver door plates,—and folding sliding doors between gas at night in the parlors.—
loc.05589	#ab30	such such a thing as ownership here any how.—The Chief B[illegible] [illegible]_^was is the [primal democrat?] [illegible] [illegible] of his one of the laws _^[illegible] that [illegible] from the moment any a man takes the [s]mallest page exclusively to himself [a]nd tryies to keep it from the rest [f]rom that [illegible] moment it begins to wither _^under his hand and _^[lose?] its immortal hieroglyphics _^presently fade away and become blank [illegible] and dead.—
	#ab50	Literature to these gentlemen is a parlor in which no person is to be welcomed unless he come attired in dress coat and observing the approved decorums with the fashionable
med.00903	#ab01	I tell you greedy smoucher! I will have nothing which any man or any woman, anywhere on the face of the earth, or of any color or country cannot also have.
tex.00031	#l04	I see saw see a a smoucher and a hog, grabbing the good dishes _^exclusively to himself,. and grinning at the starvation of others, as if it were funny.—
	#l12	With a marble broad stoop to my house residence, and a silver door plate, and a steady pew in church?
	#l19	And Thus the Have you heard [illegible] the gurgle the of gluttons, ready to stuff them continually perfectly willing to stuff themselves;
	#l20	While then laugh at good fun of the starvation of others, as if it was funny.—

and all the loss of the bloom and odor of the earth and of the flowers and atmosphere and of the sea and of the true taste of the women and men you pass or have to do with in youth or middle age,

and the issuing sickness and desperate revolt at the close of a life without elevation or naivete,

and the ghastly chatter of a death without serenity or majesty,

is the great fraud upon modern civilization and forethought, blotching the surface and system which civilization undeniably drafts, and moistening with tears the immense features it spreads and spreads with such velocity before the reached kisses of the soul . . .

Still the right explanation remains to be made about prudence.

The prudence of the mere wealth and respectability of the most esteemed life appears too faint for the eye to observe at all when little and large alike drop quietly aside at the thought of the prudence suitable for immortality.

What is wisdom that fills the thinness of a year or seventy or eighty years to wisdom spaced out by ages and coming back at a certain time with strong reinforcements and rich presents and the clear faces of wedding-guests as far as you can look in every direction running gaily toward you?

Only the soul is of itself . . . .

all else has reference to what ensues.

All that a person does or thinks is of consequence.

Not a move can a man or woman make that affects him or her in a day or a month or any part of the direct lifetime or the hour of death

but the same affects him or her onward afterward through the indirect lifetime.

The indirect is always as great and real as the direct.

The spirit receives from the body just as much as it gives to the body.

Not one name of word or deed . . not of venereal sores or discolorations . . not the privacy of the onanist . .

not of the putrid veins of gluttons or rumdrinkers . . . not peculation or cunning or betrayal or murder . . no serpentine poison of those that seduce women . . not the foolish yielding of women . . not prostitution . . not of any depravity of young men . . not of the attainment of gain by discreditable means . . not any nastiness of appetite . . not any harshness of officers to men or judges to prisoners or fathers to sons or sons to fathers or of husbands to wives or bosses to their boys . . not of greedy looks or malignant wishes . . . nor any of the wiles practised by people upon themselves . . .

ever is or ever can be stamped on the programme but it is duly realized and returned, and that returned in further performances . . . and they returned again.

Nor can the push of charity or personal force ever be any thing else than the profoundest reason, whether it bring arguments to hand or no.

No specification is necessary . . to add or subtract or divide is in vain.

Little or big, learned or unlearned, white or black, legal or illegal, sick or well, from the first inspiration down the windpipe to the last expiration out of it,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#tw31	I am the for sinners and the unlearned
	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

all that a male or female does that is vigorous and benevolent and clean is so much sure profit to him or her

in the unshakable order of the universe and through the whole scope of it forever.

If the savage or felon is wise it is well . . . . if the greatest poet or savan is wise it is simply the same . . if the President or chief justice is wise it is the same . . . if the young mechanic or farmer is wise it is no more or less . . if the prostitute is wise it is no more nor less.

document	location	text
uva.00283	#l02	If he you be a laborer or apprentice or solitary farmer, it is the same.

The interest will come round . . all will come round.

All the best actions of war and peace . . .

all help given to relatives and strangers and the poor and old and sorrowful and young children and widows and the sick, and to all shunned persons . .

all furtherance of fugitives and of the escape of slaves . .

all the self-denial that stood steady and aloof on wrecks and saw others take the seats of the boats . . .

all offering of substance or life for the good old cause, or for a friend's sake or opinion's sake . . .

all pains of enthusiasts scoffed at by their neighbors . .

all the vast sweet love and precious suffering of mothers . . .

all honest men baffled in strifes recorded or unrecorded . . . .

all the grandeur and good of the few ancient nations whose fragments of annals we inherit . .

and all the good of the hundreds of far mightier and more ancient nations unknown to us by name or date or location . . . .

all that was ever manfully begun, whether it succeeded or no . . . .

all that has at any time been well suggested out of the divine heart of man or by the divinity of his mouth or by the shaping of his great hands . .

and all that is well thought or done this day on any part of the surface of the globe . . or on any of the wandering stars or fixed stars by those there as we are here . .

document	location	text
duk.00060	#seg01	The curious realities now everywhere—on the surface of the earth,
	#seg02	The existences on the innumerable stars, with their varied degrees of perfection, climate, swiftness

or that is henceforth to be well thought or done by you whoever you are, or by any one—

these singly and wholly inured at their time and inure now and will inure always to the identities from which they sprung or shall spring . . .

Did you guess any of them lived only its mo-

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ximent?

The world does not so exist . . no parts palpable or impalpable so exist . . .

no result exists now without being from its long antecedent result, and that from its antecedent,

and so backward without the farthest mentionable spot coming a bit nearer the beginning than any other spot. . . . .

Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.

The prudence of the greatest poet answers at last the craving and glut of the soul,

is not contemptuous of less ways of prudence if they conform to its ways, puts off nothing, permits no let-up for its own case or any case, has no particular sabbath or judgment-day,

divides not the living from the dead or the righteous from the unrighteous,

is satisfied with the present,

matches every thought or act by its correlative,

knows no possible forgiveness or deputed atonement . .

knows that the young man who composedly periled his life and lost it has done exceeding well for himself,

while the man who has not periled his life and retains it to old age in riches and ease has perhaps achieved nothing for himself worth mentioning . .

and that only that person has no great prudence to learn who has learnt to prefer real longlived things,

and favors body and soul the same,

and perceives the indirect assuredly following the direct,

and what evil or good he does leaping onward and waiting to meet him again—

and who in his spirit in any emergency whatever neither hurries or avoids death.

The direct trial of him who would be the greatest poet is today.

If he does not flood himself with the immediate age as with vast oceanic tides . . . . .

and if he does not attract his own land body and soul to himself and hang on its neck with incomparable love

and plunge his semitic muscle into its merits and demerits . . .

and if he be not himself the age transfigured . . . .

and if to him is not opened the eternity which gives similitude to all periods and locations and processes and animate and inanimate forms, and which is the bond of time, and rises up from its inconceivable vagueness and infiniteness in the swimming shape of today, and is held by the ductile anchors of life, and makes the present spot the passage from what was to what shall be, and commits itself to the representation of this wave of an hour and this one of the sixty beautiful children of the wave—

let him merge in the general run and wait his developement. . . . . . . .

Still the final test of poems or any character or work remains.

The prescient poet projects himself centuries ahead and judges performer or performance after the changes of time.

Does it live through them?

Does it still hold on untired?

Will the same style and the direction of genius to similar points be satisfactory now?

Has no new discovery in science or arrival at superior planes of thought and judgment and behaviour fixed him or his so that either can be looked down upon?

Have the marches of tens and hundreds and thousands of years made willing detours to the right hand and the left hand for his sake?

Is he beloved long and long after he is buried?

Does the young man think often of him? and the young woman think often of him? and do the middleaged and the old think of him?

document	location	text
uva.00137	#l02	you young woman, thinking of man, and thinking of the bashful, longh longing, loving, thinking alone at night,

A great poem is for ages and ages in common and for all degrees and complexions and all departments and sects and for a woman as much as a man and a man as much as a woman.

A great poem is no finish to a man or woman but rather a beginning.

Has any one fancied he could sit at last under some due authority and rest satisfied with explanations and realize and be content and full?

To no such terminus does the greatest poet bring . . .

he brings neither cessation or sheltered fatness and ease.

The touch of him tells in action.

Whom he takes he takes with firm sure grasp into live regions previously unattained . . . . thenceforward is no rest . . . . they see the space and ineffable sheen that turn the old spots and lights into dead vacuums.

The companion of him beholds the birth and progress of stars and learns one of the meanings.

Now there shall be a man cohered out of tumult and chaos . . . . the elder encourages the younger and shows him how . . .

document	location	text
loc.01019	#seg08	Of the being who embodies it in boundless finished perfection,—and of whom there have been one or two examples in as many thousand years, as if to encourage the earth and show it how,—

they two shall launch off fearlessly together till the new world fits an orbit for itself and looks unabashed on the lesser orbits of the stars and sweeps through the ceaseless rings and shall never be quiet again.

There will soon be no more priests. Their work is done.

They may wait awhile . . perhaps a generation or two . . dropping off by degrees.

A superior breed shall take their place . . . .

the gangs of kosmos and prophets en masse shall take their place.

A new order shall arise and they shall be the priests of man, and every man shall be his own priest.

The churches built under their umbrage shall be the churches of men and women.

Through the divinity of themselves shall the kosmos and the new breed of poets be interpreters of men and women and of all events and things.

They shall find their inspiration in real objects today, symptoms of the past and future . . . .

They shall not deign to defend immortality or God or the perfection of things or liberty or the exquisite beauty and reality of the soul.

They shall arise in America and be responded to from the remainder of the earth.

The English language befriends the grand American expression . . . . it is brawny enough and limber and full enough.

On the tough stock of a race who through all change of circumstance was never with-

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

xiiout the idea of political liberty, which is the animus of all liberty, it has attracted the terms of daintier and gayer and subtler and more elegant tongues.

It is the powerful language of resistance . . . it is the dialect of common sense.

It is the speech of the proud and melancholy races and of all who aspire.

It is the chosen tongue to express growth faith self-esteem freedom justice equality friendliness amplitude prudence decision and courage.

It is the medium that shall well nigh express the inexpressible.

No great literature nor any like style of behaviour or oratory or social intercourse or household arrangements or public institutions or the treatment by bosses of employed people, nor executive detail or detail of the army or navy, nor spirit of legislation or courts or police or tuition or architecture or songs or amusements or the costumes of young men, can long elude the jealous and passionate instinct of American standards.

document	location	text
loc.05180	#q01	The idea that no style of behaviour, or dress, or public institutions, or treatment by bosses of employed people, and nothing in the army or navy, nor in the courts, or police, or tuition, or amusements, can much longer permanently elude the jealous and passionate instinct of American standards.—
loc.05589	#ab21	haughty [&?] jealous and haughty instinct

Whether or no the sign appears from the mouths of the people, it throbs a live interrogation in every freeman's and freewoman's heart after that which passes by or this built to remain.

Is it uniform with my country? Are its disposals without ignominious distinctions? Is it for the evergrowing communes of brothers and lovers, large, well-united, proud beyond the old models, generous beyond all models?

document	location	text
loc.05589	#l31	Has his life shown the true American character?
	#l32	And does it show the true American character?
	#l33	Has he been easy and friendly with his workmen?—Has he been the stern master of slaves?
	#l34	Has he been for making ignominious distinctions?—Has he respected the literary classes and looked on the ignorant classes with [contempt]

Is it something grown fresh out of the fields or drawn from the sea for use to me today here?

I know that what answers for me an American must answer for any individual or nation that serves for a part of my materials.

Does this answer? or is it without reference to universal needs?

or sprung of the needs of the less developed society of special ranks?

or old needs of pleasure overlaid by modern science and forms?

Does this acknowledge liberty with audible and absolute acknowledgement, and set slavery at nought for life and death?

Will it help breed one goodshaped and wellhung man, and a woman to be his perfect and independent mate?

Does it improve manners?

Is it for the nursing of the young of the republic?

Does it solve readily with the sweet milk of the nipples of the breasts of the mother of many children?

Has it too the old ever-fresh forbearance and impartiality?

Does it look with the same love on the last born and on those hardening toward stature, and on the errant, and on those who disdain all strength of assault outside of their own?

The poems distilled from other poems will probably pass away.

The coward will surely pass away.

The expectation of the vital and great can only be satisfied by the demeanor of the vital and great.

The swarms of the polished deprecating and reflectors and the polite float off and leave no remembrance.

America prepares with composure and goodwill for the visitors that have sent word.

It is not intellect that is to be their warrant and welcome.

The talented, the artist, the ingenious, the editor, the statesman, the erudite . . they are not unappreciated . . they fall in their place and do their work.

The soul of the nation also does its work.

No disguise can pass on it . . no disguise can conceal from it.

It rejects none, it permits all.

Only toward as good as itself and toward the like of itself will it advance half-way.

An individual is as superb as a nation when he has the qualities which make a superb nation.

The soul of the largest and wealthiest and proudest nation may well go half-way to meet that of its poets.

The signs are effectual.

There is no fear of mistake.

If the one is true the other is true.

The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Leaves of Grass" [1]

("Song of Myself")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00001 (high)
duk.00006 (high)
duk.00007 (high)
duk.00018 (high)
duk.00051 (high)
duk.00260 (high)
duk.00261 (high)
duk.00262 (high)
duk.00787 (high)
duk.00797 (high)
duk.00800 (high)
duk.00883 (high)
duk.00942 (high)
loc.00042 (high)
loc.00507 (high)
loc.01019 (high)
loc.05705 (high)
med.00901 (high)
med.00902 (high)
med.00903 (high)
nyp.00023 (high)
nyp.00063 (high)
nyp.00078 (high)
nyp.00079 (high)
nyp.00122 (high)
nyp.00510 (high)
nyp.00511 (high)
nyp.00549 (high)
nyp.00733 (high)
prc.00127 (high)
rut.00025 (high)
tex.00002 (high)
tex.00030 (high)
tex.00057 (high)
tex.00088 (high)
uva.00250 (high)
uva.00254 (high)
uva.00261 (high)
uva.00262 (high)
uva.00263 (high)
uva.00264 (high)
uva.00280 (high)
uva.00561 (high)
uva.00568 (high)
uva.00570 (high)
uva.00601 (high)
yal.00483 (high)
amh.00008 (low)
duk.00008 (low)
duk.00026 (low)
duk.00029 (low)
duk.00104 (low)
duk.00128 (low)
duk.00159 (low)
duk.00162 (low)
duk.00258 (low)
duk.00263 (low)
duk.00293 (low)
duk.00296 (low)
duk.00297 (low)
duk.00298 (low)
duk.00304 (low)
loc.00013 (low)
loc.00162 (low)
loc.00387 (low)
loc.05334 (low)
med.00726 (low)
med.00904 (low)
med.00909 (low)
med.00910 (low)
med.00911 (low)
nyp.00052 (low)
nyp.00057 (low)
nyp.00085 (low)
nyp.00088 (low)
nyp.00089 (low)
nyp.00102 (low)
nyp.00112 (low)
nyp.00113 (low)
nyp.00116 (low)
nyp.00119 (low)
nyp.00734 (low)
nyp.00742 (low)
tex.00031 (low)
tul.00011 (low)
uva.00133 (low)
uva.00137 (low)
uva.00238 (low)
uva.00251 (low)
uva.00256 (low)
uva.00258 (low)
uva.00265 (low)
uva.00269 (low)
uva.00273 (low)
uva.00278 (low)
uva.00287 (low)
uva.00600 (low)
uva.00602 (low)
yal.00138 (low)

Leaves of Grass.

⎯⎯⎯

I CELEBRATE myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,

I lean and loafe at my ease . . . . observing a spear of summer grass.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw06	Different objects which decay, and by the chemistry of nature, their bodies are into spears of grass—
	#tw08	Bring all the art and science of the world, and baffle and humble it with one spear of grass
	#l92	Observing the shroud
	#tw59	Observing the summer grass
med.00909	#l02	Outside the asteroids I reconnoitre at my ease.

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes . . . . the shelves are crowded with perfumes,

I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,

The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.

The atmosphere is not a perfume . . . . it has no taste of the distillation . . . . it is

odorless,

document	location	text
duk.00297	#seg05	and In in tTheir indefinable excellence giving gives us out something as superior to all much above beyond the _^special productions [of colleges and pews and parlors as the morning air of the prairie or the sea-shore outsmells the costliest scents of the perfume shop.]

It is for my mouth forever . . . . I am in love with it,

I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,

I am mad for it to be in contact with me.

The smoke of my own breath,

Echos, ripples, and buzzed whispers . . . . loveroot, silkthread, crotch and vine,

document	location	text
nyp.00122	#q01	Lovebranches Loveroot.
	#i01	Loveroot Seedling Climber-blossom—-mine.—
	#i02	Bloss Branched LeVerdure, blossom branch, fruit and vine
	#q02	Loveroot,
	#l01	Verdure, crotch, branch, crotch fruit bulb and vine
	#l02	Silk
	#q03	Bulb, silkthread, crotch and f
nyp.00734	#item06	Loveripples

My respiration and inspiration . . . . the beating of my heart . . . . the passing of blood

and air through my lungs,

The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and darkcolored sea-

rocks, and of hay in the barn,

The sound of the belched words of my voice . . . . words loosed to the eddies of

the wind,

A few light kisses . . . . a few embraces . . . . a reaching around of arms,

The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,

The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hillsides,

The feeling of health . . . . the full-noon trill . . . . the song of me rising from bed

and meeting the sun.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

14 Leaves of Grass.

Have you reckoned a thousand acres much? Have you reckoned the earth much?

Have you practiced so long to learn to read?

Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,

You shall possess the good of the earth and sun . . . . there are millions of suns left,

You shall no longer take things at second or third hand . . . . nor look through the

eyes of the dead . . . . nor feed on the spectres in books,

document	location	text
nyp.00129	#seg06	Even if _^the explanation be done at second and third hand, removes and two or three removes off, or as most are, or distantly suggested,
yal.00138	#seg06	Absorb no more longer, mon ami, from the schools text-books.—

You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,

You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.

I have heard what the talkers were talking . . . . the talk of the beginning and the end,

But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

There was never any more inception than there is now,

Nor any more youth or age than there is now;

And will never be any more perfection than there is now,

Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

Urge and urge and urge,

Always the procreant urge of the world.

Out of the dimness opposite equals advance . . . . Always substance and increase,

Always a knit of identity . . . . always distinction . . . . always a breed of life.

To elaborate is no avail . . . . Learned and unlearned feel that it is so.

Sure as the most certain sure . . . . plumb in the uprights, well entretied, braced in

the beams,

Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,

I and this mystery here we stand.

Clear and sweet is my soul . . . . and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.

Lack one lacks both . . . . and the unseen is proved by the seen,

document	location	text
loc.00042	#l05	But that all the things seen or demonstrated are so;
	#l06	Witnesses and albic dawns of things equally great, not yet seen.—
loc.00141	#tw27	What we see is real; But that all I see _^[the things seen?] [all?] is real
	#l450	And It is tThe witness and albic dawn of _^things equally real wh[illegible]th we _^[illegible] do [illegible] not _^yet seen
	#l451	But which is I know to be equally real, I know.

Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn.

document	location	text
loc.00042	#l06	Witnesses and albic dawns of things equally great, not yet seen.—
loc.00141	#l450	And It is tThe witness and albic dawn of _^things equally real wh[illegible]th we _^[illegible] do [illegible] not _^yet seen
	#l451	But which is I know to be equally real, I know.

Showing the best and dividing it from the worst, age vexes age,

Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they discuss I am silent,

and go bathe and admire myself.

Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean,

Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest.

I am satisfied . . . . I see, dance, laugh, sing;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 15

As God comes a loving bedfellow and sleeps at my side all night and close on the

peep of the day,

And leaves for me baskets covered with white towels bulging the house with their

plenty,

Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream at my eyes,

That they turn from gazing after and down the road,

And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent,

Exactly the contents of one, and exactly the contents of two, and which is ahead?

Trippers and askers surround me,

People I meet . . . . . the effect upon me of my early life . . . . of the ward and city I

live in . . . . of the nation,

The latest news . . . . discoveries, inventions, societies . . . . authors old and new,

My dinner, dress, associates, looks, business, compliments, dues,

The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I love,

The sickness of one of my folks—or of myself . . . . or ill-doing . . . . or loss or lack

of money . . . . or depressions or exaltations,

They come to me days and nights and go from me again,

But they are not the Me myself.

Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,

document	location	text
loc.05334	#p01	For remember that behind all this show of ostensible life, of every man and woman,—of you hearing me now [in?] these talks, amusements, dress, money, politics, &c. stands the real life of every man and woman of you who hear me now

Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary,

Looks down, is erect, bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest,

Looks with its sidecurved head curious what will come next,

Both in and out of the game, and watching and wondering at it.

Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and

contenders,

I have no mockings or arguments . . . . I witness and wait.

document	location	text
duk.00797	#seg02	I have no gibes nor mocks mockings or laughter;—I have only to be silent and patiently to wait.—
loc.05589	#l37	I have no mockings ? and laughter?
	#l38	I have only to be silent ? and

I believe in you my soul . . . . the other I am must not abase itself to you,

And you must not be abased to the other.

Loafe with me on the grass . . . . loose the stop from your throat,

Not words, not music or rhyme I want . . . . not custom or lecture, not even the best,

Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.

document	location	text
uva.00264	#l01	And their voices, clearer than the valved ? cornet,—they cry hoot! hoot! to us all our lives till we seek where they hide, and bring the sly ones out forth!

I mind how we lay in June, such a transparent summer morning;

You settled your head athwart my hips and gently turned over upon me,

And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunged your tongue to my barestript

heart,

And reached till you felt my beard, and reached till you held my feet.

Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and joy and knowledge that pass all

the art and argument of the earth;

And I know that the hand of God is the elderhand of my own,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

16 Leaves of Grass,

And I know that the spirit of God is the eldest brother of my own,

document	location	text
duk.00298	#seg02	Contemptible enough indeed are they such they all, measurersing, compared with that vast But that stunning, swimming puzzle envelopings God the soul himitself and the Elder Brother of the soul and which had no beginning and can never cease
med.00911	#l01	The Elder Brother of the soul—my soul.
nyp.00085	#l02	The Soul addresses God as his equal—as one who knows its greatness—as a younger brother

And that all the men ever born are also my brothers . . . . and the women my sisters

and lovers,

And that a kelson of the creation is love;

And limitless are leaves stiff or drooping in the fields,

And brown ants in the little wells beneath them,

And mossy scabs of the wormfence, and heaped stones, and elder and mullen and

pokeweed.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw40	And _^a thousand pictures [illegible] great and small crowd the the [illegible] rail-fence, with and [illegible] hang on its loose heaped stones and some elder and poke-weed.
tex.00057	#l07	They fill the worm‑fence, and lie on the heaped stones, and are hooked to the elder and poke‑weed;

A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;

How could I answer the child? . . . . I do not know what it is any more than he.

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,

A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,

Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark,

and say Whose?

Or I guess the grass is itself a child . . . . the produced babe of the vegetation.

Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab30	such such a thing as ownership here any how.—The Chief B[illegible] [illegible]_^was is the [primal democrat?] [illegible] [illegible] of his one of the laws _^[illegible] that [illegible] from the moment any a man takes the [s]mallest page exclusively to himself [a]nd tryies to keep it from the rest [f]rom that [illegible] moment it begins to wither _^under his hand and _^[lose?] its immortal hieroglyphics _^presently fade away and become blank [illegible] and dead.—

And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#l201	And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
	#l08	And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.

Growing among black folks as among white,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#l201	And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
	#l08	And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.

100

Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the

same.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#l201	And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
	#l08	And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.

101

And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.

102

Tenderly will I use you curling grass,

103

It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,

104

It may be if I had known them I would have loved them;

105

It may be you are from old people and from women, and from offspring taken soon

out of their mothers' laps,

106

And here you are the mothers' laps.

107

This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,

108

Darker than the colorless beards of old men,

109

Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.

110

O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues!

111

And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths for nothing.

112

I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women,

113

And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken soon out of their

laps.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 17

114

What do you think has become of the young and old men?

document	location	text
duk.00942	#l16	Yet I cannot say, any more than you, their spirits went far enough what has become of the young _^and old men,

115

And what do you think has become of the women and children?

116

They are alive and well somewhere;

117

The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,

document	location	text
duk.00007	#l01	It is no miracle now that wherever we be we are to live on always.
	#l06	It It They shall tells for me that people In them, the smallest least of us the universe eternity has no time for Death, _^each inch of existence is so good exquisite [illegible] _^weighty needful
	#l07	But And, that to pass existence is _^[poetry?] sovereign supreme over all, and what we thought death is but life brought to a finer parturition.—
duk.00942	#l19	Because this grass tells me there is no such thing as death,
nyp.00052	#l01	If tTo pass existence be is so good, what room there is no chance can there be [for death?]

118

And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,

119

And ceased the moment life appeared.

120

All goes onward and outward . . . . and nothing collapses,

121

And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.

document	location	text
duk.00007	#l07	But And, that to pass existence is _^[poetry?] sovereign supreme over all, and what we thought death is but life brought to a finer parturition.—
duk.00942	#l23	And that to die is not what what you one supposeds.—
nyp.00113	#ab01	Describing the death of nine seven brothers and their parents——who can say that those who were _^least least most lucky who died the earliest, or under the most appaling circumstances? Or that those were luckiest who made the most wealth, and lived the longest stretch of mortality?

122

Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?

document	location	text
duk.00942	#l24	Have you supposed it good to be born?
loc.00141	#l39	Do Have you supposed it beautiful to be born?

123

I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.

document	location	text
duk.00942	#l25	[Have?] I hasten to inform tell you it is just as good to die, [illegible] and I know it;
loc.00141	#l40	I tell you _^I know it it is more just as beautiful to die;
nyp.00113	#ab01	Describing the death of nine seven brothers and their parents——who can say that those who were _^least least most lucky who died the earliest, or under the most appaling circumstances? Or that those were luckiest who made the most wealth, and lived the longest stretch of mortality?

124

I pass death with the dying, and birth with the new-washed babe . . . . and am not

contained between my hat and boots,

document	location	text
duk.00942	#l26	[I know it?] For I take my death with the dying,
	#l31	[And my birth with the new-washed babe?]
loc.00141	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
	#l41	For I take my death with the dying
	#l42	And my birth with the new-born babes
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

125

And peruse manifold objects, no two alike, and every one good,

document	location	text
loc.00162	#l04	Between this beautiful but dumb Earth, with all all its manifold eloquent but inarticulate shows & objects
nyp.00063	#p01	Superb and infinitely manifold [t?] as natural the objects are,—not a so cubic solid each foot _^out of the numberless countless octillions of the cubic leagues of space but has its positive [lo?] ho is being crammed full of positive absolute or direct relative wonders,—not any one of these, nor the whole of them together, disturbs or seems awry to the mind of man or woman.—

126

The earth good, and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good.

127

I am not an earth nor an adjunct of an earth,

128

I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as

myself;

129

They do not know how immortal, but I know.

130

Every kind for itself and its own . . . . for me mine male and female,

131

For me all that have been boys and that love women,

132

For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,

133

For me the sweetheart and the old maid . . . . for me mothers and the mothers of

mothers,

134

For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears,

135

For me children and the begetters of children.

136

Who need be afraid of the merge?

137

Undrape . . . . you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded,

138

I see through the broadcloth and gingham whether or no,

139

And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless . . . . and can never be shaken away.

140

The little one sleeps in its cradle,

141

I lift the gauze and look a long time, and silently brush away flies with my hand.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw201	And have sent my soul And went down to to take board reconnoitre there a long time,
	#tw212	And my soul staid there flew thither to [st?] reconnoitre and squat, and looked long upon the universe out,

142

The youngster and the redfaced girl turn aside up the bushy hill,

143

I peeringly view them from the top.

144

The suicide sprawls on the bloody floor of the bedroom,

document	location	text
uva.00601	#l01	The suicide that hanged himsel went to a lonesome place with a pistol and killed himself, and I came that way and stumbled upon him

145

It is so . . . . I witnessed the corpse . . . . there the pistol had fallen.

document	location	text
uva.00601	#l01	The suicide that hanged himsel went to a lonesome place with a pistol and killed himself, and I came that way and stumbled upon him

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

18 Leaves of Grass.

146

The blab of the pave . . . . the tires of carts and sluff of bootsoles and talk of the

promenaders,

147

The heavy omnibus, the driver with his interrogating thumb, the clank of the shod

horses on the granite floor,

148

The carnival of sleighs, the clinking and shouted jokes and pelts of snowballs;

149

The hurrahs for popular favorites . . . . the fury of roused mobs,

150

The flap of the curtained litter—the sick man inside, borne to the hospital,

151

The meeting of enemies, the sudden oath, the blows and fall,

152

The excited crowd—the policeman with his star quickly working his passage to the

centre of the crowd;

153

The impassive stones that receive and return so many echoes,

154

The souls moving along . . . . are they invisible while the least atom of the stones is

visible?

155

What groans of overfed or half-starved who fall on the flags sunstruck or in fits,

156

What exclamations of women taken suddenly, who hurry home and give birth to

babes,

157

What living and buried speech is always vibrating here . . . . what howls restrained

by decorum,

158

Arrests of criminals, slights, adulterous offers made, acceptances, rejections with

convex lips,

159

I mind them or the resonance of them . . . . I come again and again.

160

The big doors of the country-barn stand open and ready,

161

The dried grass of the harvest-time loads the slow-drawn wagon,

162

The clear light plays on the brown gray and green intertinged,

163

The armfuls are packed to the sagging mow:

164

I am there . . . . I help . . . . I came stretched atop of the load,

165

I felt its soft jolts . . . . one leg reclined on the other,

166

I jump from the crossbeams, and seize the clover and timothy,

167

And roll head over heels, and tangle my hair full of wisps.

168

Alone far in the wilds and mountains I hunt,

169

Wandering amazed at my own lightness and glee,

170

In the late afternoon choosing a safe spot to pass the night,

171

Kindling a fire and broiling the freshkilled game,

172

Soundly falling asleep on the gathered leaves, my dog and gun by my side.

173

The Yankee clipper is under her three skysails . . . . she cuts the sparkle and scud,

174

My eyes settle the land . . . . I bend at her prow or shout joyously from the deck.

175

The boatmen and clamdiggers arose early and stopped for me,

document	location	text
duk.00296	#seg01	¶ How gladly we leave _^the best of what is called learned and refined society, or the company of lawyers and book-factors and men withfrom stores and offices _^from [even?] the best of what is called intellectual society to sail all day on the river withamid a party of pilots and fresh and jovial boatmen, with no coats or suspenders, and their trowsers tucked in their boots.
duk.00297	#seg01	Outdoors is the best antise[ptic] yet.—What a [cha]rm there is about in men that have lived main[ly?] [cut away] the open air—among horses—at sea—on the [ca]nals—digging clams—cutting timber timberers—rafting, rafters, or steamboating.ers, or house framers of houses,—and mechanics generally.—
loc.00141	#tw20	I will not descend among professors and capitalists and good society—I will turn up the ends of my trowsers up around my boots, and my cuffs back from my wrists and go among with the rough drivers and boatmen and men who that catch fish or hoe corn, work in the field, I know that they are sublime

176

I tucked my trowser-ends in my boots and went and had a good time,

document	location	text
duk.00296	#seg01	¶ How gladly we leave _^the best of what is called learned and refined society, or the company of lawyers and book-factors and men withfrom stores and offices _^from [even?] the best of what is called intellectual society to sail all day on the river withamid a party of pilots and fresh and jovial boatmen, with no coats or suspenders, and their trowsers tucked in their boots.
loc.00141	#tw20	I will not descend among professors and capitalists and good society—I will turn up the ends of my trowsers up around my boots, and my cuffs back from my wrists and go among with the rough drivers and boatmen and men who that catch fish or hoe corn, work in the field, I know that they are sublime

177

You should have been with us that day round the chowder-kettle.

178

I saw the marriage of the trapper in the open air in the far-west . . . . the bride was

a red girl,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 19

179

Her father and his friends sat near by crosslegged and dumbly smoking . . . . they

had moccasins to their feet and large thick blankets hanging from their

shoulders;

180

On a bank lounged the trapper . . . . he was dressed mostly in skins . . . . his luxuriant

beard and curls protected his neck,

181

One hand rested on his rifle . . . . the other hand held firmly the wrist of the red girl,

182

She had long eyelashes . . . . her head was bare . . . . her coarse straight locks

descended upon her voluptuous limbs and reached to her feet.

183

The runaway slave came to my house and stopped outside,

184

I heard his motions crackling the twigs of the woodpile,

185

Through the swung half-door of the kitchen I saw him limpsey and weak,

186

And went where he sat on a log, and led him in and assured him,

187

And brought water and filled a tub for his sweated body and bruised feet,

188

And gave him a room that entered from my own, and gave him some coarse clean

clothes,

189

And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness,

190

And remember putting plasters on the galls of his neck and ankles;

191

He staid with me a week before he was recuperated and passed north,

192

I had him sit next me at table . . . . my firelock leaned in the corner.

193

Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore,

194

Twenty-eight young men, and all so friendly,

195

Twenty-eight years of womanly life, and all so lonesome.

196

She owns the fine house by the rise of the bank,

197

She hides handsome and richly drest aft the blinds of the window.

198

Which of the young men does she like the best?

199

Ah the homeliest of them is beautiful to her.

200

Where are you off to, lady? for I see you,

201

You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.

202

Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather,

203

The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them.

204

The beards of the young men glistened with wet, it ran from their long hair,

205

Little streams passed all over their bodies.

206

An unseen hand also passed over their bodies,

207

It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs.

208

The young men float on their backs, their white bellies swell to the sun . . . . they do

not ask who seizes fast to them,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

20 Leaves of Grass.

209

They do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch,

210

They do not think whom they souse with spray.

211

The butcher-boy puts off his killing-clothes, or sharpens his knife at the stall in the

market,

212

I loiter enjoying his repartee and his shuffle and breakdown.

213

Blacksmiths with grimed and hairy chests environ the anvil,

214

Each has his main-sledge . . . . they are all out . . . . there is a great heat in the fire.

215

From the cinder-strewed threshold I follow their movements,

216

The lithe sheer of their waists plays even with their massive arms,

217

Overhand the hammers roll—overhand so slow—overhand so sure,

218

They do not hasten, each man hits in his place.

219

The negro holds firmly the reins of his four horses . . . . the block swags underneath

on its tied-over chain,

220

The negro that drives the huge dray of the stoneyard . . . . steady and tall he stands

poised on one leg on the stringpiece,

221

His blue shirt exposes his ample neck and breast and loosens over his hipband,

222

His glance is calm and commanding . . . . he tosses the slouch of his hat away from

his forehead,

223

The sun falls on his crispy hair and moustache . . . . falls on the black of his polish'd

and perfect limbs.

224

I behold the picturesque giant and love him . . . . and I do not stop there,

225

I go with the team also.

226

In me the caresser of life wherever moving . . . . backward as well as forward slue-

ing,

227

To niches aside and junior bending.

228

Oxen that rattle the yoke or halt in the shade, what is that you express in your eyes?

229

It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.

230

My tread scares the wood-drake and wood-duck on my distant and daylong ramble,

document	location	text
loc.00158	#ab01	"Summer Duck" or "Wood Duck" _^"wood drake" very gay, including in its colors white, red, yellow, green, blue, &c crowns violet—length 20 inches—common in the United States—often by creeks streams and ponds—rises and slowly circuits—selects hollow trees to breed in—keep in parties—generally move in pairs at least
nyp.00022	#l01	I this day last winter observed the Snow on a spree with the Wild‑Drake; north west wind;
uva.00561	#l06	[cut away] wood-duck on my distan[cut away]

231

They rise together, they slowly circle around.

document	location	text
loc.00158	#ab01	"Summer Duck" or "Wood Duck" _^"wood drake" very gay, including in its colors white, red, yellow, green, blue, &c crowns violet—length 20 inches—common in the United States—often by creeks streams and ponds—rises and slowly circuits—selects hollow trees to breed in—keep in parties—generally move in pairs at least
uva.00561	#l07	[cut away]le around.

232

. . . . I believe in those winged purposes,

233

And acknowledge the red yellow and white playing within me,

document	location	text
loc.00158	#ab01	"Summer Duck" or "Wood Duck" _^"wood drake" very gay, including in its colors white, red, yellow, green, blue, &c crowns violet—length 20 inches—common in the United States—often by creeks streams and ponds—rises and slowly circuits—selects hollow trees to breed in—keep in parties—generally move in pairs at least
uva.00561	#l09	[cut away]nd white playing within me [cut away]

234

And consider the green and violet and the tufted crown intentional;

document	location	text
loc.00158	#ab01	"Summer Duck" or "Wood Duck" _^"wood drake" very gay, including in its colors white, red, yellow, green, blue, &c crowns violet—length 20 inches—common in the United States—often by creeks streams and ponds—rises and slowly circuits—selects hollow trees to breed in—keep in parties—generally move in pairs at least
uva.00561	#l10	[cut away] the tufted crown intentional[cut away]

235

And do not call the tortoise unworthy because she is not something else,

document	location	text
tex.00057	#l04	And I dare not say the guess the chipping bird bay mare mocking bird is less than I sings as well as I, because although she reads no newspaper; never learned the gamut;
uva.00561	#l11	[cut away] because he reads no newspaper [is?] is not something else

236

And the mockingbird in the swamp never studied the gamut, yet trills pretty well to

me,

document	location	text
tex.00057	#l04	And I dare not say the guess the chipping bird bay mare mocking bird is less than I sings as well as I, because although she reads no newspaper; never learned the gamut;
uva.00561	#l12	[cut away] passes any statue, studied the gamut, yet t[cut away]

237

And the look of the bay mare shames silliness out of me.

document	location	text
tex.00057	#l04	And I dare not say the guess the chipping bird bay mare mocking bird is less than I sings as well as I, because although she reads no newspaper; never learned the gamut;
uva.00561	#l13	[cut away] silliness out of [cut away]

238

The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 21

239

Ya-honk! he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation;

240

The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listen closer,

241

I find its purpose and place up there toward the November sky.

242

The sharphoofed moose of the north, the cat on the housesill, the chickadee, the

prairie-dog,

document	location	text
loc.00507	#l05	The clawed cat of the forest, the deer, _^huge sharphoofed moose of the north, the cat on the housesill, the chickadee the prairie‑dog,
uva.00601	#item01	chickadee—large brown water-dog—

243

The litter of the grunting sow as they tug at her teats,

244

The brood of the turkeyhen, and she with her halfspread wings,

245

I see in them and myself the same old law.

246

The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw42	And I cannot put my toe anywhe to the ground,
loc.00507	#l09	The press of my foot to the earth springs a hundred affections,

247

They scorn the best I can do to relate them.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw44	Each one above scorning all that science of schools and science of the world can do fully to read translate them.
loc.00507	#l10	They scorn the best I can do to relate them.—

248

I am enamoured of growing outdoors,

document	location	text
duk.00297	#seg01	Outdoors is the best antise[ptic] yet.—What a [cha]rm there is about in men that have lived main[ly?] [cut away] the open air—among horses—at sea—on the [ca]nals—digging clams—cutting timber timberers—rafting, rafters, or steamboating.ers, or house framers of houses,—and mechanics generally.—
loc.00507	#l11	I am enamored of growing outdoors,

249

Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or woods,

document	location	text
duk.00297	#seg01	Outdoors is the best antise[ptic] yet.—What a [cha]rm there is about in men that have lived main[ly?] [cut away] the open air—among horses—at sea—on the [ca]nals—digging clams—cutting timber timberers—rafting, rafters, or steamboating.ers, or house framers of houses,—and mechanics generally.—
loc.00507	#l13	_^Of the drivers of horses— Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or soil,

250

Of the builders and steerers of ships, of the wielders of axes and mauls, of the drivers

of horses,

document	location	text
duk.00263	#ab01	[I see you and stand before you driver of horses,]
duk.00297	#seg01	Outdoors is the best antise[ptic] yet.—What a [cha]rm there is about in men that have lived main[ly?] [cut away] the open air—among horses—at sea—on the [ca]nals—digging clams—cutting timber timberers—rafting, rafters, or steamboating.ers, or house framers of houses,—and mechanics generally.—
loc.00507	#l13	_^Of the drivers of horses— Of men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or soil,
	#l15	Of the builders _^and steerers of ships— Of drivers of horses—ofOf wielders Of the wielders of axes and malls.—of _^the drivers of horses,
loc.05589	#l11	If you have sons habit custom them to be drivers of horses
	#l12	I knew six brothers drivers of horses

251

I can eat and sleep with them week in and week out.

252

What is commonest and cheapest and nearest and easiest is Me,

document	location	text
duk.00304	#q01	The most bdivinest blessings are [in?] the commonest bestowed every where, and the _^most superbest beauties are the cheapest, the world over.—
loc.00507	#l17	What is _^nearest and commonest _^and nearest and cheapest _^and easiest is Me,

253

Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,

254

Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,

255

Not asking the sky to come down to my goodwill,

256

Scattering it freely forever.

257

The pure contralto sings in the organloft,

258

The carpenter dresses his plank . . . . the tongue of his foreplane whistles its wild

ascending lisp,

259

The married and unmarried children ride home to their thanksgiving dinner,

260

The pilot seizes the king-pin, he heaves down with a strong arm,

261

The mate stands braced in the whaleboat, lance and harpoon are ready,

262

The duck-shooter walks by silent and cautious stretches,

263

The deacons are ordained with crossed hands at the altar,

264

The spinning-girl retreats and advances to the hum of the big wheel,

265

The farmer stops by the bars of a Sunday and looks at the oats and rye,

266

The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum a confirmed case,

267

He will never sleep any more as he did in the cot in his mother's bedroom;

268

The jour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case,

269

He turns his quid of tobacco, his eyes get blurred with the manuscript;

270

The malformed limbs are tied to the anatomist's table,

271

What is removed drops horribly in a pail;

272

The quadroon girl is sold at the stand . . . . the drunkard nods by the barroom stove,

273

The machinist rolls up his sleeves . . . . the policeman travels his beat . . . . the gate-

keeper marks who pass,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

22 Leaves of Grass.

274

The young fellow drives the express-wagon . . . . I love him though I do not know

him;

275

The half-breed straps on his light boots to compete in the race,

276

The western turkey-shooting draws old and young . . . . some lean on their rifles,

some sit on logs,

277

Out from the crowd steps the marksman and takes his position and levels his piece;

278

The groups of newly-come immigrants cover the wharf or levee,

279

The woollypates hoe in the sugarfield, the overseer views them from his saddle;

280

The bugle calls in the ballroom, the gentlemen run for their partners, the dancers

bow to each other;

281

The youth lies awake in the cedar-roofed garret and harks to the musical rain,

282

The Wolverine sets traps on the creek that helps fill the Huron,

283

The reformer ascends the platform, he spouts with his mouth and nose,

284

The company returns from its excursion, the darkey brings up the rear and bears the

well-riddled target,

285

The squaw wrapt in her yellow-hemmed cloth is offering moccasins and beadbags for

sale,

286

The connoisseur peers along the exhibition-gallery with halfshut eyes bent sideways,

287

The deckhands make fast the steamboat, the plank is thrown for the shoregoing

passengers,

288

The young sister holds out the skein, the elder sister winds it off in a ball and stops

now and then for the knots,

289

The one-year wife is recovering and happy, a week ago she bore her first child,

290

The cleanhaired Yankee girl works with her sewing-machine or in the factory or

mill,

291

The nine months' gone is in the parturition chamber, her faintness and pains are ad-

vancing;

292

The pavingman leans on his twohanded rammer—the reporter's lead flies swiftly

over the notebook—the signpainter is lettering with red and gold,

293

The canal-boy trots on the towpath—the bookkeeper counts at his desk—the

shoemaker waxes his thread,

294

The conductor beats time for the band and all the performers follow him,

295

The child is baptised—the convert is making the first professions,

296

The regatta is spread on the bay . . . . how the white sails sparkle!

297

The drover watches his drove, he sings out to them that would stray,

298

The pedlar sweats with his pack on his back—the purchaser higgles about the odd

cent,

299

The camera and plate are prepared, the lady must sit for her daguerreotype,

300

The bride unrumples her white dress, the minutehand of the clock moves slowly,

301

The opium eater reclines with rigid head and just-opened lips,

302

The prostitute draggles her shawl, her bonnet bobs on her tipsy and pimpled neck,

303

The crowd laugh at her blackguard oaths, the men jeer and wink to each other,

304

(Miserable! I do not laugh at your oaths nor jeer you,)

305

The President holds a cabinet council, he is surrounded by the great secretaries,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 23

306

On the piazza walk five friendly matrons with twined arms;

307

The crew of the fish-smack pack repeated layers of halibut in the hold,

308

The Missourian crosses the plains toting his wares and his cattle,

309

The fare-collector goes through the train—he gives notice by the jingling of loose

change,

310

The floormen are laying the floor—the tinners are tinning the roof—the masons

are calling for mortar,

311

In single file each shouldering his hod pass onward the laborers;

312

Seasons pursuing each other the indescribable crowd is gathered . . . . it is the

Fourth of July . . . . what salutes of cannon and small arms!

313

Seasons pursuing each other the plougher ploughs and the mower mows and the

wintergrain falls in the ground;

314

Off on the lakes the pikefisher watches and waits by the hole in the frozen surface,

315

The stumps stand thick round the clearing, the squatter strikes deep with his axe,

316

The flatboatmen make fast toward dusk near the cottonwood or pekantrees,

317

The coon-seekers go now through the regions of the Red river, or through those

drained by the Tennessee, or through those of the Arkansas,

318

The torches shine in the dark that hangs on the Chattahoochee or Altamahaw;

319

Patriarchs sit at supper with sons and grandsons and great grandsons around them,

320

In walls of abode, in canvass tents, rest hunters and trappers after their day's sport.

321

The city sleeps and the country sleeps,

322

The living sleep for their time . . . . the dead sleep for their time,

323

The old husband sleeps by his wife and the young husband sleeps by his wife;

document	location	text
uva.00137	#l04	You husband of a your wife,—you old husband, _^and you middle‑aged or young husband,

324

And these one and all tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them,

325

And such as it is to be of these more or less I am.

326

I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,

327

Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,

328

Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,

329

Stuffed with the stuff that is coarse, and stuffed with the stuff that is fine,

330

One of the great nation, the nation of many nations—the smallest the same and the

largest the same,

331

A southerner soon as a northerner, a planter nonchalant and hospitable,

332

A Yankee bound my own way . . . . ready for trade . . . . my joints the limberest

joints on earth and the sternest joints on earth,

333

A Kentuckian walking the vale of the Elkhorn in my deerskin leggings,

334

A boatman over the lakes or bays or along coasts . . . . a Hoosier, a Badger, a

Buckeye,

335

A Louisianian or Georgian, a poke-easy from sandhills and pines,

336

At home on Canadian snowshoes or up in the bush, or with fishermen off New-

foundland,

337

At home in the fleet of iceboats, sailing with the rest and tacking,

338

At home on the hills of Vermont or in the woods of Maine or the Texan ranch,

339

Comrade of Californians . . . . comrade of free northwesterners, loving their big

proportions,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

24 Leaves of Grass,

340

Comrade of raftsmen and coalmen—comrade of all who shake hands and welcome

to drink and meat;

341

A learner with the simplest, a teacher of the thoughtfulest,

342

A novice beginning experient of myriads of seasons,

343

Of every hue and trade and rank, of every caste and religion,

344

Not merely of the New World but of Africa Europe or Asia . . . . a wandering

savage,

345

A farmer, mechanic, or artist . . . . a gentleman, sailor, lover or quaker,

346

A prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician or priest.

347

I resist anything better than my own diversity,

348

And breathe the air and leave plenty after me,

349

And am not stuck up, and am in my place.

350

The moth and the fisheggs are in their place,

351

The suns I see and the suns I cannot see are in their place,

document	location	text
nyp.00088	#l02	And I carry _^the straight threads [f?] thence thence to the sun and to distant unseen suns.—
yal.00483	#l07	The seen and unseen suns are in their place;

352

The palpable is in its place and the impalpable is in its place.

353

These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with

me,

document	location	text
duk.00026	#l01	I am not content now with a mere majority . . . . I must have the love of all men and all women,
duk.00029	#l01	_^I perceive that Sages, poets, inventers, benefactors, lawgivers are but only those who think have thought,
	#l02	_^That Maugre all differences of ages and lands they differ not,
loc.00141	#l99	These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands—
	#l100	They are not original with me—they are mine —they are yours just the same

354

If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing or next to nothing,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l100	They are not original with me—they are mine —they are yours just the same
	#l101	If these thoughts are not for all they are nothing

355

If they do not enclose everything they are next to nothing,

356

If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,

357

If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.

358

This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is,

359

This is the common air that bathes the globe.

document	location	text
duk.00029	#l03	That What they leave is the common stock of the race
loc.00141	#tw68	This is the common air . . . . it is for the heroes and sages . . . . it is for the workingmen and farmers . . . . it is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.

360

This is the breath of laws and songs and behaviour,

361

This is the the tasteless water of souls . . . . this is the true sustenance,

362

It is for the illiterate . . . . it is for the judges of the supreme court . . . . it is for the

federal capitol and the state capitols,

document	location	text
loc.00354	#l01	Shall [illegible]speak in the Presidents Message from the porch of the _^Federal Capitol, and in the Governors' Messages from the State Capitols, and in the rulings of the Judges of the Supreme Court,

363

It is for the admirable communes of literary men and composers and singers and

lecturers and engineers and savans,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw68	This is the common air . . . . it is for the heroes and sages . . . . it is for the workingmen and farmers . . . . it is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.

364

It is for the endless races of working people and farmers and seamen.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw68	This is the common air . . . . it is for the heroes and sages . . . . it is for the workingmen and farmers . . . . it is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.

365

This is the trill of a thousand clear cornets and scream of the octave flute and strike

of triangles.

366

I play not a march for victors only . . . . I play great marches for conquered and

slain persons.

367

Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?

368

I also say it is good to fall . . . . battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are

won.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 25

369

I sound triumphal drums for the dead . . . . I fling through my embouchures the

loudest and gayest music to them,

370

Vivas to those who have failed, and to those whose war-vessels sank in the sea,

and those themselves who sank in the sea,

371

And to all generals that lost engagements, and all overcome heroes, and the number-

less unknown heroes equal to the greatest heroes known.

372

This is the meal pleasantly set . . . . this is the meat and drink for natural hunger,

373

It is for the wicked just the same as the righteous . . . . I make appointments with all,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw68	This is the common air . . . . it is for the heroes and sages . . . . it is for the workingmen and farmers . . . . it is for the wicked just the same as the righteous.

374

I will not have a single person slighted or left away,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw70	I will not have a single person left out . . . . I will _^have the prostitute and the thief invited . . . . I will make no difference between them and the rest.

375

The keptwoman and sponger and thief are hereby invited . . . . the heavy-lipped slave

is invited . . . . the venerealee is invited,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw70	I will not have a single person left out . . . . I will _^have the prostitute and the thief invited . . . . I will make no difference between them and the rest.

376

There shall be no difference between them and the rest.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw70	I will not have a single person left out . . . . I will _^have the prostitute and the thief invited . . . . I will make no difference between them and the rest.

377

This is the press of a bashful hand . . . . this is the float and odor of hair,

378

This is the touch of my lips to yours . . . . this is the murmur of yearning,

379

This is the far-off depth and height reflecting my own face,

380

This is the thoughtful merge of myself and the outlet again.

381

Do you guess I have some intricate purpose?

382

Well I have . . . . for the April rain has, and the mica on the side of a rock has.

383

Do you take it I would astonish?

384

Does the daylight astonish? or the early redstart twittering through the woods?

document	location	text
loc.00158	#ab10	"Redstart"—beautiful small bird arrives here latter part of April, returns south late in September—common in woods and along roadside and meadow—feeds on insects—active—has a lively twitter.—

385

Do I astonish more than they?

386

This hour I tell things in confidence,

387

I might not tell everybody but I will tell you.

388

Who goes there! hankering, gross, mystical, nude?

389

How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?

390

What is a man anyhow? What am I? and what are you?

391

All I mark as my own you shall offset it with your own,

392

Else it were time lost listening to me.

393

I do not snivel that snivel the world over,

394

That months are vacuums and the ground but wallow and filth,

395

That life is a suck and a sell, and nothing remains at the end but threadbare crape

and tears.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#p02	The life of man on earth is the chef d'ouvre of all things.— What then! is it a suck?—Has God tried conceived a joke, and tried it on, and is it a small one?

396

Whimpering and truckling fold with powders for invalids . . . . conformity goes to

the fourth-removed,

397

I cock my hat as I please indoors or out.

398

Shall I pray? Shall I venerate and be ceremonious?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

26 Leaves of Grass.

399

I have pried through the strata and analyzed to a hair,

400

And counselled with doctors and calculated close and found no sweeter fat than

sticks to my own bones.

401

In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barleycorn less,

402

And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them.

403

And I know I am solid and sound,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q19	_^Now I stand here, an existence a personality in the Universe, _^isolated, perfect and sound, is isolated; all to all things and all other beings _^as an audience at the play-house perpetually and perpetually calling me out from my recesses behind the _^my curtain.—

404

To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q19	_^Now I stand here, an existence a personality in the Universe, _^isolated, perfect and sound, is isolated; all to all things and all other beings _^as an audience at the play-house perpetually and perpetually calling me out from my recesses behind the _^my curtain.—

405

All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q19	_^Now I stand here, an existence a personality in the Universe, _^isolated, perfect and sound, is isolated; all to all things and all other beings _^as an audience at the play-house perpetually and perpetually calling me out from my recesses behind the _^my curtain.—
uva.00238	#l01	I am _^a a Student, free of all a vast limitless Library; it is they are —it is _^limitless and eternally open to me;
	#l02	It is The books are written in numberless tongues,—always perfect, always and alive;

406

And I know I am deathless,

407

I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,

408

I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt stick at night.

409

I know I am august,

410

I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,

411

I see that the elementary laws never apologize,

412

I reckon I behave no prouder than the level I plant my house by after all.

413

I exist as I am, that is enough,

414

If no other in the world be aware I sit content,

415

And if each and all be aware I sit content.

416

One world is aware, and by far the largest to me, and that is myself,

417

And whether I come to my own today or in ten thousand or ten million years,

418

I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait.

419

My foothold is tenoned and mortised in granite,

420

I laugh at what you call dissolution,

421

And I know the amplitude of time.

document	location	text
loc.00025	#seg101	[cut away] amplitude of her means, [illegible] time is inconceivably ample.—
loc.00346	#ab03	Of all the plenty in nature there is, no plenty is comparable to the plenty of time and space.—Of these there is ample store,—there is no limit

422

I am the poet of the body,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l02	I am the poet of the body
	#l05	I am the poet of the body
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#l201	And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
	#l08	And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
	#l38	I am the Poet
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

423

And I am the poet of the soul.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l03	And I am
	#l06	And I am the poet of the soul
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#l201	And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
	#l08	And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

424

The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of hell are with me,

425

The first I graft and increase upon myself . . . . the latter I translate into a new

tongue.

426

I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,

document	location	text
duk.00293	#seg10	tender to children and old people and women—
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#l201	And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
	#l08	And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.
	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
	#tw47	I am the poet of women as well as men.
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

427

And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#tw48	The woman is not the same less than the man as
loc.00163	#q02	I say that nothing is every man he is great to himself and every woman to herself;
loc.05589	#p01	I have been asked, Which is the greater, the man or the woman?—Yes, I tell you, with the same answer that I tell whether Time is greater than space—and wh[illegible]

428

And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#p01	I have been asked, Which is the greater, the man or the woman?—Yes, I tell you, with the same answer that I tell whether Time is greater than space—and wh[illegible]

429

I chant a new chant of dilation or pride,

document	location	text
duk.00262	#l01	And brings me perpetual word that Goodness is the Dilation or Pride is a Mother father of Causes,
	#l02	And that the a Father mother of Causes is Love Dilation or Pride. Goodness or Love.—
	#l19	I beheld Goodness _^Dilation Pride Dilation just the same in the grave.— afterward, and concord just the same in the grave— afterward.—
loc.00141	#tw13	Dilation
nyp.00129	#l100	Love is the cause of causes,
	#p03	There are two attributes ? of the soul, and both are illimitable, and they are its north latitude and its south latitude.—One of these is Love.—The other is Dilation or Pride There is nothing so in-conceivable haughty as the

430

We have had ducking and deprecating about enough,

431

I show that size is only developement.

document	location	text
duk.00293	#seg11	But when such an one a man with all that is not trapped into any partiality or sh—when he strikes the eternal balance between the eternal average of the developed and the undeveloped—
loc.00025	#ab07	Greatness is simply development
loc.00346	#q17	But _^greatness is the other word for developement, and in my soul to me I know that I am great large and strong as any of them, probably greater.— larger.—

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 27

432

Have you outstript the rest? Are you the President?

433

It is a trifle . . . . they will more than arrive there every one, and still pass on.

434

I am he that walks with the tender and growing night;

435

I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.

436

Press close barebosomed night! Press close magnetic nourishing night!

437

Night of south winds! Night of the large few stars!

438

Still nodding night! Mad naked summer night!

439

Smile O voluptuous coolbreathed earth!

440

Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!

441

Earth of departed sunset! Earth of the mountains misty-topt!

442

Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!

443

Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!

444

Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!

445

Far-swooping elbowed earth! Rich apple-blossomed earth!

446

Smile, for your lover comes!

447

Prodigal! you have given me love! . . . . therefore I to you give love!

448

O unspeakable passionate love!

449

Thruster holding me tight and that I hold tight!

450

We hurt each other as the bridegroom and the bride hurt each other.

451

You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,

452

I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,

453

I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;

454

We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,

455

Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,

456

Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you.

457

Sea of stretched ground-swells!

458

Sea breathing broad and convulsive breaths!

459

Sea of the brine of life! Sea of unshovelled and always-ready graves!

460

Howler and scooper of storms! Capricious and dainty sea!

461

I am integral with you . . . . I too am of one phase and of all phases.

462

Partaker of influx and efflux . . . . extoler of hate and conciliation,

463

Extoler of amies and those that sleep in each others' arms.

464

I am he attesting sympathy;

465

Shall I make my list of things in the house and skip the house that supports them?

466

I am the poet of commonsense and of the demonstrable and of immortality;

document	location	text
duk.00104	#ab01	[illegible] poet of Materialism—(put this section forward [illegible] [in Reality?] and demonstration [with?] the opening.)
loc.00042	#l02	I am the Poet of Reality;
	#l07	I am announce myself the Poet of Reality; Materialisms: and exact demonstration and Positive science
loc.00141	#l202	II am the poet of sStrength and Hope
	#tw28	I am the poet of reality

467

And am not the poet of goodness only . . . . I do not decline to be the poet of wick-

edness also.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#l202	II am the poet of sStrength and Hope
	#tw31	I am the for sinners and the unlearned

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

28 Leaves of Grass.

468

Washes and razors for foofoos . . . . for me freckles and a bristling beard.

469

What blurt is it about virtue and about vice?

document	location	text
loc.00158	#l05	[illegible][Virtue?] and about Vice [cut away]
med.00902	#ab01	What babble is this about virtue . . . . . . . . . . . .
	#ab02	I tell you I love all—I love what you call vice just the same as I love virtue.

470

Evil propels me, and reform of evil propels me . . . . I stand indifferent,

471

My gait is no faultfinder's or rejecter's gait,

472

I moisten the roots of all that has grown.

473

Did you fear some scrofula out of the unflagging pregnancy?

474

Did you guess the celestial laws are yet to be worked over and rectified?

475

I step up to say that what we do is right and what we affirm is right . . . . and some

is only the ore of right,

document	location	text
loc.00158	#l01	I have appeared among you to say that all what you do is right, and that what you affirm is right;
	#l101	But that [it is?] they are only the alphabet? of right.—

476

Witnesses of us . . . . one side a balance and the antipodal side a balance,

document	location	text
loc.00042	#l06	Witnesses and albic dawns of things equally great, not yet seen.—
loc.00141	#l450	And It is tThe witness and albic dawn of _^things equally real wh[illegible]th we _^[illegible] do [illegible] not _^yet seen
	#l451	But which is I know to be equally real, I know.

477

Soft doctrine as steady help as stable doctrine,

478

Thoughts and deeds of the present our rouse and early start.

479

This minute that comes to me over the past decillions,

480

There is no better than it and now.

481

What behaved well in the past or behaves well today is not such a wonder,

482

The wonder is always and always how there can be a mean man or an infidel.

483

Endless unfolding of words of ages!

484

And mine a word of the modern . . . . a word en masse.

485

A word of the faith that never balks,

486

One time as good as another time . . . . here or henceforward it is all the same to

me.

487

A word of reality . . . . materialism first and last imbueing.

document	location	text
duk.00104	#ab01	[illegible] poet of Materialism—(put this section forward [illegible] [in Reality?] and demonstration [with?] the opening.)
loc.00042	#l02	I am the Poet of Reality;
	#l07	I am announce myself the Poet of Reality; Materialisms: and exact demonstration and Positive science
	#l08	Reality is eternal;
	#l09	say that It is just _^Materials are just as eternal as Growth [illegible] growth, the semen of God, that swims the entire [universe.?] creation.—
loc.00141	#tw28	I am the poet of reality

488

Hurrah for positive science! Long live exact demonstration!

document	location	text
duk.00104	#ab01	[illegible] poet of Materialism—(put this section forward [illegible] [in Reality?] and demonstration [with?] the opening.)
duk.00159	#seg01	Pure and Positive Truth _^About Metaphysical points.—It seems to me, _^In metaphysical points, here is what I guess about pure and positive truths. I guess that after all reasoning and analogy and their most palpable demonstrations of any thing, we have the _^only real satisfaction comes only when the soul tells and tests by its own arch-chemic power—something as superior to the learnedest and reasoning proofs and finest reasoning, as one glance of the _^living sight, is more than quarto volumes of the elaborate description _^and and of maps.— filling a thousand quarto volumes.
loc.00042	#l07	I am announce myself the Poet of Reality; Materialisms: and exact demonstration and Positive science
	#l10	Hurrah for Material Positive Science! Positive Science!
loc.00141	#tw203	And now I know _^understand that it is what the it is all _^those are positive and dense _^every one

489

Fetch stonecrop and mix it with cedar and branches of lilac;

490

This is the lexicographer or chemist . . . . this made a grammar of the old

cartouches,

491

These mariners put the ship through dangerous unknown seas,

492

This is the geologist, and this works with the scalpel, and this is a mathematician.

document	location	text
duk.00159	#p02	What gentlemen! what then? Do you suppose it is for your geology and your chemistry and your mathematics
loc.00042	#l14	Botanizing, dissecting, or making machines.—

493

Gentlemen I receive you, and attach and clasp hands with you,

494

The facts are useful and real . . . . they are not my dwelling . . . . I enter by them to

an area of the dwelling.

document	location	text
loc.00042	#l05	But that all the things seen or demonstrated are so;
loc.00141	#tw27	What we see is real; But that all I see _^[the things seen?] [all?] is real

495

I am less the reminder of property or qualities, and more the reminder of life,

496

And go on the square for my own sake and for others' sakes,

document	location	text
duk.00293	#seg02	when he isgoes on the square with those who have not yet climbed as high as he—
tex.00031	#l02	But I do not know any thing more beautiful than to be freehanded and always go on the square.—
	#l32	But I do not know _^of any thing more beautiful than to be free handed and generous and always go on the square.—

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 29

497

And make short account of neuters and geldings, and favor men and women fully

equipped,

498

And beat the gong of revolt, and stop with fugitives and them that plot and conspire.

499

Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos,

500

Disorderly fleshy and sensual . . . . eating drinking and breeding,

501

No sentimentalist . . . . no stander above men and women or apart from them . . . . no

more modest than immodest.

502

Unscrew the locks from the doors!

503

Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!

504

Whoever degrades another degrades me . . . . and whatever is done or said returns

at last to me,

505

And whatever I do or say I also return.

506

Through me the afflatus surging and surging . . . . through me the current and index.

507

I speak the password primeval . . . . I give the sign of democracy;

508

By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the

same terms.

document	location	text
duk.00128	#p02	I know well enough the perpetual myself in my poems—but it is because the universe is in myself,—it shall all pass through me as a procession.—I say nothing of myself, which I do not equally say of all others, men and women
duk.00800	#p02	It is the perpetual endless delusion of the big and little smouchers, of the at in all their varieties, circumstances and degre what-not of their greedines whether usurping the rule of an empire, or thieving a negro and selling him,—or slyly pocketing a roll of rolled ribbon from the counter whatever and whichever any of the ways in which _^that legislators, lawyers, and the priests and [the?] educated _^and pious, classes, under the prefer certain _^political a advantages to themselves, over equal the vast armies retinues of the [poor?] the laboring, ignorant men, black men, sinners, [and?] so on—to suppose that they have succeded when the documents are signed and sealed, and they enter in possession of their gains.—_^These Shallow Ddriblets ? of a ? day! ! you [open?] are worse _^shallower less in your their high success, than the lowest dullest of those you have the [visions?] people they would overtopped.—[I?] If there be Whatever it be, liberty wea or wealth or knowledge privilege
	#p01	The noble soul sternly always steadily rejects any [any?] [any?] [liberty?] or favor that or privilege of or wealth that is not equall open on the same terms to every other man and every other woman on the face of the
loc.00141	#tw02	It is to accept nothing except what is equally free and eligible to every body else.
loc.00163	#q13	I [am?]remain with my fellows,—with mechanics, and farmers and common people;
	#q14	I remain with them all on equal terms
loc.00387	#seg03	I assume this day, the whole debt of all
	#seg04	I take my place by right among the sudorous or sweaty men classes, who feel know not whether among the boys men in their shirt sleeves,—the sunburnt, the unshaved, the huge paws.—)
loc.05589	#ab30	such such a thing as ownership here any how.—The Chief B[illegible] [illegible]_^was is the [primal democrat?] [illegible] [illegible] of his one of the laws _^[illegible] that [illegible] from the moment any a man takes the [s]mallest page exclusively to himself [a]nd tryies to keep it from the rest [f]rom that [illegible] moment it begins to wither _^under his hand and _^[lose?] its immortal hieroglyphics _^presently fade away and become blank [illegible] and dead.—
med.00903	#ab01	I tell you greedy smoucher! I will have nothing which any man or any woman, anywhere on the face of the earth, or of any color or country cannot also have.
tex.00031	#l04	I see saw see a a smoucher and a hog, grabbing the good dishes _^exclusively to himself,. and grinning at the starvation of others, as if it were funny.—
	#l28	I remain with common people on equal average terms.—

509

Through me many long dumb voices,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—

510

Voices of the interminable generations of slaves,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.

511

Voices of prostitutes and of deformed persons,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
uva.00263	#l09	If you be diseased, deformed, a thief, you need me the more.—
	#l10	You thief! you diseased!—deformed!

512

Voices of the diseased and despairing, and of thieves and dwarfs,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
uva.00263	#l09	If you be diseased, deformed, a thief, you need me the more.—
	#l10	You thief! you diseased!—deformed!

513

Voices of cycles of preparation and accretion,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—

514

And of the threads that connect the stars—and of wombs, and of the fatherstuff,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
	#tw33	And saw millions _^the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
	#tw35	And now I know that each a leaf of grass is not less than they
nyp.00088	#l02	And I carry _^the straight threads [f?] thence thence to the sun and to distant unseen suns.—
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

515

And of the rights of them the others are down upon,

document	location	text
duk.00293	#seg01	indulging most the stupid the sinful and the vulgar—because them the world is most down upon
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141	#tw31	I am the for sinners and the unlearned

516

Of the trivial and flat and foolish and despised,

document	location	text
duk.00293	#seg10	tender to children and old people and women—
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
loc.05589	#ab14	I am the poet of the shallow and flat and desp[ised?]
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

517

Of fog in the air and beetles rolling balls of dung.

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141	#tw32	I am I The Of the each [ab?] gnats in the air, and the every of beetles rolling _^his balls _^of dung,

518

Through me forbidden voices,

document	location	text
duk.00293	#seg01	indulging most the stupid the sinful and the vulgar—because them the world is most down upon
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141	#tw31	I am the for sinners and the unlearned

519

Voices of sexes and lusts . . . . voices veiled, and I remove the veil,

document	location	text
duk.00293	#seg01	indulging most the stupid the sinful and the vulgar—because them the world is most down upon
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141	#tw31	I am the for sinners and the unlearned

520

Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigured.

document	location	text
duk.00293	#seg01	indulging most the stupid the sinful and the vulgar—because them the world is most down upon
loc.00005	#ab1
	#ab5	☞—voice of the generations of slaves—of those who have suffered—voice of Lovers.—of Night—Day—Space—the stars—the countless ages of the Past—the countless ages of the future—
loc.00141	#tw31	I am the for sinners and the unlearned

521

I do not press my finger across my mouth,

522

I keep as delicate around the bowels as around the head and heart,

523

Copulation is no more rank to me than death is.

524

I believe in the flesh and the appetites,

525

Seeing hearing and feeling are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw15	My life is a miracle and my body which lives is a miracle
loc.00346	#q12	We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any _^all or _^the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—_^By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *
uva.00254	#l08	One A tTouch of a tag of me tassel, has unhaltered jolted down all of them but feeling;

526

Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touched from;

527

The scent of these arm-pits is aroma finer than prayer,

528

This head is more than churches or bibles or creeds.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

30 Leaves of Grass.

529

If I worship any particular thing it shall be some of the spread of my body;

530

Translucent mould of me it shall be you,

531

Shaded ledges and rests, firm masculine coulter, it shall be you,

532

Whatever goes to the tilth of me it shall be you,

533

You my rich blood, your milky stream pale strippings of my life;

534

Breast that presses against other breasts it shall be you,

535

My brain it shall be your occult convolutions,

536

Root of washed sweet-flag, timorous pond-snipe, nest of guarded duplicate eggs, it

shall be you,

537

Mixed tussled hay of head and beard and brawn it shall be you,

538

Trickling sap of maple, fibre of manly wheat, it shall be you;

539

Sun so generous it shall be you,

540

Vapors lighting and shading my face it shall be you,

541

You sweaty brooks and dews it shall be you,

542

Winds whose soft-tickling genitals rub against me it shall be you,

543

Broad muscular fields, branches of liveoak, loving lounger in my winding paths, it

shall be you,

544

Hands I have taken, face I have kissed, mortal I have ever touched, it shall be you.

545

I dote on myself . . . . there is that lot of me, and all so luscious,

546

Each moment and whatever happens thrills me with joy.

547

I cannot tell how my ankles bend . . . . nor whence the cause of my faintest wish,

548

Nor the cause of the friendship I emit . . . . nor the cause of the friendship I take

again.

549

To walk up my stoop is unaccountable . . . . I pause to consider if it really be,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#seg21	All tThis we call literature and science is not so very much—there is enough of unaccountable importance and beauty in every step we tread and every thought of [illegible]

550

That I eat and drink is spectacle enough for the great authors and schools,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#seg20	The few who write the books and preach the sermons and ?keep? the schools—I do not think ther are they so much more than those who do not teach or preach, or write

551

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.

552

To behold the daybreak!

553

The little light fades the immense and diaphanous shadows,

554

The air tastes good to my palate.

555

Hefts of the moving world at innocent gambols, silently rising, freshly exuding,

556

Scooting obliquely high and low.

557

Something I cannot see puts upward libidinous prongs,

558

Seas of bright juice suffuse heaven.

559

The earth by the sky staid with . . . . the daily close of their junction,

560

The heaved challenge from the east that moment over my head,

561

The mocking taunt, See then whether you shall be master!

562

Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sunrise would kill me,

563

If I could not now and always send sunrise out of me.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 31

564

We also ascend dazzling and tremendous as the sun,

565

We found our own my soul in the calm and cool of the daybreak.

566

My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,

567

With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds.

568

Speech is the twin of my vision . . . . it is unequal to measure itself.

569

It provokes me forever,

570

It says sarcastically, Walt, you understand enough . . . . why don't you let it out

then?

571

Come now I will not be tantalized . . . . you conceive too much of articulation.

572

Do you not know how the buds beneath are folded?

573

Waiting in gloom protected by frost,

574

The dirt receding before my prophetical screams,

575

I underlying causes to balance them at last,

576

My knowledge my live parts . . . . it keeping tally with the meaning of things,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#seg01	The greatest and truest knowledge can never be taught or passed over from him or her who has it, to him or her who has it not.—It is in the soul.—It is not susceptible of proof or demon explanation.—It applies to all things and encloses them.—All that there is in what The enti What men think enviable, if it were _^could be collected together for ten thousand years, would not be of the least account, compared with this wisdom.—It is the sight of the consciousness of the reality and excellence of every thing.—

577

Happiness . . . . which whoever hears me let him or her set out in search of this

day.

document	location	text
loc.00005	#seg02	It is happiness.—Every Each man _^and every each woman is eligible to it, without education just the as readily as with whoever reads these words, let him or her set out upon the search this day, and never rest till

578

My final merit I refuse you . . . . I refuse putting from me the best I am.

579

Encompass worlds but never try to encompass me,

580

I crowd your noisiest talk by looking toward you.

581

Writing and talk do not prove me,

582

I carry the plenum of proof and every thing else in my face,

583

With the hush of my lips I confound the topmost skeptic.

584

I think I will do nothing for a long time but listen,

585

And accrue what I hear into myself . . . . and let sounds contribute toward me.

586

I hear the bravuras of birds . . . . the bustle of growing wheat . . . . gossip of flames

. . . . clack of sticks cooking my meals.

587

I hear the sound of the human voice . . . . a sound I love,

588

I hear all sounds as they are tuned to their uses . . . . sounds of the city and sounds

out of the city . . . . sounds of the day and night;

589

Talkative young ones to those that like them . . . . the recitative of fish-pedlars and

fruit-pedlars . . . . the loud laugh of workpeople at their meals,

590

The angry base of disjointed friendship . . . . the faint tones of the sick,

591

The judge with hands tight to the desk, his shaky lips pronouncing a death-sentence,

592

The heave'e'yo of stevedores unlading ships by the wharves . . . . the refrain of the

anchor-lifters;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

32 Leaves of Grass.

593

The ring of alarm-bells . . . . the cry of fire . . . . the whirr of swift-streaking engines

and hose-carts with premonitory tinkles and colored lights,

594

The steam-whistle . . . . the solid roll of the train of approaching cars;

595

The slow-march played at night at the head of the association,

596

They go to guard some corpse . . . . the flag-tops are draped with black muslin.

597

I hear the violincello or man's heart's complaint,

598

And hear the keyed cornet or else the echo of sunset.

document	location	text
tex.00088	#seg02	the cornet, that puts the call theof day _^[break?]light and the laugh of hope into voice, and spreads its utterance around like a shower—
uva.00264	#l01	And their voices, clearer than the valved ? cornet,—they cry hoot! hoot! to us all our lives till we seek where they hide, and bring the sly ones out forth!

599

I hear the chorus . . . . it is a grand-opera . . . . this indeed is music!

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg09
	#seg18	We I want the a sublime ? of Hymn out some vast chorus and orchestrium, whose strain is wide as the world, orbits of suns, reliable pure as Jesus and sweet as the kisses of Hea[ven?]_^[runs out surpass?] immortality, and filling all my capacity to receive as _^[illegible] the sea fills scooped out valleys.

600

A tenor large and fresh as the creation fills me,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#del01
	#del02
	#add01	I want that tenor, large and fresh as the creation, the _^orbed parting of whose orbed mouth shall lift over my head the sluices [illegible] of all the delight there is. yet discovered for our race.
	#seg19	I want the boundless tenor that which swell clean and fresh as the Creation—whose vast pure volume floods my soul. I want the soprano that that thrills me like kisses of Heaven, that that _^over-leaps unfaltering to the stars.+

601

The orbic flex of his mouth is pouring and filling me full.

document	location	text
loc.00142	#del02
	#add01	I want that tenor, large and fresh as the creation, the _^orbed parting of whose orbed mouth shall lift over my head the sluices [illegible] of all the delight there is. yet discovered for our race.
	#seg19	I want the boundless tenor that which swell clean and fresh as the Creation—whose vast pure volume floods my soul. I want the soprano that that thrills me like kisses of Heaven, that that _^over-leaps unfaltering to the stars.+
nyp.00510	#q01	The orbed opening of whose mouth—

602

I hear the trained soprano . . . . she convulses me like the climax of my love-grip;

603

The orchestra whirls me wider than Uranus flies,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg09
	#seg18	We I want the a sublime ? of Hymn out some vast chorus and orchestrium, whose strain is wide as the world, orbits of suns, reliable pure as Jesus and sweet as the kisses of Hea[ven?]_^[runs out surpass?] immortality, and filling all my capacity to receive as _^[illegible] the sea fills scooped out valleys.
nyp.00510	#ab01	is wider than the west.—

604

It wrenches unnamable ardors from my breast,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg01	shall uncage in my breast a thousand [illegible] _^ armed great winged broad‑ wide‑winged strengths and unknown ardors and terrible extasies—putting me through the paces flights of all the passions—dilating me beyond time and space— air—
	#seg10
	#seg10b	shall put me through all the my paces and powers, uncage in my heart a thousand new strengths, and unknown ardors and terrible extasies—making me enter intrinsically into all passions—dilating me beyond time and space
	#seg14	and uncaging waking in my heart all a thousand terrible new strengths and [illegible] ardors and ter extasies.—

605

It throbs me to gulps of the farthest down horror,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg02	startling me with the overture toof some unnamable horror
	#seg11	soothing _^lulling me away drawing with the sleep of honeyed ? — calmly sailing me down and down over down the broad deep sea river.——startling me with the overture of to some unnamable horror—

606

It sails me . . . . I dab with bare feet . . . . they are licked by the indolent waves,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg03	calmly sailing me all day on a broad bright river _^with lazy slapping waves—
	#seg11	soothing _^lulling me away drawing with the sleep of honeyed ? — calmly sailing me down and down over down the broad deep sea river.——startling me with the overture of to some unnamable horror—

607

I am exposed . . . . cut by bitter and poisoned hail,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg04	stabbing my heart with myriads of forked distractions more furious than hail or lightning
	#seg12	tearing wrenching stabbing me with the wild elks horses of _^myriads of forked distractions that leap through my bossom [illegible]s more furious than hail hail and lightning.

608

Steeped amid honeyed morphine . . . . my windpipe squeezed in the fakes of death,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg05	lulling me drowsily with honeyed opium morphine—writhing tight'ning the coils fakes of death about my throat,
	#seg11	soothing _^lulling me away drawing with the sleep of honeyed ? — calmly sailing me down and down over down the broad deep sea river.——startling me with the overture of to some unnamable horror—
	#seg13	that leap lulling me drowsily with [illegible] honeyed morphine opium
	#seg15	writhing around me the folds coils of collapsing death,

609

Let up again to feel the puzzle of puzzles,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg06	and awakening me again to know, by that comparison, the only most positive wonder in the world,
	#seg16	and awakening me again to know, by that comparison, the only positive wonder in the world,

610

And that we call Being.

611

To be in any form, what is that?

612

If nothing lay more developed the quahaug and its callous shell were enough.

document	location	text
duk.00001	#l02	I think if there were nothing more developed, the clam in its callous shell in the sand, were august enough.—\|

613

Mine is no callous shell,

614

I have instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stop,

615

They seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me.

616

I merely stir, press, feel with my fingers, and am happy,

617

To touch my person to some one else's is about as much as I can stand.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l59	Now I do not wonder a touch now why that _^one feeling now, or does so much for me, now,

618

Is this then a touch? . . . . quivering me to a new identity,

619

Flames and ether making a rush for my veins,

620

Treacherous tip of me reaching and crowding to help them,

621

My flesh and blood playing out lightning, to strike what is hardly different from

myself,

622

On all sides prurient provokers stiffening my limbs,

623

Straining the udder of my heart for its withheld drip,

624

Behaving licentious toward me, taking no denial,

625

Depriving me of my best as for a purpose,

626

Unbuttoning my clothes and holding me by the bare waist,

627

Deluding my confusion with the calm of the sunlight and pasture fields,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 33

628

Immodestly sliding the fellow-senses away,

document	location	text
duk.00008	#l04	So little a thing as a touch has [unhaltered?]
loc.00141	#l52	One touch of a tug of me has made unhaltered all my other senses [run?] but feeling
uva.00254	#l07	What has become of my senses?
	#l08	One A tTouch of a tag of me tassel, has unhaltered jolted down all of them but feeling;

629

They bribed to swap off with touch, and go and graze at the edges of me,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l53	They are all emulous to swap themselves off for what it can do, to them,
	#l151	¶ Every one wants to must be feeling a touch.—
	#l54	Or if that cannot be else, they she will abdicate and nibble only at the edges of a touch. feeling.
	#l55	They bring gifts to the come move caressingly all over _^up and down my body
	#l57	They have left leave themselves and brought all their come with bribes _^their store to whatever _^[their?] to whatever part of me touches.—
tex.00002	#l08	Take what you like, _^only pass on [for?] I am faintish [illegible] I can contain resist you no [longer?] think I shall drop sink,
uva.00254	#l10	They are all emulous to swap off for what it can do to them.
	#l11	Every one must be a touch, _^would swap off and go with him,
	#l12	Or else she will abdicate, and nibble at the edges end of [illegible] him.—edges of me.—

630

No consideration, no regard for my draining strength or my anger,

document	location	text
tex.00002	#l12	I am faintish I am faintish; and _^it has drained me dry of my strength.—
uva.00273	#l01	Can ? make me so exuberant yet so faintish?
	#l02	The rage of an unconquerable fierceness is conquered by the touch tenderest hand

631

Fetching the rest of the herd around to enjoy them awhile,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l60	It brings all the rest around it, and to enjoy [them?] and them awhile and [then?] and they _^[all?] stand on a headland and mock me

632

Then all uniting to stand on a headland and worry me.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l56	They stand on [my?] each finger end and promontory,
	#l60	It brings all the rest around it, and to enjoy [them?] and them awhile and [then?] and they _^[all?] stand on a headland and mock me

633

The sentries desert every other part of me,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l63	All _^The sentries have deserted and the every other part of [illegible] [home?] but one,

634

They have left me helpless to a red marauder,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l57	They have left leave themselves and brought all their come with bribes _^their store to whatever _^[their?] to whatever part of me touches.—
	#l65	They have left me to touch _^and gone taken to be their place on a headland the better to witness
	#l66	They have left me helpless to the torrent of touch

635

They all come to the headland to witness and assist against me.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l65	They have left me to touch _^and gone taken to be their place on a headland the better to witness
	#l67	They have all come to the
	#l75	headland to witness and assist against me.—

636

I am given up by traitors;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l150	That pleases the rest so, they have given up to it f themselves in submission
	#l61	I am all given up by traitors,
	#l68	I am given up by traitors,
uva.00254	#l09	That He pleases the rest so, they have given up to it, in submission,

637

I talk wildly . . . . I have lost my wits . . . . I and nobody else am the greatest

traitor,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l62	An I am myself the greatest traitor.
	#l64	I roam about drunk, and stagger
	#l69	I talk wildly [I?] am surely out of my head,
	#l70	I am myself the greatest traitor.
uva.00280	#l01	[cut away] am myself _^and nobody else, am the greatest traitor,
uva.00600	#l03	Surely I am out of my head!
	#l04	I am lost to myself and someth something else Nature in another form has laid down in my place.

638

I went myself first to the headland . . . . my own hands carried me there.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l71	For I went myself first to the headland
uva.00280	#l02	I went myself myself first to the headland,—[my?] own hands carried me there.

639

You villain touch! what are you doing? . . . . my breath is tight in its throat;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l72	Unloose me touch I can stand it no longer you are taking the breath from my throat
tex.00002	#l01	You villain, Touch! what are you doing?
	#l02	Unloose me, Touch! the breath is leaving my throat;!

640

Unclench your floodgates! you are too much for me.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l73	Unbar your gates—I can hold would keep you no longer, for if I do you are too much for me.— you will kill me
tex.00002	#l03	Open your floodgates! you are too much for me.—

641

Blind loving wrestling touch! Sheathed hooded sharptoothed touch!

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l76	Fierce Wrestler! do you keep your heaviest strokes grip for the last?
	#l77	Gods! Wrestler! wWill you sting me most even at parting?
tex.00002	#l04	Fierce [Griping?] Grip'd Wrestler! do you keep your the heaviest grip pull for the last?
	#l06	Are you I glad you plunged _^you from the threshold, will _^Must Will you struggle _^[illegible] hardest [than?] worst all [illegible] before? I plunge you from the [thres?]
uva.00254	#l03	Only one minute, only two or three passing bulging sheathed touches,

642

Did it make you ache so leaving me?

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l74	Pass out of me
	#l76	Fierce Wrestler! do you keep your heaviest strokes grip for the last?
	#l77	Gods! Wrestler! wWill you sting me most even at parting?
	#l78	Will you struggle even at the grthreshold with gigantic delicious spasms more delicious than all before?
	#l80	Does it make you ache so to leave me?
tex.00002	#l04	Fierce [Griping?] Grip'd Wrestler! do you keep your the heaviest grip pull for the last?
	#l05	Will Must you sting me most even the you with the worst spasms worst most fierce [most tightly closely?] _^bite with your teeth at parting?
	#l07	Does it make you ache so to leave me.
	#l10	Only pass to some one else, for I can will contain you no longer.
	#l11	Only pass to some one else _^leap to the nearest landing. ¶Little as your mouth yo[illegible] lips are
uva.00602	#l01	His very aches are exstasy

643

Parting tracked by arriving . . . . perpetual payment of the perpetual loan,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l77	Gods! Wrestler! wWill you sting me most even at parting?
	#l79	Will you renew th[illegible] and
tex.00002	#l08	Take what you like, _^only pass on [for?] I am faintish [illegible] I can contain resist you no [longer?] think I shall drop sink,
	#l09	Take drops the tears of my life soul, if that is what you are after.

644

Rich showering rain, and recompense richer afterward.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l81	Do you wish to show me that even what you did before was nothing to what you can do?
tex.00002	#l09	Take drops the tears of my life soul, if that is what you are after.

645

Sprouts take and accumulate . . . . stand by the curb prolific and vital,

646

Landscapes projected masculine full-sized and golden.

647

All truths wait in all things,

648

They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,

649

They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon,

650

The insignificant is as big to me as any,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l83	I did not think I was big enough for so much exstasy
prc.00127	#l02	The insignificant grows as tall spreads as far is as much _^big as the noble;

651

What is less or more than a touch?

document	location	text
duk.00008	#l04	So little a thing as a touch has [unhaltered?]
loc.00141	#l84	Or that a touch could take it all out of me.
prc.00127	#l03	What is less than a sheathed? touch?

652

Logic and sermons never convince,

document	location	text
duk.00261	#l07	Go, with your logic and testaments among ten men
loc.05589	#p04	The test of the goodness or truth of any thing is the soul itself—whatever does good to the soul, soothes, refreshes, cheers, inspirits, consoles, &c.—that is so, easy enough—But doctrines, sermons, logic ? ?
prc.00127	#l10	Logic and sermons never convince; me;

653

The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul.

654

Only what proves itself to every man and woman is so,

document	location	text
duk.00007	#l05	Henceforth After this day, A touch shall henceforth be _^small Little things is shall be are henceforth my my [tongue?] proof and argument
prc.00127	#l12	An eternal A test of any thing!
	#l13	It proves itself to the experience _^and senses of all men and women!

655

Only what nobody denies is so.

656

A minute and a drop of me settle my brain;

document	location	text
duk.00007	#l04	A minute of time, a touch, and a drop of us, can launch immortality.
loc.00141	#l82	Pass as you will; take drops of my life, only go. or is if that is what you are after

657

I believe the soggy clods shall become lovers and lamps,

658

And a compend of compends is the meat of a man or woman,

659

And a summit and flower there is the feeling they have for each other,

660

And they are to branch boundlessly out of that lesson until it becomes omnific,

661

And until every one shall delight us, and we them.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

34 Leaves of Grass.

662

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab1
loc.00141	#tw33	And saw millions _^the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
	#tw34	And has known since that
	#tw35	And now I know that each a leaf of grass is not less than they
med.00726	#seg01	For example, whisper privately in your ear . . . the studies . . . be a rich investment if they . . . to bring the hat instantly off the . . . all his learning and bend himself to feel and fully enjoy . . . superb wonder of a blade of grass growing up green and crispy from the ground.
yal.00483	#l06	The fly and the leaf of grass are in their place;

663

And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,

document	location	text
duk.00260	#l05	barn‑yard, pond, yellow gjagged bank with white pebbelestones timothy, sassafras, grasshopper, pismire, rail‑fence
	#l10	robin—wren—
loc.00141	#tw36	And that the pismire is _^equally perfect, and all the every grains of sand, and every egg of the wren.

664

And the tree-toad is a chef-d'ouvre for the highest,

document	location	text
duk.00260	#l09	the path _^worn in the grass—katy‑did, locust, tree‑toad,
loc.00141	#tw37	And the [knotty?] tree-toad is a chef' douvre for the highest,

665

And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,

document	location	text
duk.00260	#l07	long string of running blackberry—
loc.00141	#tw38	And the running-blackberry mocks the ornaments of would adorn the house parlors of Heaven

666

And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,

667

And the cow crunching with depressed head surpasses any statue,

document	location	text
duk.00260	#l08	regular _^sound of the cow crunching, crunching the grass—
loc.00141	#tw39	And the cow crunching with depressed neck surpasses all statues every statue,
tex.00057	#l09	And _^to me the cow crunching with depressed head surpasses is an a every statue _^perfect and plumb;
uva.00561	#l12	[cut away] passes any statue, studied the gamut, yet t[cut away]

668

And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw213	Is picture enough
	#tw41	* And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger an infidel, trillions of infidels.
nyp.00733	#l03	Is not aA mouse _^is miracle enough to stagger billions of infidels?

669

And I could come every afternoon of my life to look at the farmer's girl boiling her

iron tea-kettle and baking shortcake.

670

I find I incorporate gneiss and coal and long-threaded moss and fruits and grains and

esculent roots,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#p02	The soul or spirit transmutes itself into all matter—into rocks, and cand live the life of a rock—into the sea, and can feel itself the sea—into the oak, or other tree—into an animal, and feel itself a horse, a fish, or a bird—into the earth—into the motions of the suns and stars—
	#tw29	I know you too, solid earth hills ground and and rocks,
	#tw30	I believe in have split the earth and the hard coal and rocks and the solid bed of the sea

671

And am stucco'd with quadrupeds and birds all over,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#p02	The soul or spirit transmutes itself into all matter—into rocks, and cand live the life of a rock—into the sea, and can feel itself the sea—into the oak, or other tree—into an animal, and feel itself a horse, a fish, or a bird—into the earth—into the motions of the suns and stars—

672

And have distanced what is behind me for good reasons,

673

And call any thing close again when I desire it.

674

In vain the speeding or shyness,

675

In vain the plutonic rocks send their old heat against my approach,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw29	I know you too, solid earth hills ground and and rocks,
	#tw30	I believe in have split the earth and the hard coal and rocks and the solid bed of the sea

676

In vain the mastadon retreats beneath its own powdered bones,

677

In vain objects stand leagues off and assume manifold shapes,

678

In vain the ocean settling in hollows and the great monsters lying low,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw30	I believe in have split the earth and the hard coal and rocks and the solid bed of the sea
nyp.00079	#l03	In vain the sea sets _^ocean settling in its hollows, and the great monsters lieying low,

679

In vain the buzzard houses herself with the sky,

680

In vain the snake slides through the creepers and logs,

681

In vain the elk takes to the inner passes of the woods,

682

In vain the razorbilled auk sails far north to Labrador,

683

I follow quickly . . . . I ascend to the nest in the fissure of the cliff.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw211	I built a nest in the Afar in the sky here was a sky nest
	#tw62	I follow (animals and birds.)
nyp.00079	#l08	I follow quickly . . . . I ascend to the nest in the fissure of the cliff.—

684

I think I could turn and live awhile with the animals . . . . they are so placid and self-

contained,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw62	I follow (animals and birds.)
nyp.00079	#l09	I believe I _^think I will could turn again and live awhile awhile [illegible] with the an[cut away]
	#l10	[cut away] are so placid and self-contained,

685

I stand and look at them sometimes half the day long.

document	location	text
nyp.00079	#l11	[cut away] [can?] stand and look observe watch on at them all day long,— by the [illegible] hour and the [cut away] [cut away] can stand and look at them them sometimes all half the day long.

686

They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

document	location	text
duk.00162	#p01	It is _^wh were unworthy a live man to pray or complain, no matter what _^should happens.—Will he be a _^descend among those rhymsters and sexless priests, and of clean shaved virtue, whose vast virtues isare lathered and shaved three times a week,—to whine how and weep about sin and hell and—to call pronounce his race a sham or swindle—to squall out
nyp.00079	#l13	They do not sweat and whine about their condition

687

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

688

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

689

Not one is dissatisfied . . . . not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#p01	The world _^ignorant man is demented with the madness of owning things—of having title by warranty deeds and lawful possession court clerks' records, and with perfect the right to mortgage, sell, dispose of give away or raise money on certain possessions.—But the wisest soul knows that nothing _^no not one object in the vast universe can really be owned by one man or woman any more than another.—The measureless fool orthodox who fancies that who proprietor says [t?]This is mine. I earned or received or paid for it,—and _^by [an?] positive right of [my own I?] I will put this a fence around it, and keep the it exclusively to myself—. . . . . . yYet—yet—what _^cold drop is that it that _^which slowly patters, patters like water fine points cold with sharp and specks of water down poisoned points, on the skull of his greediness, and go whichever way he will may, it still hits him, as though he see not whence it comes drips nor what it is?—How can I be so that dismal and measureless fool not to understand see the hourly lessons of an the _^one eternal law, which that he who would grab blessings to himself, and as by right, and deny others their equal chance—and will not share with them every thing that he has
nyp.00079	#l16	Not one is dissatisified . . . . not one takes medicine or is demented with the mania of owning things,

690

Not one kneels to another nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

691

Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth.

692

So they show their relations to me and I accept them;

693

They bring me tokens of myself . . . . they evince them plainly in their possession.

694

I do not know where they got those tokens,

695

I must have passed that way untold times ago and negligently dropt them,

696

Myself moving forward then and now and forever,

697

Gathering and showing more always and with velocity,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 35

698

Infinite and omnigenous and the like of these among them;

699

Not too exclusive toward the reachers of my remembrancers,

700

Picking out here one that shall be my amie,

701

Choosing to go with him on brotherly terms.

702

A gigantic beauty of a stallion, fresh and responsive to my caresses,

703

Head high in the forehead and wide between the ears,

704

Limbs glossy and supple, tail dusting the ground,

705

Eyes well apart and full of sparkling wickedness . . . . ears finely cut and flexibly

moving.

706

His nostrils dilate . . . . my heels embrace him . . . . his well built limbs tremble with

pleasure . . . . we speed around and return.

707

I but use you a moment and then I resign you stallion . . . . and do not need your

paces, and outgallop them,

708

And myself as I stand or sit pass faster than you.

709

Swift wind! Space! My Soul! Now I know it is true what I guessed at;

710

What I guessed when I loafed on the grass,

711

What I guessed while I lay alone in my bed . . . . and again as I walked the beach

under the paling stars of the morning.

712

My ties and ballasts leave me . . . . I travel . . . . I sail . . . . my elbows rest in the

sea-gaps,

713

I skirt the sierras . . . . my palms cover continents,

714

I am afoot with my vision.

715

By the city's quadrangular houses . . . . in log-huts, or camping with lumbermen,

716

Along the ruts of the turnpike . . . . along the dry gulch and rivulet bed,

717

Hoeing my onion-patch, and rows of carrots and parsnips . . . . crossing savannas . . .

trailing in forests,

718

Prospecting . . . . gold-digging . . . . girdling the trees of a new purchase,

719

Scorched ankle-deep by the hot sand . . . . hauling my boat down the shallow river;

720

Where the panther walks to and fro on a limb overhead . . . . where the buck turns

furiously at the hunter,

721

Where the rattlesnake suns his flabby length on a rock . . . . where the otter is

feeding on fish,

722

Where the alligator in his tough pimples sleeps by the bayou,

723

Where the black bear is searching for roots or honey . . . . where the beaver pats

the mud with his paddle-tail;

724

Over the growing sugar . . . . over the cottonplant . . . . over the rice in its low

moist field;

725

Over the sharp-peaked farmhouse with its scalloped scum and slender shoots from

the gutters;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

36 Leaves of Grass.

726

Over the western persimmon . . . . over the longleaved corn and the delicate blue-

flowered flax;

727

Over the white and brown buckwheat, a hummer and a buzzer there with the rest,

document	location	text
nyp.00549	#q02	All the woods and all the orchards—the corn, with its ear and stalks and tassels—the buckwheat with and its sweet white blossoms tops where and the bees _^that hum _^there all day—

728

Over the dusky green of the rye as it ripples and shades in the breeze;

729

Scaling mountains . . . . pulling myself cautiously up . . . . holding on by low scrag-

ged limbs,

730

Walking the path worn in the grass and beat through the leaves of the brush;

document	location	text
duk.00260	#l09	the path _^worn in the grass—katy‑did, locust, tree‑toad,
duk.00942	#l100	In the course of the winding path through the grass
med.00904	#ab02	A path worn in the grass . . . . . . . . . .

731

Where the quail is whistling betwixt the woods and the wheatlot,

732

Where the bat flies in the July eve . . . . where the great goldbug drops through the

dark;

733

Where the flails keep time on the barn floor,

734

Where the brook puts out of the roots of the old tree and flows to the meadow,

document	location	text
duk.00260	#l04	Into supple youth, or dr a dress of surpassing living richness spring gushing out from under the roots of an old tree

735

Where cattle stand and shake away flies with the tremulous shuddering of their

hides,

736

Where the cheese-cloth hangs in the kitchen, and andirons straddle the hearth-slab,

and cobwebs fall in festoons from the rafters;

737

Where triphammers crash . . . . where the press is whirling its cylinders;

738

Wherever the human heart beats with terrible throes out of its ribs;

739

Where the pear-shaped balloon is floating aloft . . . . floating in it myself and look-

ing composedly down;

740

Where the life-car is drawn on the slipnoose . . . . where the heat hatches pale-

green eggs in the dented sand,

document	location	text
loc.00142	#p02	The life car—the ? to shoot the rope over the ship—the ? on which the life car runs—and the process of passing them ashore
uva.00261	#l01	Where the life car is drawn on its slip‑noose

741

Where the she-whale swims with her calves and never forsakes them,

742

Where the steamship trails hindways its long pennant of smoke,

743

Where the ground-shark's fin cuts like a black chip out of the water,

744

Where the half-burned brig is riding on unknown currents,

745

Where shells grow to her slimy deck, and the dead are corrupting below;

746

Where the striped and starred flag is borne at the head of the regiments;

747

Approaching Manhattan, up by the long-stretching island,

748

Under Niagara, the cataract falling like a veil over my countenance;

749

Upon a door-step . . . . upon the horse-block of hard wood outside,

750

Upon the race-course, or enjoying pic-nics or jigs or a good game of base-ball,

751

At he-festivals with blackguard jibes and ironical license and bull-dances and

drinking and laughter,

document	location	text
loc.00158	#ab111	Phallic festivals.—wild mirthful processions in honor of the god Dionysus (Bacchus)—in Athens, and other parts of Greece—unbounded license—mocking jibes and irony—epithets and biting insults

752

At the cider-mill, tasting the sweet of the brown sqush . . . . sucking the juice

through a straw,

753

At apple-pealings, wanting kisses for all the red fruit I find,

754

At musters and beach-parties and friendly bees and huskings and house-raisings;

755

Where the mockingbird sounds his delicious gurgles, and cackles and screams and

weeps,

756

Where the hay-rick stands in the barnyard, and the dry-stalks are scattered, and the

brood cow waits in the hovel,

757

Where the bull advances to do his masculine work, and the stud to the mare, and the

cock is treading the hen,

758

Where the heifers browse, and the geese nip their food with short jerks;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 37

759

Where the sundown shadows lengthen over the limitless and lonesome prairie,

760

Where the herds of buffalo make a crawling spread of the square miles far and

near;

document	location	text
loc.00142	#p03	He drinks up quickly All terms, all languages, and words. meanings.—To his curbless and bottomless powers, they are as be like the small ponds of rain water to the migrating herds of buffalo when they spread over occupy square miles and who make the earth _^[illegible] miles square. look like a creeping spread.—Look See! he has only passed this way, and they are drained dry.

761

Where the hummingbird shimmers . . . . where the neck of the longlived swan is

curving and winding;

762

Where the laughing-gull scoots by the slappy shore and laughs her near-human

laugh;

763

Where beehives range on a gray bench in the garden half-hid by the high weeds;

764

Where the band-necked partridges roost in a ring on the ground with their heads

out;

765

Where burial coaches enter the arched gates of a cemetery;

766

Where winter wolves bark amid wastes of snow and icicled trees;

767

Where the yellow-crowned heron comes to the edge of the marsh at night and feeds

upon small crabs;

768

Where the splash of swimmers and divers cools the warm noon;

769

Where the katydid works her chromatic reed on the walnut-tree over the well;

770

Through patches of citrons and cucumbers with silver-wired leaves,

771

Through the salt-lick or orange glade . . . . or under conical furs;

772

Through the gymnasium . . . . through the curtained saloon . . . . through the office

or public hall;

document	location	text
tul.00011	#ab01	Poem—a perfect school, gymnastic, moral, mental and sentimental,—in which magnificent men are formed —old persons come just as much as youth—gymnastics, physiology, music, swimming bath —conversation,—declamation— —large saloons adorned with pictures and sculpture—great ideas not taught in sermons but imbibed as health is imbibed— —love—love of woman—all manly exercises —riding, rowing—the greatest persons come—the president comes and the governors come—political economy —the American idea in all its amplitude and comprehensiveness— —grounds, gardens, flowers, grains— cabinets—old history taught—
yal.00138	#seg10	Go to the swimming bath, the gymnasium, the new buildings where the _^working carpenters and masons are.—

773

Pleased with the native and pleased with the foreign . . . . pleased with the new

and old,

774

Pleased with women, the homely as well as the handsome,

775

Pleased with the quakeress as she puts off her bonnet and talks melodiously,

776

Pleased with the primitive tunes of the choir of the whitewashed church,

777

Pleased with the earnest words of the sweating Methodist preacher, or any preacher

. . . . looking seriously at the camp-meeting;

778

Looking in at the shop-windows in Broadway the whole forenoon . . . . pressing the

flesh of my nose to the thick plate-glass,

document	location	text
nyp.00119	#l01	As seen in the windows of the shops, passing up as I turn from and over the crowded street, and peer _^through the plate glass at the pictures or rich goods
	#l02	In Broadway, the reflections, _^moving, glistening, silent like phantasmic,——glistening

779

Wandering the same afternoon with my face turned up to the clouds;

780

My right and left arms round the sides of two friends and I in the middle;

781

Coming home with the bearded and dark-cheeked bush-boy . . . . riding behind him

at the drape of the day;

782

Far from the settlements studying the print of animals' feet, or the moccasin print;

783

By the cot in the hospital reaching lemonade to a feverish patient,

784

By the coffined corpse when all is still, examining with a candle;

785

Voyaging to every port to dicker and adventure;

786

Hurrying with the modern crowd, as eager and fickle as any,

787

Hot toward one I hate, ready in my madness to knife him;

788

Solitary at midnight in my back yard, my thoughts gone from me a long while,

789

Walking the old hills of Judea with the beautiful gentle god by my side;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#ab03	If God himself _^If I walk with Jah in _^Heaven and he assume to be intrinsically greater than I, it offends me, and I will _^shall certainly withdraw myself from Heaven,—for the great soul will prefers freedom in the lonesomest prairie to to or the woo untrodden woods—and there can be no freedom where

790

Speeding through space . . . . speeding through heaven and the stars,

791

Speeding amid the seven satellites and the broad ring and the diameter of eighty

thousand miles,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

38 Leaves of Grass.

792

Speeding with tailed meteors . . . . throwing fire-balls like the rest,

793

Carrying the crescent child that carries its own full mother in its belly;

794

Storming enjoying planning loving cautioning,

795

Backing and filling, appearing and disappearing,

796

I tread day and night such roads.

797

I visit the orchards of God and look at the spheric product,

798

And look at quintillions ripened, and look at quintillions green.

799

I fly the flight of the fluid and swallowing soul,

800

My course runs below the soundings of plummets.

801

I help myself to material and immaterial,

802

No guard can shut me off, no law can prevent me.

803

I anchor my ship for a little while only,

804

My messengers continually cruise away or bring their returns to me.

805

I go hunting polar furs and the seal . . . . leaping chasms with a pike-pointed staff

. . . . clinging to topples of brittle and blue.

806

I ascend to the foretruck . . . . I take my place late at night in the crow's nest . . . .

we sail through the arctic sea . . . . it is plenty light enough,

807

Through the clear atmosphere I stretch around on the wonderful beauty,

808

The enormous masses of ice pass me and I pass them . . . . the scenery is plain in

all directions,

809

The white-topped mountains point up in the distance . . . . I fling out my fancies

toward them;

810

We are about approaching some great battlefield in which we are soon to be

engaged,

811

We pass the colossal outposts of the encampments . . . . we pass with still feet and

caution;

812

Or we are entering by the suburbs some vast and ruined city . . . . the blocks and

fallen architecture more than all the living cities of the globe.

813

I am a free companion . . . . I bivouac by invading watchfires.

814

I turn the bridegroom out of bed and stay with the bride myself,

815

And tighten her all night to my thighs and lips.

816

My voice is the wife's voice, the screech by the rail of the stairs,

817

They fetch my man's body up dripping and drowned.

818

I understand the large hearts of heroes,

819

The courage of present times and all times;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 39

820

How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steamship, and death

chasing it up and down the storm,

document	location	text
loc.00024	#ab01	When the San Francisco was wrecked, the most valuable gjewelry lay about the cabin unnoticed on the floor
loc.00346	#l03	What How spied the the captain and sailors _^the [illegible] great wreck with its [helpless?] drifting hundreds,
	#l04	did when they _^How they waited, their craft shooting madly like an arrow up and down in the storm.
nyp.00129	#seg01	When Creighton _^ [re?]hove too to for many days and nights and rescued the wrecked thousand on the sSan Francisco

821

How he knuckled tight and gave not back one inch, and was faithful of days and

faithful of nights,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#l05	And in that deadly sea waited five _^How they gripped close with Death _^there on the sea, and gave him not one inch, but held on days and nights near the helpless _^fogged great wreck,
nyp.00129	#seg01	When Creighton _^ [re?]hove too to for many days and nights and rescued the wrecked thousand on the sSan Francisco

822

And chalked in large letters on a board, Be of good cheer, We will not desert you;

823

How he saved the drifting company at last,

824

How the lank loose-gowned women looked when boated from the side of their

prepared graves,

825

How the silent old-faced infants, and the lifted sick, and the sharp-lipped unshaved

men;

826

All this I swallow and it tastes good . . . . I like it well, and it becomes mine,

827

I am the man . . . . I suffered . . . . I was there.

828

The disdain and calmness of martyrs,

829

The mother condemned for a witch and burnt with dry wood, and her children

gazing on;

830

The hounded slave that flags in the race and leans by the fence, blowing and

covered with sweat,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#l14	The _^hunted slave that who stood could run no longer, _^flags in the race at last and then stood by leans leaned up by the fence, blowing [panting?] and covered with sweat,

831

The twinges that sting like needles his legs and neck,

832

The murderous buckshot and the bullets,

833

All these I feel or am.

834

I am the hounded slave . . . . I wince at the bite of the dogs,

835

Hell and despair are upon me . . . . crack and again crack the marksmen,

836

I clutch the rails of the fence . . . . my gore dribs thinned with the ooze of my skin,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#l3	His blood My gore presently oozes from _^trickles down _^from a [score of?] and [illegible] and thinned with the plentiful sweat salt ooze of my skin,
	#l4	And _^[See how it?] _^as trickles down the black [skin?]
	#l24	He I clutches the rail of the fence.

837

I fall on the weeds and stones,

838

The riders spur their unwilling horses and haul close,

839

They taunt my dizzy ears . . . . they beat me violently over the head with their

whip-stocks.

840

Agonies are one of my changes of garments;

841

I do not ask the wounded person how he feels . . . . I myself become the wounded

person,

842

My hurt turns livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe.

843

I am the mashed fireman with breastbone broken . . . . tumbling walls buried me in

their debris,

document	location	text
loc.05935	#p01	I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—

844

Heat and smoke I inspired . . . . I heard the yelling shouts of my comrades,

document	location	text
loc.05935	#p01	I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—

845

I heard the distant click of their picks and shovels;

document	location	text
loc.05935	#p01	I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—

846

They have cleared the beams away . . . . they tenderly lift me forth.

document	location	text
loc.05935	#p01	I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—

847

I lie in the night air in my red shirt . . . . the pervading hush is for my sake,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab40	The deckhand of the steamboat in his red shirt.
loc.05935	#p01	I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—

848

Painless after all I lie, exhausted but not so unhappy,

document	location	text
loc.05935	#p01	I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—

849

White and beautiful are the faces around me . . . . the heads are bared of their fire-

caps,

document	location	text
loc.05935	#p01	I was years ago present at Years ago I formed one of a great crowd [illegible] that rapidly gathered where a building had fallen in and buried a man alive.—Down somewhere in those ruins the poor fellow [illegible] lurked, deprived of his liberty, and either in in danger perhaps dead or in danger of death.—How every body worked! how the shovels flew!—And all for black Caesar—for black the buried man wasn't any body else.—

850

The kneeling crowd fades with the light of the torches.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

40 Leaves of Grass.

851

Distant and dead resuscitate,

852

They show as the dial or move as the hands of me . . . . and I am the clock myself.

853

I am an old artillerist, and tell of some fort's bombardment . . . . and am there again.

document	location	text
loc.00163	#q08	Don't forget the bombardment
loc.05589	#l39	I am an old artillerist
	#l40	I tell of some
nyp.00511	#l03	Did you hear of the Hear now I can tell of _^the long besieged city? fort on the frontier? city citadel?
	#l01	I was in its last bombardment.

854

Again the reveille of drummers . . . . again the attacking cannon and mortars and

howitzers,

855

Again the attacked send their cannon responsive.

856

I take part . . . . I see and hear the whole,

857

The cries and curses and roar . . . . the plaudits for well aimed shots,

858

The ambulanza slowly passing and trailing its red drip,

859

Workmen searching after damages and to make indispensible repairs,

860

The fall of grenades through the rent roof . . . . the fan-shaped explosion,

861

The whizz of limbs heads stone wood and iron high in the air.

862

Again gurgles the mouth of my dying general . . . . he furiously waves with his

hand,

863

He gasps through the clot . . . . Mind not me . . . . mind . . . . the entrenchments.

864

I tell not the fall of Alamo . . . . not one escaped to tell the fall of Alamo,

865

The hundred and fifty are dumb yet at Alamo.

866

Hear now the tale of a jetblack sunrise,

867

Hear of the murder in cold blood of four hundred and twelve young men.

868

Retreating they had formed in a hollow square with their baggage for breastworks,

869

Nine hundred lives out of the surrounding enemy's nine times their number was the

price they took in advance,

870

Their colonel was wounded and their ammunition gone,

871

They treated for an honorable capitulation, received writing and seal, gave up their

arms, and marched back prisoners of war.

872

They were the glory of the race of rangers,

873

Matchless with a horse, a rifle, a song, a supper or a courtship,

874

Large, turbulent, brave, handsome, generous, proud and affectionate,

875

Bearded, sunburnt, dressed in the free costume of hunters,

876

Not a single one over thirty years of age.

877

The second Sunday morning they were brought out in squads and massacred . . . . it

was beautiful early summer,

878

The work commenced about five o'clock and was over by eight.

879

None obeyed the command to kneel,

880

Some made a mad and helpless rush . . . . some stood stark and straight,

881

A few fell at once, shot in the temple or heart . . . . the living and dead lay together,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 41

882

The maimed and mangled dug in the dirt . . . . the new-comers saw them there;

883

Some half-killed attempted to crawl away,

884

These were dispatched with bayonets or battered with the blunts of muskets;

885

A youth not seventeen years old seized his assassin till two more came to release

him,

886

The three were all torn, and covered with the boy's blood.

887

At eleven o'clock began the burning of the bodies;

888

And that is the tale of the murder of the four hundred and twelve young men,

889

And that was a jetblack sunrise.

890

Did you read in the seabooks of the oldfashioned frigate-fight?

891

Did you learn who won by the light of the moon and stars?

892

Our foe was no skulk in his ship, I tell you,

893

His was the English pluck, and there is no tougher or truer, and never was, and

never will be;

894

Along the lowered eve he came, horribly raking us.

895

We closed with him . . . . the yards entangled . . . . the cannon touched,

896

My captain lashed fast with his own hands.

897

We had received some eighteen-pound shots under the water,

898

On our lower-gun-deck two large pieces had burst at the first fire, killing all around

and blowing up overhead.

899

Ten o'clock at night, and the full moon shining and the leaks on the gain, and five feet

of water reported,

900

The master-at-arms loosing the prisoners confined in the after-hold to give them a

chance for themselves.

901

The transit to and from the magazine was now stopped by the sentinels,

902

They saw so many strange faces they did not know whom to trust.

903

Our frigate was afire . . . . the other asked if we demanded quarters? if our colors

were struck and the fighting done?

904

I laughed content when I heard the voice of my little captain,

905

We have not struck, he composedly cried, We have just begun our part of the

fighting.

906

Only three guns were in use,

907

One was directed by the captain himself against the enemy's mainmast,

908

Two well-served with grape and canister silenced his musketry and cleared his decks.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

42 Leaves of Grass.

909

The tops alone seconded the fire of this little battery, especially the maintop,

910

They all held out bravely during the whole of the action.

911

Not a moment's cease,

912

The leaks gained fast on the pumps . . . . the fire eat toward the powder-magazine,

913

One of the pumps was shot away . . . . it was generally thought we were sinking.

914

Serene stood the little captain,

915

He was not hurried . . . . his voice was neither high nor low,

916

His eyes gave more light to us than our battle-lanterns.

917

Toward twelve at night, there in the beams of the moon they surrendered to us.

918

Stretched and still lay the midnight,

919

Two great hulls motionless on the breast of the darkness,

920

Our vessel riddled and slowly sinking . . . . preparations to pass to the one we had

conquered,

921

The captain on the quarter deck coldly giving his orders through a countenance

white as a sheet,

922

Near by the corpse of the child that served in the cabin,

923

The dead face of an old salt with long white hair and carefully curled whiskers,

924

The flames spite of all that could be done flickering aloft and below,

925

The husky voices of the two or three officers yet fit for duty,

926

Formless stacks of bodies and bodies by themselves . . . . dabs of flesh upon the

masts and spars,

927

The cut of cordage and dangle of rigging . . . . the slight shock of the soothe of

waves,

928

Black and impassive guns, and litter of powder-parcels, and the strong scent,

929

Delicate sniffs of the seabreeze . . . . smells of sedgy grass and fields by the shore . . .

death-messages given in charge to survivors,

930

The hiss of the surgeon's knife and the gnawing teeth of his saw,

931

The wheeze, the cluck, the swash of falling blood . . . . the short wild scream, the

long dull tapering groan,

932

These so . . . . these irretrievable.

933

O Christ! My fit is mastering me!

934

What the rebel said gaily adjusting his throat to the rope-noose,

935

What the savage at the stump, his eye-sockets empty, his mouth spirting whoops

and defiance,

936

What stills the traveler come to the vault at Mount Vernon,

937

What sobers the Brooklyn boy as he looks down the shores of the Wallabout and

remembers the prison ships,

938

What burnt the gums of the redcoat at Saratoga when he surrendered his brigades,

document	location	text
loc.00158	#seg01	Look out there's "Take heed to yourselves—there's a mad man stalking loose through in the ship, with a knife in his hands,"—such was the warning sung out at night more than once below in the Old Jersey prison ship, _^1780 moored at the Wallabout, in the revolution.—
nyp.00023	#l01	What choked the throat talk _^[worn?] throat of the general brigadier, when he surrendered gave up his army; brigade;

939

These become mine and me every one, and they are but little,

940

I become as much more as I like.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 43

941

I become any presence or truth of humanity here,

942

And see myself in prison shaped like another man,

943

And feel the dull unintermitted pain.

944

For me the keepers of convicts shoulder their carbines and keep watch,

945

It is I let out in the morning and barred at night.

946

Not a mutineer walks handcuffed to the jail, but I am handcuffed to him and walk

by his side,

947

I am less the jolly one there, and more the silent one with sweat on my twitching

lips.

948

Not a youngster is taken for larceny, but I go up too and am tried and sentenced.

949

Not a cholera patient lies at the last gasp, but I also lie at the last gasp,

950

My face is ash-colored, my sinews gnarl . . . . away from me people retreat.

951

Askers embody themselves in me, and I am embodied in them,

952

I project my hat and sit shamefaced and beg.

953

I rise extatic through all, and sweep with the true gravitation,

954

The whirling and whirling is elemental within me.

955

Somehow I have been stunned. Stand back!

956

Give me a little time beyond my cuffed head and slumbers and dreams and gaping,

957

I discover myself on a verge of the usual mistake.

958

That I could forget the mockers and insults!

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l94	In vain _^were the nails driven through my hands, and my head my head mocked with a prickly
	#l96	The I remember the mockers and the buffeting insults

959

That I could forget the trickling tears and the blows of the bludgeons and hammers!

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l94	In vain _^were the nails driven through my hands, and my head my head mocked with a prickly

960

That I could look with a separate look on my own crucifixion and bloody crowning!

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l94	In vain _^were the nails driven through my hands, and my head my head mocked with a prickly
	#l95	I am here after I remember my crucifixion and my bloody coronation

961

I remember . . . . I resume the overstaid fraction,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l95	I am here after I remember my crucifixion and my bloody coronation
	#l96	The I remember the mockers and the buffeting insults

962

The grave of rock multiplies what has been confided to it . . . . or to any

graves,

963

The corpses rise . . . . the gashes heal . . . . the fastenings roll away.

964

I troop forth replenished with supreme power, one of an average unending

procession,

965

We walk the roads of Ohio and Massachusetts and Virginia and Wisconsin and

New York and New Orleans and Texas and Montreal and San Francisco and

Charleston and Savannah and Mexico,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l97	I am just as alive in New York and San Francisco, after two thousand years.
	#l98	Again I tread the streets after two thousand years.

966

Inland and by the seacoast and boundary lines . . . . and we pass the boundary lines.

967

Our swift ordinances are on their way over the whole earth,

968

The blossoms we wear in our hats are the growth of two thousand years.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l97	I am just as alive in New York and San Francisco, after two thousand years.
	#l98	Again I tread the streets after two thousand years.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

44 Leaves of Grass.

969

Eleves I salute you,

970

I see the approach of your numberless gangs . . . . I see you understand yourselves

and me,

971

And know that they who have eyes are divine, and the blind and lame are equally

divine,

972

And that my steps drag behind yours yet go before them,

973

And are aware how I am with you no more than I am with everybody.

974

The friendly and flowing savage . . . . Who is he?

975

Is he waiting for civilization or past it and mastering it?

976

Is he some southwesterner raised outdoors? Is he Canadian?

977

Is he from the Mississippi country? or from Iowa, Oregon or California? or from

the mountains? or prairie life or bush-life? or from the sea?

978

Wherever he goes men and women accept and desire him,

979

They desire he should like them and touch them and speak to them and stay with

them.

980

Behaviour lawless as snow-flakes . . . . words simple as grass . . . . uncombed head

and laughter and naivete;

981

Slowstepping feet and the common features, and the common modes and emanations,

982

They descend in new forms from the tips of his fingers,

document	location	text
loc.00024	#ab1	_^[cut away] descend wonders
loc.01019	#q02	descend from the tips of his fingers, from the smell of his body, from the vapor of his lungs,
loc.05705	#ab01	From the tips of his fingers

983

They are wafted with the odor of his body or breath . . . . they fly out of the glance

of his eyes.

document	location	text
loc.01019	#q02	descend from the tips of his fingers, from the smell of his body, from the vapor of his lungs,
loc.05705	#ab02	from the breaths of his lungs
	#ab03	from the sparkle of his eyes,
	#ab04	from the odor of his body

984

Flaunt of the sunshine I need not your bask . . . . lie over,

985

You light surfaces only . . . . I force the surfaces and the depths also.

986

Earth! you seem to look for something at my hands,

987

Say old topknot! what do you want?

988

Man or woman! I might tell how I like you, but cannot,

989

And might tell what it is in me and what it is in you, but cannot,

990

And might tell the pinings I have . . . . the pulse of my nights and days.

991

Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity,

992

What I give I give out of myself.

993

You there, impotent, loose in the knees, open your scarfed chops till I blow grit

within you,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l46	Starved of his masculine lustiness?
	#l47	Weakened, Without core Loose in the knees, without core? and [illegible] grit and and grit?
	#l48	And That I will infuse you with _^grit and jets of new grit life
uva.00263	#l01	You there! impotent, loose [in?] the knees!
	#l02	Open your mouth gums my pardy, that I put send _^blow grit in you with one a [breath?];

994

Spread your palms and lift the flaps of your pockets,

995

I am not to be denied . . . . I compel . . . . I have stores plenty and to spare,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l49	I will am not to be denied—I compel;
	#l50	* I have stores plenty and to spare—
uva.00263	#l04	I am not to be denied—I compel;
	#l05	I have stores plenty, and to spare;

996

And any thing I have I bestow.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l51	And _^of whatsoever I have I share bestow fully with upon you.
uva.00263	#l06	And whatsoever any thing I have I bestow.—

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 45

997

I do not ask who you are . . . . that is not important to me,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l04	* It is quite indifferent to me who you are are.
uva.00263	#l07	I do not ask who you are—that is not important to me;

998

You can do nothing and be nothing but what I will infold you.

999

To a drudge of the cottonfields or emptier of privies I lean . . . . on his right cheek

I put the family kiss,

document	location	text
loc.00024	#rf01	Where others see some a dolt, a clown, in rags _^slave a pariah an emptier of privies.... the Poet beholds what shall one day be, when the days of the soul are accomplished _^shall be be a mate for the greatest gods the peer of god.
	#rf02	Where others are scornfully silent at some one steerage passenger from a foreign land, or black _^or emptier of privies the poet says, "Good day, mMy brother! good day!"

1000

And in my soul I swear I never will deny him.

1001

On women fit for conception I start bigger and nimbler babes,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
loc.00142	#p01	From each word, as from a womb, spring twenty babes that shall grow _^to giants and beget a larger and more surperber breeds upon the earth.
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

1002

This day I am jetting the stuff of far more arrogant republics.

1003

To any one dying . . . . thither I speed and twist the knob of the door,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l203	Swiftly pass I
	#l09	Where is the house of any one dying?
	#l10	Thither I speed and raise turn the knob of the door,
uva.00278	#l02	Remember if you are dying, that you are dying, . . . is it so, then?

1004

Turn the bedclothes toward the foot of the bed,

1005

Let the physician and the priest go home.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l11	Let Let And tThe physician and the priest stand aside, _^timidly withdraw,
uva.00278	#l03	If it be so, I bring no shuffling consolation of doctors and priests,

1006

I seize the descending man . . . . I raise him with resistless will.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l12	_^That I seize on the despairer ghastly man and raise him with resistless will;

1007

O despairer, here is my neck,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l13	O ghastly man despairer! you shall I say _^tell you, you shall not die go down,
	#l14	Here is my hand arm, sink press your whole weight upon me,

1008

By God! you shall not go down! Hang your whole weight upon me.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l13	O ghastly man despairer! you shall I say _^tell you, you shall not die go down,
	#l14	Here is my hand arm, sink press your whole weight upon me,

1009

I dilate you with tremendous breath . . . . I buoy you up;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l15	In my O Lo! with With tremendous will breath, I force him to dilate,
	#l27	Buoyed with tremendous breath shall you be, and dilated
	#l28	I [illegible] dilate you with tremendous breath,[—?]
	#l29	I buoy you up,

1010

Every room of the house do I fill with am armed force . . . . lovers of me, bafflers

of graves:

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l17	Baffling doubt and
	#l24	Every room of the your house will do I fill with armed men
	#l25	Lovers of me, [illegible] bafflers of hell,
	#l30	Every room of your house do I fill with armed men
	#l31	Lovers of me, bafflers of hell,

1011

Sleep! I and they keep guard all night;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l19	Sleep! for I and they stand guard this night,
	#l26	Keeping back
	#l32	Sleep! for I and they staynd guard all this night

1012

Not doubt, not decease shall dare to lay finger upon you,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l16	Doubt and fear
	#l17	Baffling doubt and
	#l18	Doubt shall not
	#l21	Not doubt not fear not death itself shall lay fingers on [illegible] man him I lay finger [on?] you whomsoever I
	#l33	Not doubt, not fear, not Death shall lay finger upon you

1013

I have embraced you, and henceforth possess you to myself,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l22	For I have [illegible] said the word and And you are mine
	#l23	And I [illegible] have him all to myself
	#l34	God and I have _^embraced you, and henceforth possess you all to ourmyselves,

1014

And when you rise in the morning you will find what I tell you is so.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l20	And when you rise in the morning you find that I told the what I told you is so.
	#l35	And when you rise in the morning you shall find it is so.—

1015

I am he bringing help for the sick as they pant on their backs,

1016

And for strong upright men I bring yet more needed help.

1017

I heard what was said of the universe,

1018

Heard it and heard of several thousand years;

1019

It is middling well as far as it goes . . . . but is that all?

1020

Magnifying and applying come I,

1021

Outbidding at the start the old cautious hucksters,

1022

The most they offer for mankind and eternity less than a spirt of my own seminal

wet,

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l10	All you have ever pile up said and done compiled composed is are not august enough to dent endow answer tally a leaf of grass the partition of in my nostrils; nose;
loc.01019	#seg04	Forever and forever _^the one of them, and and that Jesus knew, saw, is the immortal testifier of Love the semen whence comes _^comes is born of the entire Universe., _^the one showing If shows itself in _^and cause of this that vast elemental sympathy, which, of all we yet know, only the human soul is capable of generating and emitting in steady and limitless floods, best visible shown to the world through a superbly transparent and perfect nature, a sweet and clean body in which was is no guile, or any thing selfish or [unseemly?] occult or mean.—

1023

Taking myself the exact dimensions of Jehovah and laying them away,

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l12	_^I tell you All _^that your caste have said ever said about Go narrated said and about _^Belus Haephestos God _^Osiris and [illegible] Belus and Jehovah is a _^too shallow description fonr one man's soul;
loc.01019	#seg09	things more incredible than the any myths of Jah, or Brahma, or Osiris,

1024

Lithographing Kronos and Zeus his son, and Hercules his grandson,

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l14	[cut away] [illegible] three thousand years ago [illegible]for Kronos or Zeus his son or Hercules his grandson.
loc.01019	#seg10	no power of Kronos, or Zeus his son or Hercules his grandson, begins with such a power as this.—

1025

Buying drafts of Osiris and Isis and Belus and Brahma and Adonai,

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l12	_^I tell you All _^that your caste have said ever said about Go narrated said and about _^Belus Haephestos God _^Osiris and [illegible] Belus and Jehovah is a _^too shallow description fonr one man's soul;
loc.00483	#seg101	What has been called Religion _^that of Ethiopia or still backward——_^that of _^Belus and Osiris and Isis, or that of—that of Jupiter and Ceres—that of Jerusalem with its temple an —that of Rome under Popes and Jesuits _^that of Mahomet or Budda _^Bhudda Par those of our Methodists and Epicopalians and Presbyterians and Quakers and Unitarians and Mormons—what are they any or all or any of them?
loc.01019	#seg09	things more incredible than the any myths of Jah, or Brahma, or Osiris,
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1026

In my portfolio placing Manito loose, and Allah on a leaf, and the crucifix engraved,

document	location	text
loc.00483	#seg101	What has been called Religion _^that of Ethiopia or still backward——_^that of _^Belus and Osiris and Isis, or that of—that of Jupiter and Ceres—that of Jerusalem with its temple an —that of Rome under Popes and Jesuits _^that of Mahomet or Budda _^Bhudda Par those of our Methodists and Epicopalians and Presbyterians and Quakers and Unitarians and Mormons—what are they any or all or any of them?
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1027

With Odin, and the hideous-faced Mexitli, and all idols and images,

1028

Honestly taking them all for what they are worth, and not a cent more,

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l06	Do you Would you bribe God the Lord _^Adonais with same stray change?
loc.00483	#seg102	We I know they are _^intrinsically little or nothing, though nations and ages have writhed for _^most of them in life and in death.—We I know they do not satisfy the appetite of the soul, with all their churches and their libraries and their priesthood.—

1029

Admitting they were alive and did the work of their day,

document	location	text
loc.00483	#seg101	What has been called Religion _^that of Ethiopia or still backward——_^that of _^Belus and Osiris and Isis, or that of—that of Jupiter and Ceres—that of Jerusalem with its temple an —that of Rome under Popes and Jesuits _^that of Mahomet or Budda _^Bhudda Par those of our Methodists and Epicopalians and Presbyterians and Quakers and Unitarians and Mormons—what are they any or all or any of them?
	#ab200	Nevertheless let us treat them with decent forbearance. Mean as they are when we have ascended beyond them, and look back, they were _^doubtless the roads for their times,.—

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

46 Leaves of Grass.

1030

Admitting they bore mites as for unfledged birds who have now to rise and fly and

sing for themselves,

document	location	text
loc.00483	#ab201	and Let us not despise too quickly despise them;—for they have brought sufficed to bring us where we are.—
	#ab202	Like scaffolding which is a blur and nuisance when the house is well up—yet the house could not be achieved without the scaffold.—

1031

Accepting the rough deific sketches to fill out better in myself . . . . bestowing them

freely on each man and woman I see,

1032

Discovering as much or more in a framer framing a house,

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l13	I see _^claim these for that fr one of those framers _^over the way, framing the a house.— in that each man more the young man, _^there with rolled up shirt-sleeves and sweat on his divine superb face, more than your craft
loc.00483	#ab202	Like scaffolding which is a blur and nuisance when the house is well up—yet the house could not be achieved without the scaffold.—

1033

Putting higher claims for him there with his rolled-up sleeves, driving the mallet and

chisel;

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l13	I see _^claim these for that fr one of those framers _^over the way, framing the a house.— in that each man more the young man, _^there with rolled up shirt-sleeves and sweat on his divine superb face, more than your craft

1034

Not objecting to special revelations . . . . considering a curl of smoke or a hair on

the back of my hand as curious as any revelation;

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l02	But I know say that any each leaf of grass and every each hair of my breast and beard is _^also equally also a a more developed revelation of God just as divine
duk.00261	#l05	[cut away] all of them and all existing creeds grows not so much of God as I grow in my moustache,

1035

Those ahold of fire-engines and hook-and-ladder ropes more to me than the gods of

the antique wars,

1036

Minding their voices peal through the crash of destruction,

1037

Their brawny limbs passing safe over charred laths . . . . their white foreheads whole

and unhurt out of the flames;

1038

By the mechanic's wife with her babe at her nipple interceding for every person

born;

1039

Three scythes at harvest whizzing in a row from three lusty angels with shirts

bagged out at their waists;

1040

The snag-toothed hostler with red hair redeeming sins past and to come,

1041

Selling all he possesses and traveling on foot to fee lawyers for his brother and sit

by him while he is tried for forgery:

1042

What was strewn in the amplest strewing the square rod about me, and not filling

the square rod then;

1043

The bull and the bug never worshipped half enough,

1044

Dung and dirt more admirable than was dreamed,

1045

The supernatural of no account . . . . myself waiting my time to be one of the

supremes,

document	location	text
duk.00261	#l01	And I am myself waiting my time to be a God;
uva.00262	#l01	Who knows that I shall not myself [cut away] time be a God, as pure and prodigious as any?

1046

The day getting ready for me when I shall do as much good as the best, and be as

prodigious,

document	location	text
duk.00261	#l02	And I think I [h?] shall _^do as much good and be as pure and prodigious, and do as much good as any;—
uva.00262	#l01	Who knows that I shall not myself [cut away] time be a God, as pure and prodigious as any?
	#l02	And when I am I you may be sure I shall do as much good as any.

1047

Guessing when I am it will not tickle me much to receive puffs out of pulpit or

print;

1048

By my life-lumps! becoming already a creator!

1049

Putting myself here and now to the ambushed womb of the shadows!

1050

. . . . A call in the midst of the crowd,

1051

My own voice, orotund sweeping and final.

1052

Come my children,

1053

Come my boys and girls, and my women and household and intimates,

1054

Now the performer launches his nerve . . . . he has passed his prelude on the reeds

within.

1055

Easily written loosefingered chords! I feel the thrum of their climax and close.

1056

My head evolves on my neck,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 47

1057

Music rolls, but not from the organ . . . . folks are around me, but they are no

household of mine.

1058

Ever the hard and unsunk ground,

1059

Ever the eaters and drinkers . . . . ever the upward and downward sun . . . . ever the

air and the ceaseless tides,

1060

Ever myself and my neighbors, refreshing and wicked and real,

1061

Ever the old inexplicable query . . . . ever that thorned thumb—that breath of itches

and thirsts,

1062

Ever the vexer's hoot! hoot! till we find where the sly one hides and bring him

forth;

document	location	text
uva.00264	#l01	And their voices, clearer than the valved ? cornet,—they cry hoot! hoot! to us all our lives till we seek where they hide, and bring the sly ones out forth!

1063

Ever love . . . . ever the sobbing liquid of life,

1064

Ever the bandage under the chin . . . . ever the tressels of death.

1065

Here and there with dimes on the eyes walking,

1066

To feed the greed of the belly the brains liberally spooning,

document	location	text
duk.00800	#p02	It is the perpetual endless delusion of the big and little smouchers, of the at in all their varieties, circumstances and degre what-not of their greedines whether usurping the rule of an empire, or thieving a negro and selling him,—or slyly pocketing a roll of rolled ribbon from the counter whatever and whichever any of the ways in which _^that legislators, lawyers, and the priests and [the?] educated _^and pious, classes, under the prefer certain _^political a advantages to themselves, over equal the vast armies retinues of the [poor?] the laboring, ignorant men, black men, sinners, [and?] so on—to suppose that they have succeded when the documents are signed and sealed, and they enter in possession of their gains.—_^These Shallow Ddriblets ? of a ? day! ! you [open?] are worse _^shallower less in your their high success, than the lowest dullest of those you have the [visions?] people they would overtopped.—[I?] If there be Whatever it be, liberty wea or wealth or knowledge privilege
loc.00141	#tr03	(3 every bite, I put between them, and if I my my belly is the victor, it that will not cannot then so _^even then be foiled, but follows the crust innocent food down my throat my throat and is like _^makes it _^turns it to fire and lead within me?—What _^angry [man?] snake that hisses whistles softly hisses at my ear, as saying, deny your greed and this night your soul shall O fool will you stuff your greed and starve your soul?
	#ab01	(And what is _^it but my [earl?] soul that hisses like an angry snake, O fFool! will you stuff your greed and starve me?
loc.05589	#ab30	such such a thing as ownership here any how.—The Chief B[illegible] [illegible]_^was is the [primal democrat?] [illegible] [illegible] of his one of the laws _^[illegible] that [illegible] from the moment any a man takes the [s]mallest page exclusively to himself [a]nd tryies to keep it from the rest [f]rom that [illegible] moment it begins to wither _^under his hand and _^[lose?] its immortal hieroglyphics _^presently fade away and become blank [illegible] and dead.—
med.00903	#ab01	I tell you greedy smoucher! I will have nothing which any man or any woman, anywhere on the face of the earth, or of any color or country cannot also have.
tex.00031	#l04	I see saw see a a smoucher and a hog, grabbing the good dishes _^exclusively to himself,. and grinning at the starvation of others, as if it were funny.—
	#l05	I see yet gaze on hear the greedy hog,; as — he roots and snorts _^as he roots anin the costly delicate green house.—
	#l19	And Thus the Have you heard [illegible] the gurgle the of gluttons, ready to stuff them continually perfectly willing to stuff themselves;

1067

Tickets buying or taking or selling, but in to the feast never once going;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#ab10	The ignorant think that to the entertainment of life, you are they will be admitted by a ticket or check, and the air of dream of their existence is to get the money that they may buy this env wonderful card.—But the wise soul

1068

Many sweating and ploughing and thrashing, and then the chaff for payment re-

ceiving,

1069

A few idly owning, and they the wheat continually claiming.

1070

This is the city . . . . and I am one of the citizens;

1071

Whatever interests the rest interests me . . . . politics, churches, newspapers,

schools,

1072

Benevolent societies, improvements, banks, tariffs, steamships, factories, markets,

1073

Stocks and stores and real estate and personal estate.

1074

They who piddle and patter here in collars and tailed coats . . . . I am aware who

they are . . . . and that they are not worms or fleas,

1075

I acknowledge the duplicates of myself under all the scrape-lipped and pipe-legged

concealments.

1076

The weakest and shallowest is deathless with me,

1077

What I do and say the same waits for them,

1078

Every thought that flounders in me the same flounders in them.

1079

I know perfectly well my own egotism,

1080

And know my omniverous words, and cannot say any less,

1081

And would fetch you whoever you are flush with myself.

1082

My words are words of a questioning, and to indicate reality;

1083

This printed and bound book . . . . but the printer and the printing-office boy?

1084

The marriage estate and settlement . . . . but the body and mind of the bridegroom?

also those of the bride?

1085

The panorama of the sea . . . . but the sea itself?

document	location	text
amh.00008	#seg01	to enjoy the Panorama of the Sea, painted done by the best artists, recommended by certificates from clergymen; admission half a dollar front seats twelve and a half cents extra. Go [then,?] and [luck?] go with [you?].—So we turn our backs on the frivolous glimpse [where thither?] _^of the Highlands below there where old Neversink [the?] [illegible] lying sprawled _^that lie sprawling like a great fish, with Neversink at the head.—

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

48 Leaves of Grass.

1086

The well-taken photographs . . . . but your wife or friend close and solid in your

arms?

1087

The fleet of ships of the line and all the modern improvements . . . . but the craft

and pluck of the admiral?

1088

The dishes and fare and furniture . . . . but the host and hostess, and the look out of

their eyes?

1089

The sky up there . . . . yet here or next door or across the way?

1090

The saints and sages in history . . . . but you yourself?

1091

Sermons and creeds and theology . . . . but the human brain, and what is called

reason, and what is called love, and what is called life?

document	location	text
duk.00261	#l05	[cut away] all of them and all existing creeds grows not so much of God as I grow in my moustache,
loc.05589	#p04	The test of the goodness or truth of any thing is the soul itself—whatever does good to the soul, soothes, refreshes, cheers, inspirits, consoles, &c.—that is so, easy enough—But doctrines, sermons, logic ? ?

1092

I do not despise you priests;

1093

My faith is the greatest of faiths and the least of faiths,

document	location	text
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1094

Enclosing all worship ancient and modern, and all between ancient and modern,

document	location	text
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1095

Believing I shall come again upon the earth after five thousand years,

1096

Waiting responses from oracles . . . . honoring the gods . . . . saluting the sun,

1097

Making a fetish of the first rock or stump . . . . powowing with sticks in the circle of

obis,

document	location	text
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1098

Helping the lama or brahmin as he trims the lamps of the idols,

document	location	text
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1099

Dancing yet through the streets in a phallic procession . . . . rapt and austere in the

woods, a gymnosophist,

document	location	text
loc.00158	#ab111	Phallic festivals.—wild mirthful processions in honor of the god Dionysus (Bacchus)—in Athens, and other parts of Greece—unbounded license—mocking jibes and irony—epithets and biting insults

1100

Drinking mead from the skull-cup . . . . to shasta and vedas admirant . . . . minding

the koran,

document	location	text
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1101

Walking the teokallis, spotted with gore from the stone and knife—beating the

serpent-skin drum;

1102

Accepting the gospels, accepting him that was crucified, knowing assuredly that he

is divine,

document	location	text
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1103

To the mass kneeling—to the puritan's prayer rising—sitting patiently in a pew,

1104

Ranting and frothing in my insane crisis—waiting dead-like till my spirit arouses me;

1105

Looking forth on pavement and land, and outside of pavement and land,

1106

Belonging to the winders of the circuit of circuits.

1107

One of that centripetal and centrifugal gang,

1108

I turn and talk like a man leaving charges before a journey.

1109

Down-hearted doubters, dull and excluded,

1110

Frivolous sullen moping angry affected disheartened atheistical,

1111

I know every one of you, and know the unspoken interrogatories,

1112

By experience I know them.

1113

How the flukes splash!

document	location	text
loc.00141	#p03	—he would be growing fragrantly in the air, like a the locust blossoms—he would rumble and crash like the thunder in the sky—he would spring like a cat on his prey—he would splash like a whale in [the?]
loc.00483	#hp01	Beware the flukes of the whale. _^He is slow and sleepy—but when he moves, his lightest touch is death.——

1114

How they contort rapid as lightning, with spasms and spouts of blood!

document	location	text
loc.00483	#ab101	tThat black and huge lethargic mass, my sportsmen, dull and sleepy as it seems, has holds the lightning and the taps bolts of thunder.—He is slow—O, long and long and slow and slow—but when he does move, his lightest touch is death.
	#hp02	The flukes of a whale they are as quick as light

1115

Be at peace bloody flukes of doubters and sullen mopers,

1116

I take my place among you as much as among any;

document	location	text
loc.00158	#l100	I have my place among you
nyp.00057	#p01	The most perfect wonders of the earth are not [I?] rare and distant but present with every [illegible]person,—you as much as any!—

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 49

1117

The past is the push of you and me and all precisely the same,

1118

And the day and night are for you and me and all,

1119

And what is yet untried and afterward is for you and me and all.

1120

I do not know what is untried and afterward,

1121

But I know it is sure and alive and sufficient.

1122

Each who passes is considered, and each who stops is considered, and not a single

one can it fail.

1123

It cannot fail the young man who died and was buried,

1124

Nor the young woman who died and was put by his side,

1125

Nor the little child that peeped in at the door and then drew back and was never

seen again,

1126

Nor the old man who has lived without purpose, and feels it with bitterness worse

than gall,

1127

Nor him in the poorhouse tubercled by rum and the bad disorder,

1128

Nor the numberless slaughtered and wrecked . . . . nor the brutish koboo, called the

ordure of humanity,

document	location	text
nyp.00112	#ab01	Enter into the thoughts of the different theological faiths—effuse all that the believing Egyptian would—all that the Greek—all that the Hindoo, worshipping Brahman—the Koboo, adoring a _^his fetish stone or log—the Prespbyterian—the Catholic with his crucifix and saints—the Turk with thee Koran in

1129

Nor the sacs merely floating with open mouths for food to slip in,

1130

Nor any thing in the earth, or down in the oldest graves of the earth,

1131

Nor any thing in the myriads of spheres, nor one of the myriads of myriads that in-

habit them,

1132

Nor the present, nor the least wisp that is known.

1133

It is time to explain myself . . . . let us stand up.

document	location	text
duk.00026	#l02	If there be one left in any country who has no faith in me, I will travel to that country, and go to that one, and stand upright before him,—

1134

What is known I strip away . . . . I launch all men and women forward with me into

the unknown.

1135

The clock indicates the moment . . . . but what does eternity indicate?

document	location	text
duk.00298	#seg01	Remember that the clock and the hands of the clock, only tell the time—they are not themselves the aggregated years.—Time Which is greatest—time, which baffles us, or its indexes, made [by?] of wood and brass, at by _^a workman at ten dollars a week?—Time itself knows no index—it is merely for to stand us a little in help that _^we combine sets of springs and wheels [are?] and arbitrarily divide _^it by hours and quarters—and call these miserable theseis measurersing of time.—

1136

Eternity lies in bottomless reservoirs . . . . its buckets are rising forever and ever,

1137

They pour and they pour and they exhale away.

1138

We have thus far exhausted trillions of winters and summers;

1139

There are trillions ahead, and trillions ahead of them.

1140

Births have brought us richness and variety,

1141

And other births will bring us richness and variety.

1142

I do not call one greater and one smaller,

1143

That which fills its period and place is equal to any.

1144

Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you my brother or my sister?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

50 Leaves of Grass.

1145

I am sorry for you . . . . they are not murderous or jealous upon me;

1146

All has been gentle with me . . . . . . I keep no account with lamentation;

1147

What have I to do with lamentation?

1148

I am an acme of things accomplished, and I an encloser of things to be.

1149

My feet strike an apex of the apices of the stairs,

1150

On every step bunches of ages, and larger bunches between the steps,

1151

All below duly traveled—and still I mount and mount.

1152

Rise after rise bow the phantoms behind me,

1153

Afar down I see the huge first Nothing, the vapor from the nostrils of death,

document	location	text
duk.00262	#l01	And brings me perpetual word that Goodness is the Dilation or Pride is a Mother father of Causes,
	#l02	And that the a Father mother of Causes is Love Dilation or Pride. Goodness or Love.—
	#l11	And _^that the such these they are the Parents _^yet, and witness and register their breed amours eternally;
loc.00346	#ab04	We know that sympathy or love is the law of over all laws, because in nothing else but love does is the soul conscious of pure happiness, which is appears to be the ultimate resting place of and point of all things.—
nyp.00129	#p02	Love is the cause of causes.—W Out of the first Nothing and —out of the _^black fogs of primeval of the nostrilsOr original Vacuity, of Death which that vast and sluggish _^hung ebbless and floodless in the spread of space—it asked _^of God with undeniable will, something to satisfy _^itself its itself.— immortal longings.— From its By it then Chaos was staid with.— Like aA family Like a brood of beautiful children came from them _^whom we call the Laws of Nature.—
	#l100	Love is the cause of causes,
	#l01	Out of the vast, first Nothing
	#l02	The ebbless and floodless vapor from the nostrils of Death,
	#l101	It asked of God with unde-niable will,
	#l102	Something to satisfy itself.—
	#l103	By it then Chaos was staid with
	#l104	And duly came from them a brood of beautiful children
	#l105	Whom we call the laws of nature

1154

I know I was even there . . . . I waited unseen and always,

1155

And slept while God carried me through the lethargic mist,

document	location	text
duk.00262	#l03	My Soul Spirit was [curious?] and sped back to the beginning, sped back returned to the times when the earth was forming mist, the aft
	#l10	And peered beyond aft, and could see Concord beyond the beginning; forming the mist,

1156

And took my time . . . . and took no hurt from the fœtid carbon.

1157

Long I was hugged close . . . . long and long.

1158

Immense have been the preparations for me,

1159

Faithful and friendly the arms that have helped me.

1160

Cycles ferried my cradle, rowing and rowing like cheerful boatmen;

1161

For room to me stars kept aside in their own rings,

1162

They sent influences to look after what was to hold me.

1163

Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q05	I exist in the formless void that through asks for takes uncounted ages forms time and coheres to a nebula ?, and in further ages time coheresing to an orb,

1164

My embryo has never been torpid . . . . nothing could overlay it;

1165

For it the nebula cohered to an orb . . . . the long slow strata piled to rest it on

. . . . vast vegetables gave it sustenance,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab6	A poem in which all things and qualities and processes express themselves—the nebula—the fixed stars—the earth—the grass, waters, vegetable, sauroid, and all processes—man—animals.
loc.00346	#q05	I exist in the formless void that through asks for takes uncounted ages forms time and coheres to a nebula ?, and in further ages time coheresing to an orb,

1166

Monstrous sauroids transported it in their mouths and deposited it with care.

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab6	A poem in which all things and qualities and processes express themselves—the nebula—the fixed stars—the earth—the grass, waters, vegetable, sauroid, and all processes—man—animals.

1167

All forces have been steadily employed to complete and delight me,

1168

Now I stand on this spot with my soul.

1169

Span of youth! Ever-pushed elasticity! Manhood balanced and florid and full!

1170

My lovers suffocate me!

1171

Crowding my lips, and thick in the pores of my skin,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l200	Sometimes tTo my lips, and and to the palms of my hands, and whatever my hands hold.

1172

Jostling me through streets and public halls . . . . coming naked to me at night,

1173

Crying by day Ahoy from the rocks of the river . . . . swinging and chirping over my

head,

1174

Calling my name from flowerbeds or vines or tangled underbrush,

1175

Or while I swim in the bath . . . . or drink from the pump at the corner . . . . or the

curtain is down at the opera . . . . or I glimpse at a woman's face in the

railroad car;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 51

1176

Lighting on every moment of my life,

1177

Bussing my body with soft and balsamic busses,

1178

Noiselessly passing handfuls out of their hearts and giving them to be mine.

1179

Old age superbly rising! Ineffable grace of dying days!

1180

Every condition promulges not only itself . . . . it promulges what grows after and out

of itself,

1181

And the dark hush promulges as much as any.

1182

I open my scuttle at night and see the far-sprinkled systems,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw33	And saw millions _^the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
loc.00142	#tr06	All the _^computation vastness of Astronomy—and space—systems of suns+++ [illegible] carried [illegible] in to _^their computation to the very bound farthest that figures will are able or that the broadest ? mathematical faculty can hold—and then multiplied in geometrical progression ten thousand million fold back

1183

And all I see, multiplied as high as I can cipher, edge but the rim of the farther

systems.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw33	And saw millions _^the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,
loc.00142	#tr06	All the _^computation vastness of Astronomy—and space—systems of suns+++ [illegible] carried [illegible] in to _^their computation to the very bound farthest that figures will are able or that the broadest ? mathematical faculty can hold—and then multiplied in geometrical progression ten thousand million fold back
tex.00088	#seg101	At the huge facts _^of countless systems of worlds, whose of suns and their planets of worlds revolving round their suns—
	#seg08	Cipher it by any rule we will, and then rub all out and work the problem over again, and again, till our eyes blur, we [each?] get but one _^unvarying product, that the _^Human Soul, you yourself by its innate tests, is the must be the judge and standard of all things, even of the knowledge of God.—

1184

Wider and wider they spread, expanding and always expanding,

document	location	text
duk.00104	#seg02	[illegible]—that this earth is under a constant and [process?] of amelioration—as it always has been—that it, in some manner not perhaps demonstratable in astronomy, expands outward and outward in a larger and larger orbit—that our immortality is located here upon earth—that we are immortal—that the processes of the refinement and perfection of the earth are in steps, [It?]the least part of which involves trillions of years—
loc.00163	#q10	Life in the universe—a vast circular procession whose ? rings expand outward and outward

1185

Outward and outward and forever outward.

document	location	text
duk.00104	#seg02	[illegible]—that this earth is under a constant and [process?] of amelioration—as it always has been—that it, in some manner not perhaps demonstratable in astronomy, expands outward and outward in a larger and larger orbit—that our immortality is located here upon earth—that we are immortal—that the processes of the refinement and perfection of the earth are in steps, [It?]the least part of which involves trillions of years—
loc.00163	#q10	Life in the universe—a vast circular procession whose ? rings expand outward and outward

1186

My sun has his sun, and round him obediently wheels,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw33	And saw millions _^the journeywork of of suns and systems of suns,

1187

He joins with his partners a group of superior circuit,

1188

And greater sets follow, making specks of the greatest inside them.

1189

There is no stoppage, and never can be stoppage;

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q11	I could be balked no how, not if all the worlds and living beings in were _^this [hour?] _^minute reduced turned back into the fog _^impalpable film of chaos

1190

If I and you and the worlds and all beneath or upon their surfaces, and all the

palpable life, were this moment reduced back to a pallid float, it would not

avail in the long run,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q11	I could be balked no how, not if all the worlds and living beings in were _^this [hour?] _^minute reduced turned back into the fog _^impalpable film of chaos

1191

We should surely bring up again where we now stand,

1192

And as surely go as much farther, and then farther and farther.

1193

A few quadrillions of eras, a few octillions of cubic leagues, do not hazard the span,

or make it impatient,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q11c	I think a few [n?] my right hand is time, and my left hand is space—both are ample—a few quintillions of cycles, a few sextillions of cubic leagues, are not of _^special importance to me—I what I attain shall attain to I do not know can never tell, for there is something that underlies and overtops me, of whom I am an effusion a part an attribute and instrument.—
nyp.00063	#p01	Superb and infinitely manifold [t?] as natural the objects are,—not a so cubic solid each foot _^out of the numberless countless octillions of the cubic leagues of space but has its positive [lo?] ho is being crammed full of positive absolute or direct relative wonders,—not any one of these, nor the whole of them together, disturbs or seems awry to the mind of man or woman.—

1194

They are but parts . . . . any thing is but a part.

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q11c	I think a few [n?] my right hand is time, and my left hand is space—both are ample—a few quintillions of cycles, a few sextillions of cubic leagues, are not of _^special importance to me—I what I attain shall attain to I do not know can never tell, for there is something that underlies and overtops me, of whom I am an effusion a part an attribute and instrument.—

1195

See ever so far . . . . there is limitless space outside of that,

1196

Count ever so much . . . . there is limitless time around that.

1197

Our rendezvous is fitly appointed . . . . God will be there and wait till we come.

document	location	text
loc.00346	#ab02	We Tthrob and wait, and lay your our ears to the wall as y as we may, we throb and wait _^for the god in vain.—I am vast—he seems to console us with, _^a whispering undertone in lack instead of an answer—and my works are what is wherever the universe is—but we are only the morning wakers to the soul of man.—the Soul of man! the Soul of man!—To that, we do the office of the servants who wakes histheir master at the dawn.

1198

I know I have the best of time and space—and that I was never measured, and

never will be measured.

1199

I tramp a perpetual journey,

1200

My signs are a rain-proof coat and good shoes and a staff cut from the woods;

1201

No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair,

1202

I have no chair, nor church nor philosophy;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw17	I will not be a great philosopher, and found any school, and [bring?] build it on with iron pillars, and gather the young me around me, and make them my disciples, and found a that a new _^superior churches orand politics. _^shall come.—☜—But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you _^to the road _^along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.—Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and _^over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—

1203

I lead no man to a dinner-table or library or exchange,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw17	I will not be a great philosopher, and found any school, and [bring?] build it on with iron pillars, and gather the young me around me, and make them my disciples, and found a that a new _^superior churches orand politics. _^shall come.—☜—But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you _^to the road _^along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.—Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and _^over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

52 Leaves of Grass.

1204

But each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw16	But I will take every each man on or and woman _^man and woman of you to the window and open the shutters and the sash, and my left arm shall hook [him?] you round the waist, and my right shall point shall point you to the road endless and beginningless road along
	#seg01	But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you _^to the road _^along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.

1205

My left hand hooks you round the waist,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw16	But I will take every each man on or and woman _^man and woman of you to the window and open the shutters and the sash, and my left arm shall hook [him?] you round the waist, and my right shall point shall point you to the road endless and beginningless road along
	#seg01	But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you _^to the road _^along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.

1206

My right hand points to landscapes of continents, and a plain public road.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw16	But I will take every each man on or and woman _^man and woman of you to the window and open the shutters and the sash, and my left arm shall hook [him?] you round the waist, and my right shall point shall point you to the road endless and beginningless road along
	#seg01	But I will show every man, unhook the sh open the shutters and the window sash, and you shall stand at my side, and I will show hook my lefting arm around your waist till I point you _^to the road _^along which leads to all the learning knowledge and truth and pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.

1207

Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#seg02	Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and _^over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—

1208

You must travel it for yourself.

1209

It is not far . . . . it is within reach,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#seg02	Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and _^over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—

1210

Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#seg02	Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and _^over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—

1211

Perhaps it is every where on water and on land.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#seg02	Not I or any —not God—can travel it this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the stretch of your arm thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the ocean and _^over the land, when you once have the vision to behold it.—

1212

Shoulder your duds, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth;

1213

Wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go.

1214

If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the chuff of your hand on my hip,

1215

And in due time you shall repay the same service to me;

1216

For after we start we never lie by again.

1217

This day before dawn I ascended a hill and looked at the crowded heaven,

document	location	text
duk.00942	#l27	And when once spirits go they went far enough to see the happiness beyond,
	#l29	And that when [once?] they soul _^spirit soul goes far [enough?] into [to see?] the happiness beyond,
loc.00141	#tw14	I think the soul will never stop, or attain to any its growth beyond which it shall not go. no further.—_^When I have sometimes when I walked at night by the sea shore and looked up to at the stars countless stars, and _^I have asked of my soul whether it would be filled and satisfied when it was _^should become thea god enfolding an all these, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every thing in them or of them; and the answer was plain[er?] to my ear me thanat the [sa?] breaking water on the sands at my feet; and it _^the answer was, No, when I reach there, I shall want more to go further still.—
	#tw201	And have sent my soul And went down to to take board reconnoitre there a long time,
	#tw212	And my soul staid there flew thither to [st?] reconnoitre and squat, and looked long upon the universe out,
med.00909	#l02	Outside the asteroids I reconnoitre at my ease.

1218

And I said to my spirit, When we become the enfolders of those orbs and the plea-

sure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be filled and satisfied then?

document	location	text
duk.00262	#l13	Again But And yet still my Soul Spirit was curious and travelled ahead
	#l14	And pierced the black stern fine hem of darkness life, death and went fearlessly through,
	#l16	And said to me, It is well, I am satisfied,
duk.00942	#l27	And when once spirits go they went far enough to see the happiness beyond,
	#l29	And that when [once?] they soul _^spirit soul goes far [enough?] into [to see?] the happiness beyond,
loc.00141	#tw12	and I said to my soul When we become the god enfoldingers of all these _^orbs, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every thing in them, or of them, shall we be filled and satisfied?
	#tw14	I think the soul will never stop, or attain to any its growth beyond which it shall not go. no further.—_^When I have sometimes when I walked at night by the sea shore and looked up to at the stars countless stars, and _^I have asked of my soul whether it would be filled and satisfied when it was _^should become thea god enfolding an all these, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every thing in them or of them; and the answer was plain[er?] to my ear me thanat the [sa?] breaking water on the sands at my feet; and it _^the answer was, No, when I reach there, I shall want more to go further still.—
loc.00142	#seg100	Well the one obligation duty under which a man or woman _^is bound to himself or herself, is the enfolder or of all else every bit that follows.—

1219

And my spirit said No, we level that lift to pass and continue beyond.

document	location	text
duk.00262	#l16	And said to me, It is well, I am satisfied,
duk.00942	#l27	And when once spirits go they went far enough to see the happiness beyond,
	#l29	And that when [once?] they soul _^spirit soul goes far [enough?] into [to see?] the happiness beyond,
loc.00141	#tw12b	and the answer was
	#tw12c	No, when we fetch that height, we shall not be filled and satisfied, but shall look as high beyond.
	#tw14	I think the soul will never stop, or attain to any its growth beyond which it shall not go. no further.—_^When I have sometimes when I walked at night by the sea shore and looked up to at the stars countless stars, and _^I have asked of my soul whether it would be filled and satisfied when it was _^should become thea god enfolding an all these, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every thing in them or of them; and the answer was plain[er?] to my ear me thanat the [sa?] breaking water on the sands at my feet; and it _^the answer was, No, when I reach there, I shall want more to go further still.—

1220

You are also asking me questions, and I hear you;

1221

I answer that I cannot answer . . . . you must find out for yourself.

1222

Sit awhile wayfarer,

1223

Here are biscuits to eat and here is milk to drink,

1224

But as soon as you sleep and renew yourself in sweet clothes I will certainly kiss you

with my goodbye kiss and open the gate for your egress hence.

document	location	text
rut.00025	#q03	but when _^afterward thou hast you have [as?] [sla?] bathed thyself, and renewed thyself yourself in fresh clo sweet clothes, and staid here a little time, I shall surely kiss thee you on the cheek, and open the gate for [cut away] _^your egress hence.

1225

Long enough have you dreamed contemptible dreams,

1226

Now I wash the gum from your eyes,

1227

You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your

life

1228

Long have you timidly waded, holding a plank by the shore,

1229

Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,

document	location	text
loc.00024	#rf05	Come with me, I [and?] that I learn teach you that you be a bold swimmer, and leap from the into the open _^[plain sou?] unsounded sea, and come up, and laugh shout, and laughingly shake the water from your hair.—

1230

To jump off in the midst of the sea, and rise again and nod to me and shout, and

laughingly dash with your hair.

document	location	text
loc.00024	#ab01a	Without [illegible] waiting a moment the young child, laughing and clucking springs into the
	#l01	And as a swimmer passed floated idly in the waves, he called the child.—Laughing it sprang, and there
	#rf05	Come with me, I [and?] that I learn teach you that you be a bold swimmer, and leap from the into the open _^[plain sou?] unsounded sea, and come up, and laugh shout, and laughingly shake the water from your hair.—

1231

I am the teacher of athletes,

1232

He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own proves the width of my own,

1233

He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 53

1234

The boy I love, the same becomes a man not through derived power but in his own

right,

1235

Wicked, rather than virtuous out of conformity or fear,

1236

Fond of his sweetheart, relishing well his steak,

1237

Unrequited love or a slight cutting him worse than a wound cuts,

1238

First rate to ride, to fight, to hit the bull's eye, to sail a skiff, to sing a song or play

on the banjo,

1239

Preferring scars and faces pitted with smallpox over all latherers and those that

keep out of the sun.

1240

I teach straying from me, yet who can stray from me?

1241

I follow you whoever you are from the present hour;

1242

My words itch at your ears till you understand them.

1243

I do not say these things for a dollar, or to fill up the time while I wait for a boat;

1244

It is you talking just as much as myself . . . . I act as the tongue of you,

document	location	text
duk.00787	#l02	It is you talking—I am your voice—It was tied in you—In me it begins to be loosened.— talk.—
	#l09	I am the voice of another man
uva.00256	#l02	You You He could annot speak for himyourself, slave negro.—I lend you him my own mouth tongue

1245

It was tied in your mouth . . . . in mine it begins to be loosened.

document	location	text
duk.00787	#l02	It is you talking—I am your voice—It was tied in you—In me it begins to be loosened.— talk.—
	#l04	I am loosen the voice tongue that was tied in you them
	#l05	In me It begins to talk out of my mouth
uva.00256	#l03	A black I darted like a snake from his _^[illegible] mouth.—

1246

I swear I will never mention love or death inside a house,

1247

And I swear I never will translate myself at all, only to him or her who privately

stays with me in the open air.

1248

If you would understand me go to the heights or water-shore,

1249

The nearest gnat is an explanation and a drop or the motion of waves a key,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw32	I am I The Of the each [ab?] gnats in the air, and the every of beetles rolling _^his balls _^of dung,

1250

The maul the oar and the handsaw second my words.

1251

No shuttered room or school can commune with me,

1252

But roughs and little children better than they.

1253

The young mechanic is closest to me . . . . he knows me pretty well,

1254

The woodman that takes his axe and jug with him shall take me with him all day,

1255

The farmboy ploughing in the field feels good at the sound of my voice,

1256

In vessels that sail my words must sail . . . . I go with fishermen and seamen, and

love them,

1257

My face rubs to the hunter's face when he lies down alone in his blanket,

1258

The driver thinking of me does not mind the jolt of his wagon,

1259

The young mother and old mother shall comprehend me,

1260

The girl and the wife rest the needle a moment and forget where they are,

1261

They and all would resume what I have told them.

1262

I have said that the soul is not more than the body,

1263

And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,

1264

And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's-self is,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw05	I never yet knew what it was to feel how it felt to _^think I stanood in the presence of my superior.—I could now abase myself if God If the presence of Jah were God were made visible immediately before _^me, I could not abase myself.—How do I know but I shall myself
	#ab03	If God himself _^If I walk with Jah in _^Heaven and he assume to be intrinsically greater than I, it offends me, and I will _^shall certainly withdraw myself from Heaven,—for the great soul will prefers freedom in the lonesomest prairie to to or the woo untrodden woods—and there can be no freedom where
loc.00163	#q02	I say that nothing is every man he is great to himself and every woman to herself;
loc.00346	#q18	Not even God, that dread ? is so great to me as mMyself is great to me.—Who knows but I too shall in time be a God as pure and prodigious as any of them.—

1265

And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral, dressed in

his shroud,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

54 Leaves of Grass.

1266

And I or you pocketless of a dime may purchase the pick of the earth,

1267

And to glance with an eye or show a bean in its pod confounds the learning of all

times,

1268

And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it may become a

hero,

1269

And there is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheeled universe,

1270

And any man or woman shall stand cool and supercilious before a million universes.

1271

And I call to mankind, Be not curious about God,

document	location	text
loc.00013	#l02	_^Priests! Until you can explain a paving stone, _^to every ones my perfect satisfaction O Priests, do not try to explain God:
tex.00088	#seg06	O, theologian, come not to argue with me about God;

1272

For I who am curious about each am not curious about God,

1273

No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.

1274

I hear and behold God in every object, yet I understand God not in the least,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw05	I never yet knew what it was to feel how it felt to _^think I stanood in the presence of my superior.—I could now abase myself if God If the presence of Jah were God were made visible immediately before _^me, I could not abase myself.—How do I know but I shall myself

1275

Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.

document	location	text
duk.00018	#l14	I can comprehend no being more wonderful than Man;
loc.00141	#tw05	I never yet knew what it was to feel how it felt to _^think I stanood in the presence of my superior.—I could now abase myself if God If the presence of Jah were God were made visible immediately before _^me, I could not abase myself.—How do I know but I shall myself
tex.00088	#seg07	I can yet _^just begin to comprehend nothing more wonderful than so tremendous as my own soul.

1276

Why should I wish to see God better than this day?

1277

I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,

1278

In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass;

1279

I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name,

1280

And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come for-

ever and ever.

1281

And as to you death, and you bitter hug of mortality . . . . it is idle to try to alarm

me.

1282

To his work without flinching the accoucheur comes,

1283

I see the elderhand pressing receiving supporting,

1284

I recline by the sills of the exquisite flexible doors . . . . and mark the outlet, and

mark the relief and escape.

1285

And as to you corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not offend me,

document	location	text
uva.00601	#l02	I see the _^O dirt dirt hearse-borne once beloved! [illegible] corpse—I see the I guess reckon [think?] [mind?] less you very are a good manure —but that I do not smell—

1286

I smell the white roses sweetscented and growing,

1287

I reach to the leafy lips . . . . I reach to the polished breasts of melons.

document	location	text
duk.00883	#l01	Living bulbs, melons with polished rinds the hand soothinghe that the hand to touch smooth to the press reached hand
	#l02	Bulbs of life-lilies, polished melons, [reach?] flavored for the gentlest mildest hand that shall reach,
uva.00601	#l04	I kiss their soft _^your leafy lips—I reach slide my hands for the brown melons of your breasts.—

1288

And as to you life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths,

document	location	text
uva.00133	#l00	Others hold levee in life,— _^After death _^Now _^when I am looked back upon, I will I hold I levee, after death,

1289

No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.

1290

I hear you whispering there O stars of heaven,

1291

O suns . . . . O grass of graves . . . . O perpetual transfers and promotions . . . . if

you do not say anything how can I say anything?

1292

Of the turbid pool that lies in the autumn forest,

1293

Of the moon that descends the steeps of the soughing twilight,

1294

Toss, sparkles of day and dusk . . . . toss on the black stems that decay in the muck,

1295

Toss to the moaning gibberish of the dry limbs.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 55

1296

I ascend from the moon . . . . I ascend from the night,

1297

And perceive of the ghastly glitter the sunbeams reflected,

1298

And debouch to the steady and central from the offspring great or small.

1299

There is that in me . . . . I do not know what it is . . . . but I know it is in me.

1300

Wrenched and sweaty . . . . calm and cool then my body becomes;

1301

I sleep . . . . I sleep long.

1302

I do not know it . . . . it is without name . . . . it is a word unsaid,

1303

It is not in any dictionary or utterance or symbol.

1304

Something it swings on more than the earth I swing on,

1305

To it the creation is the friend whose embracing awakes me.

1306

Perhaps I might tell more . . . . Outlines! I plead for my brothers and sisters.

1307

Do you see O my brothers and sisters?

1308

It is not chaos or death . . . . it is form and union and plan . . . . it is eternal life . . . .

it is happiness.

1309

The past and present wilt . . . . I have filled them and emptied them,

1310

And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.

1311

Listener up there! Here you . . . . what have you to confide to me?

1312

Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,

1313

Talk honestly, for no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.

1314

Do I contradict myself?

1315

Very well then . . . . I contradict myself;

1316

I am large . . . . I contain multitudes.

1317

I concentrate toward them that are nigh . . . . I wait on the door-slab.

1318

Who has done his day's work and will soonest be through with his supper?

1319

Who wishes to walk with me?

1320

Will you speak before I am gone? Will you prove already too late?

1321

The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me . . . . he complains of my gab and my

loitering.

document	location	text
uva.00570	#l01	The spotted ? hawk ? salutes the approaching night;
	#l02	He [swoops?] by me, _^ and rebukes me hoarsely with his invitation;
	#l03	He complains with sarcastic voice of my lagging

1322

I too am not a bit tamed . . . . I too am untranslatable,

1323

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

1324

The last scud of day holds back for me,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

56 Leaves of Grass.

1325

It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadowed wilds,

1326

It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.

1327

I depart as air . . . . I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,

1328

I effuse my flesh in eddies and drift it in lacy jags.

1329

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,

1330

If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.

1331

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,

1332

But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,

1333

And filter and fibre your blood.

1334

Failing to fetch me me at first keep encouraged,

1335

Missing me one place search another,

1336

I stop some where waiting for you

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Leaves of Grass" [2]

("A Song for Occupations")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00263 (high)
duk.00264 (high)
duk.00051 (low)
duk.00148 (low)
duk.00261 (low)
duk.00262 (low)
duk.00886 (low)
loc.00013 (low)
loc.01019 (low)
nyp.00029 (low)
nyp.00057 (low)
nyp.00733 (low)
tex.00057 (low)
tex.00079 (low)
tex.00088 (low)
tul.00011 (low)
uva.00251 (low)
uva.00263 (low)
uva.00516 (low)

Leaves of Grass.

⎯⎯⎯

1337

COME closer to me,

1338

Push close my lovers and take the best I possess,

1339

Yield closer and closer and give me the best you possess.

1340

This is unfinished business with me . . . . how is it with you?

1341

I was chilled with the cold types and cylinder and wet paper between us.

1342

I pass so poorly with paper and types . . . . I must pass with the contact of bodies

and souls.

1343

I do not thank you for liking me as I am, and liking the touch of me . . . . I know that

it is good for you to do so.

1344

Were all educations practical and ornamental well displayed out of me, what would

it amount to?

1345

Were I as the head teacher or charitable proprietor or wise statesman, what would

it amount to?

1346

Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that satisfy you?

1347

The learned and virtuous and benevolent, and the usual terms;

1348

A man like me, and never the usual terms.

1349

Neither a servant nor a master am I,

1350

I take no sooner a large price than a small price . . . . I will have my own whoever

enjoys me,

1351

I will be even with you, and you shall be even with me.

1352

If you are a workman or workwoman I stand as nigh as the nighest that works in

the same shop,

1353

If you bestow gifts on your brother or dearest friend, I demand as good as your

brother or dearest friend,

1354

If your lover or husband or wife is welcome by day or night, I must be personally as

welcome;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

58 Leaves of Grass.

1355

If you have become degraded or ill, then I will become so for your sake;

1356

If you remember your foolish and outlawed deeds, do you think I cannot remember

my foolish and outlawed deeds?

1357

If you carouse at the table I say I will carouse at the opposite side of the table;

1358

If you meet some stranger in the street and love him or her, do I not often meet

strangers in the street and love them?

1359

If you see a good deal remarkable in me I see just as much remarkable in you.

1360

Why what have you thought of yourself?

1361

Is it you then that thought yourself less?

document	location	text
uva.00516	#seg02	The man who tends the President's horses, not one whit less a man than the President.—
	#seg03	The healthy, fine-formed girl who tends waits upon the great wealthy lady, not less than the wealthy Lady.—

1362

Is it you that thought the President greater than you? or the rich better off than

you? or the educated wiser than you?

document	location	text
uva.00516	#seg02	The man who tends the President's horses, not one whit less a man than the President.—
	#seg03	The healthy, fine-formed girl who tends waits upon the great wealthy lady, not less than the wealthy Lady.—

1363

Because you are greasy or pimpled—or that you was once drunk, or a thief, or

                    diseased, or rheumatic, or a prostitute—or are so now—or from frivolity or

                    impotence—or that you are no scholar, and never saw your name in print . . . .

                    do you give in that you are any less immortal?

1364

Souls of men and women! it is not you I call unseen, unheard, untouchable and

untouching;

1365

It is not you I go argue pro and con about, and to settle whether you are alive or

no;

1366

I own publicly who you are, if nobody else owns . . . . aud see and hear you, and

what you give and take;

1367

What is there you cannot give and take?

1368

I see not merely that you are polite or whitefaced . . . . married or single . . . .

                    citizens of old states or citizens of new states . . . . eminent in some profession

                    . . . . a lady or gentleman in a parlor . . . . or dressed in the jail uniform . . . .

                    or pulpit uniform,

document	location	text
duk.00263	#l02	I see not so much that you are the quality as of the President or Judge of the Supreme Court, or a millionaire that you are polite or whitefaced or a citizen of our of the an old states, or a citizen of a new state,

1369

Not only the free Utahan, Kansian, or Arkansian . . . . not only the free Cuban . . .

not merely the slave . . . . not Mexican native, or Flatfoot, or negro from

Africa,

1370

Iroquois eating the warflesh—fishtearer in his lair of rocks and sand . . . .

                    Esquimaux in the dark cold snowhouse . . . . Chinese with his transverse eyes

                    . . . . Bedowee—or wandering nomad—or tabounschik at the head of his

                    droves,

document	location	text
duk.00263	#l04	I see forward the or savage _^off there in the woods, the or fisheater in his lair of rocks and sand, the or Chinese _^with his transverse eyes . . . in his roofed boat , _^or . . . . the or wandering nomad, and the or tabounshick at the head of his drove,
duk.00886	#item01	—The Tartar life—nomadic pasturage, the herds—
	#item02	the tabounshic or horse‑herd

1371

Grown, half-grown, and babe—of this country and every country, indoors and out-

doors I see . . . . and all else is behind or through them.

document	location	text
duk.00263	#l05	I see meMan and womean and children in all
	#l06	I see tThese indoors and outdoors _^I see . . . . and all else _^is is behind them or through them,.—
loc.00141	#tw31a	I am the poet of little things and of babes
uva.00269	#l01	I am become the poet of babes and the little things

1372

The wife—and she is not one jot less than the husband,

document	location	text
duk.00263	#l07	I see the wife . . . . and she is not one jot less than the husband,
loc.00141	#tw48	The woman is not the same less than the man as
	#tw49	But she is not never less the same,

1373

The daughter—and she is just as good as the son,

1374

The mother—and she is every bit as much as the father.

1375

Offspring of those not rich—boys apprenticed to trades,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 59

1376

Young fellows working on farms and old fellows working on farms;

1377

The naive . . . . the simple and hardy . . . . he going to the polls to vote . . . . he

who has a good time, and he who has a bad time;

1378

Mechanics, southerners, new arrivals, sailors, mano'warsmen, merchantmen, coast-

ers,

1379

All these I see . . . . but nigher and farther the same I see;

1380

None shall escape me, and none shall wish to escape me.

1381

I bring what you much need, yet always have,

1382

I bring not money or amours or dress or eating . . . . but I bring as good;

1383

And send no agent or medium . . . . and offer no representative of value—but offer

the value itself.

1384

There is something that comes home to one now and perpetually,

1385

It is not what is printed or preached or discussed . . . . it eludes discussion and

print,

1386

It is not to be put in a book . . . . it is not in this book,

1387

It is for you whoever you are . . . . it is no farther from you than your hearing and

sight are from you,

1388

It is hinted by nearest and commonest and readiest . . . . it is not them, though it is

endlessly provoked by them . . . . What is there ready and near you now?

document	location	text
nyp.00057	#p04	Not distant caverns, volcanoes, cataracts, curious islands, birds, foreign cities, architecture, costumes, markets, ceremonies, shows, are any more wonderful than ‸ what is common to you, near you now, and continually with you.—

1389

You may read in many languages and read nothing about it;

1390

You may read the President's message and read nothing about it there,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#seg01	The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police

1391

Nothing in the reports from the state department or treasury department . . . . or in

the daily papers, or the weekly papers,

1392

Or in the census returns or assessors' returns or prices current or any accounts of

stock.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#seg01	The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police

1393

The sun and stars that float in the open air . . . . the appleshaped earth and we upon

it . . . . surely the drift of them is something grand;

1394

I do not know what it is except that it is grand, and that it is happiness,

1395

And that the enclosing purport of us here is not a speculation, or bon-mot or

reconnoissance,

1396

And that it is not something which by luck may turn out well for us, and without

luck must be a failure for us,

1397

And not something which may yet be retracted in a certain contingency.

1398

The light and shade—the curious sense of body and identity—the greed that

with perfect complaisance devours all things—the endless pride and out-

stretching of man—unspeakable joys and sorrows,

1399

The wonder every one sees in every one else he sees . . . . and the wonders that fill

each minute of time forever and each acre of surface and space forever,

document	location	text
loc.01019	#seg05	Every hour, every atom, every where is chock with beautiful miracles,
tex.00057	#l01	And to me each minute of the night and day is chock with something as vital and visible vital live as flesh is
	#l06	And on to me each acre of the earth land and sea, I behold exhibits to me perpetual _^unending marvellous pictures;
	#l08	And to me each every minute of the night and day is filled with a [live?] joy

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

60 Leaves of Grass.

1400

Have you reckoned them as mainly for a trade or farmwork? or for the profits of

a store? or to achieve yourself a position? or to fill a gentleman's leisure or a

lady's leisure?

1401

Have you reckoned the landscape took substance and form that it might be painted

in a picture?

1402

Or men and women that they might be written of, and songs sung?

1403

Or the attraction of gravity and the great laws and harmonious combinations and

the fluids of the air as subjects for the savans?

document	location	text
loc.00142	#p08	The attraction of gravity is the law under which you make your house plumb but that's not what the law is specially made for
nyp.00029	#l01	The power by which the carpenter plumbs his house, is the same power that dashes his brains out if he fall from the roof.—
nyp.00129	#seg03	Priests and The doctors might all deny the attraction of gravity, and that sublime law power would never complain.—Be thou you like the grand powers.—
nyp.00733	#l01	Can it Do you take the attraction of gravity for nothing?

1404

Or the brown land and the blue sea for maps and charts?

1405

Or the stars to be put in constellations and named fancy names?

1406

Or that the growth of seeds is for agricultural tables or agriculture itself?

1407

Old institutions . . . . these arts libraries legends collections—and the practice

handed along in manufactures . . . . will we rate them so high?

1408

Will we rate our prudence and business so high? . . . . I have no objection,

1409

I rate them as high as the highest . . . . but a child born of a woman and man I rate

beyond all rate.

1410

We thought our Union grand and our Constitution grand;

1411

I do not say they are not grand and good—for they are,

1412

I am this day just as much in love with them as you,

1413

But I am eternally in love with you and with all my fellows upon the earth.

1414

We consider the bibles and religions divine . . . . I do not say they are not divine,

1415

I say they have all grown out of you and may grow out of you still,

1416

It is not they who give the life . . . . it is you who give the life;

1417

Leaves are not more shed from the trees or trees from the earth than they are shed

out of you.

1418

The sum of all known value and respect I add up in you whoever you are;

1419

The President is up there in the White House for you . . . . it is not you who are

here for him,

1420

The Secretaries act in their bureaus for you . . . . not you here for them,

1421

The Congress convenes every December for you,

1422

Laws, courts, the forming of states, the charters of cities, the going and coming of

commerce and mails are all for you.

1423

All doctrines, all politics and civilization exurge from you,

1424

All sculpture and monuments and anything inscribed anywhere are tallied in you,

document	location	text
duk.00148	#p01	—then sculpture was necessary—it was an eminent part of religion it gave grand and beautiful forms to to the gods—it appealed to the mind, in perfect harmony, with the people, the climate, belief, times, governments, aspirations.—It and was the true _^needed expression of the people, the times, and their aspirations.—

1425

The gist of histories and statistics as far back as the records reach is in you this

hour—and myths and tales the same;

1426

If you were not breathing and walking here where would they all be?

1427

The most renowned poems would be ashes . . . . orations and plays would be

vacuums.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 61

1428

All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it;

1429

Did you think it was in the white or gray stone? or the lines of the arches and

cornices?

1430

All music is what awakens from you when you are reminded by the instruments,

document	location	text
tex.00088	#p01	Do you know why what m[usic?] does to the soul?—Do you suppose that the melody _^mere melody of those instruments—. . . . .—the violencello, sad and sobbing like as some human creature—. . . .the cornet, that puts the call theof day _^[break?]light and the laugh of hope into voice, and spreads its utterance around like a shower—the organ, president over the rest, embodying representing and embodying all, with them, serious and calm, large, from respect of whom all all keep still and know in that presence their best [ache?] d[illegible] feats would be an impertinence—the brass band whose drums _^cry shout All-alive! and wake up the sleepers in the brain brain of where they from their bedrooms in the brain and put red coals the fire of spunk in the nerves of _^flimsiest tinder rags of a cowardss. . . . .—Do you suppose that _^in these, touched by the greatest fine players inof the world, give forth are the the sounds primary and of the feelings that move you?—No; there is something else.which music—ten thousand fathoms— This something is in the Soul which _^and eludes description.—No substantive or noun, no _^figure of writing _^or phonograph or image, stands for this the beautiful mystery.—which _^tells far off as the [as the?] stars hint to us from their orbits of millions of leagues afar, tell man that there is a region O dDo not ask me to I can only tell tell you of it, except as one _^you might ask tell who stands reaches his neck at night and _^far at sea looks _^far over sea after the headland of the morning.— up at the stars.—

1431

It is not the violins and the cornets . . . . it is not the oboe nor the beating drums—

nor the notes of the baritone singer singing his sweet romanza . . . . nor those

of the men's chorus, nor those of the women's chorus,

document	location	text
tex.00088	#p01	Do you know why what m[usic?] does to the soul?—Do you suppose that the melody _^mere melody of those instruments—. . . . .—the violencello, sad and sobbing like as some human creature—. . . .the cornet, that puts the call theof day _^[break?]light and the laugh of hope into voice, and spreads its utterance around like a shower—the organ, president over the rest, embodying representing and embodying all, with them, serious and calm, large, from respect of whom all all keep still and know in that presence their best [ache?] d[illegible] feats would be an impertinence—the brass band whose drums _^cry shout All-alive! and wake up the sleepers in the brain brain of where they from their bedrooms in the brain and put red coals the fire of spunk in the nerves of _^flimsiest tinder rags of a cowardss. . . . .—Do you suppose that _^in these, touched by the greatest fine players inof the world, give forth are the the sounds primary and of the feelings that move you?—No; there is something else.which music—ten thousand fathoms— This something is in the Soul which _^and eludes description.—No substantive or noun, no _^figure of writing _^or phonograph or image, stands for this the beautiful mystery.—which _^tells far off as the [as the?] stars hint to us from their orbits of millions of leagues afar, tell man that there is a region O dDo not ask me to I can only tell tell you of it, except as one _^you might ask tell who stands reaches his neck at night and _^far at sea looks _^far over sea after the headland of the morning.— up at the stars.—

1432

It is nearer and farther than they.

document	location	text
tex.00088	#p01	Do you know why what m[usic?] does to the soul?—Do you suppose that the melody _^mere melody of those instruments—. . . . .—the violencello, sad and sobbing like as some human creature—. . . .the cornet, that puts the call theof day _^[break?]light and the laugh of hope into voice, and spreads its utterance around like a shower—the organ, president over the rest, embodying representing and embodying all, with them, serious and calm, large, from respect of whom all all keep still and know in that presence their best [ache?] d[illegible] feats would be an impertinence—the brass band whose drums _^cry shout All-alive! and wake up the sleepers in the brain brain of where they from their bedrooms in the brain and put red coals the fire of spunk in the nerves of _^flimsiest tinder rags of a cowardss. . . . .—Do you suppose that _^in these, touched by the greatest fine players inof the world, give forth are the the sounds primary and of the feelings that move you?—No; there is something else.which music—ten thousand fathoms— This something is in the Soul which _^and eludes description.—No substantive or noun, no _^figure of writing _^or phonograph or image, stands for this the beautiful mystery.—which _^tells far off as the [as the?] stars hint to us from their orbits of millions of leagues afar, tell man that there is a region O dDo not ask me to I can only tell tell you of it, except as one _^you might ask tell who stands reaches his neck at night and _^far at sea looks _^far over sea after the headland of the morning.— up at the stars.—

1433

Will the whole come back then?

1434

Can each see the signs of the best by a look in the lookingglass? Is there nothing

greater or more?

1435

Does all sit there with you and here with me?

1436

The old forever new things . . . . you foolish child! . . . . the closest simplest things

—this moment with you,

1437

Your person and every particle that relates to your person,

1438

The pulses of your brain waiting their chance and encouragement at every deed

or sight;

1439

Anything you do in public by day, and anything you do in secret betweendays,

1440

What is called right and what is called wrong . . . . what you behold or touch . . . .

what causes your anger or wonder,

1441

The anklechain of the slave, the bed of the bedhouse, the cards of the gambler, the

plates of the forger;

1442

What is seen or learned in the street, or intuitively learned,

1443

What is learned in the public school—spelling, reading, writing and ciphering . . . .

the blackboard and the teacher's diagrams:

1444

The panes of the windows and all that appears through them . . . . the going forth

in the morning and the aimless spending of the day;

1445

(What is it that you made money? what is it that you got what you wanted?)

1446

The usual routine . . . . the workshop, factory, yard, office, store, or desk;

1447

The jaunt of hunting or fishing, or the life of hunting or fishing,

1448

Pasturelife, foddering, milking and herding, and all the personnel and usages;

1449

The plum-orchard and apple-orchard . . . . gardening . . seedlings, cuttings, flowers

and vines,

1450

Grains and manures . . marl, clay, loam . . the subsoil plough . . the shovel and pick

and rake and hoe . . irrigation and draining;

1451

The currycomb . . the horse-cloth . . the halter and bridle and bits . . the very wisps

of straw,

1452

The barn and barn-yard . . the bins and mangers . . the mows and racks:

1453

Manufactures . . commerce . . engineering . . the building of cities, and every trade

carried on there . . and the implements of every trade,

1454

The anvil and tongs and hammer . . the axe and wedge . . the square and mitre and

jointer and smoothingplane;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

62 Leaves of Grass.

1455

The plumbob and trowel and level . . the wall-scaffold, and the work of walls and

ceilings . . or any mason-work:

1456

The ship's compass . . the sailor's tarpaulin . . the stays and lanyards, and the ground-

tackle for anchoring or mooring,

1457

The sloop's tiller . . the pilot's wheel and bell . . the yacht or fish-smack . . the great

gay-pennanted three-hundred-foot steamboat under full headway, with her proud

fat breasts and her delicate swift-flashing paddles;

1458

The trail and line and hooks and sinkers . . the seine, and hauling the seine;

1459

Smallarms and rifles . . . . the powder and shot and caps and wadding . . . . the

ordnance for war . . . . the carriages:

1460

Everyday objects . . . . the housechairs, the carpet, the bed and the counterpane of

the bed, and him or her sleeping at night, and the wind blowing, and the indefi-

nite noises:

1461

The snowstorm or rainstorm . . . . the tow-trowsers . . . . the lodge-hut in the woods,

and the still-hunt:

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw65	the tow trowsers thee lodge hut in the woods the stillhunt
loc.05589	#seg01	The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police

1462

City and country . . fireplace and candle . . gaslight and heater and aqueduct;

1463

The message of the governor, mayor, or chief of police . . . . the dishes of breakfast

or dinner or supper;

document	location	text
loc.05589	#seg01	The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police
	#ab08	The dishes on the daily table—the coffee the roast meat—the oysters—the coffee and cornbread and rye and wheatbread,

1464

The bunkroom, the fire-engine, the string-team, and the car or truck behind;

document	location	text
loc.05589	#seg01	The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police

1465

The paper I write on or you write on . . and every word we write . . and every

cross and twirl of the pen . . and the curious way we write what we think . . . .

yet very faintly;

1466

The directory, the detector, the ledger . . . . the books in ranks or the bookshelves

. . . . the clock attached to the wall,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#seg01	The snowstorm or rainstorm bunkroom stringteam the counterfeit detector the directory the census returns, the Presidents m[en?] and the [Governors?] message and themayor message of the mayor and the message of the Chief of Police

1467

The ring on your finger . . the lady's wristlet . . the hammers of stonebreakers or

coppersmiths . . the druggist's vials and jars;

1468

The etui of surgical instruments, and the etui of oculist's or aurist's instruments, or

dentist's instruments;

1469

Glassblowing, grinding of wheat and corn . . casting, and what is cast . . tinroofing,

shingledressing,

1470

Shipcarpentering, flagging of sidewalks by flaggers . . dockbuilding, fishcuring, ferry-

ing;

1471

The pump, the piledriver, the great derrick . . the coalkiln and brickkiln,

1472

Ironworks or whiteleadworks . . the sugarhouse . . steam-saws, and the great mills

and factories;

1473

The cottonbale . . the stevedore's hook . . the saw and buck of the sawyer . . the

screen of the coalscreener . . the mould of the moulder . . the workingknife of

the butcher;

1474

The cylinder press . . the handpress . . the frisket and tympan . . the compositor's

stick and rule,

1475

The implements for daguerreotyping . . . . the tools of the rigger or grappler or sail-

maker or blockmaker,

1476

Goods of guttapercha or papiermache . . . . colors and brushes . . . . glaziers' im-

plements,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 63

1477

The veneer and gluepot . . the confectioner's ornaments . . the decanter and glasses

. . the shears and flatiron;

1478

The awl and kneestrap . . the pint measure and quart measure . . the counter and

stool . . the writingpen of quill or metal;

1479

Billiards and tenpins . . . . the ladders and hanging ropes of the gymnasium, and the

manly exercises;

document	location	text
tul.00011	#ab01	Poem—a perfect school, gymnastic, moral, mental and sentimental,—in which magnificent men are formed —old persons come just as much as youth—gymnastics, physiology, music, swimming bath —conversation,—declamation— —large saloons adorned with pictures and sculpture—great ideas not taught in sermons but imbibed as health is imbibed— —love—love of woman—all manly exercises —riding, rowing—the greatest persons come—the president comes and the governors come—political economy —the American idea in all its amplitude and comprehensiveness— —grounds, gardens, flowers, grains— cabinets—old history taught—

1480

The designs for wallpapers or oilcloths or carpets . . . . the fancies for goods for

women . . . . the bookbinder's stamps;

1481

Leatherdressing, coachmaking, boilermaking, ropetwisting, distilling, signpainting,

limeburning, coopering, cottonpicking,

1482

The walkingbeam of the steam-engine . . the throttle and governors, and the up and

down rods,

1483

Stavemachines and plainingmachines . . . . the cart of the carman . . the omnibus . .

the ponderous dray;

1484

The snowplough and two engines pushing it . . . . the ride in the express train of

only one car . . . . the swift go through a howling storm:

1485

The bearhunt or coonhunt . . . . the bonfire of shavings in the open lot in the city

. . the crowd of children watching;

1486

The blows of the fighting-man . . the upper cut and one-two-three;

1487

The shopwindows . . . . the coffins in the sexton's wareroom . . . . the fruit on the

fruitstand . . . . the beef on the butcher's stall,

1488

The bread and cakes in the bakery . . . . the white and red pork in the pork-store;

1489

The milliner's ribbons . . the dressmaker's patterns . . . . the tea-table . . the home-

made sweetmeats:

1490

The column of wants in the one-cent paper . . the news by telegraph . . . . the

amusements and operas and shows:

1491

The cotton and woolen and linen you wear . . . . the money you make and spend;

1492

Your room and bedroom . . . . your piano-forte . . . . the stove and cookpans,

1493

The house you live in . . . . the rent . . . . the other tenants . . . . the deposite in the

savings-bank . . . . the trade at the grocery,

1494

The pay on Saturday night . . . . the going home, and the purchases;

1495

In them the heft of the heaviest . . . . in them far more than you estimated, and far

less also,

1496

In them, not yourself . . . . you and your soul enclose all things, regardless of estima-

tion,

1497

In them your themes and hints and provokers . . if not, the whole earth has no

themes or hints or provokers, and never had.

1498

I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile . . . . I do not advise you to stop,

1499

I do not say leadings you thought great are not great,

1500

But I say that none lead to greater or sadder or happier than those lead to.

1501

Will you seek afar off? You surely come back at last,

1502

In things best known to you finding the best or as good as the best,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

64 Leaves of Grass.

1503

In folks nearest to you finding also the sweetest and strongest and lovingest,

1504

Happiness not in another place, but this place . . not for another hour, but this hour,

1505

Man in the first you see or touch . . . . always in your friend or brother or nighest

neighbor . . . . Woman in your mother or lover or wife,

1506

And all else thus far known giving place to men and women.

1507

When the psalm sings instead of the singer,

1508

When the script preaches instead of the preacher,

1509

When the pulpit descends and goes instead of the carver that carved the supporting

desk,

1510

When the sacred vessels or the bits of the eucharist, or the lath and plast, procreate

as effectually as the young silversmiths or bakers, or the masons in their

overalls,

1511

When a university course convinces like a slumbering woman and child convince,

1512

When the minted gold in the vault smiles like the nightwatchman's daughter,

1513

When warrantee deeds loafe in chairs opposite and are my friendly companions,

1514

I intend to reach them my hand and make as much of them as I do of men and

women.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Leaves of Grass" [3]

("To Think of Time")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00889 (high)
loc.00042 (high)
tul.00002 (high)
nyp.00025 (low)
tex.00057 (low)
yal.00138 (low)

Leaves of Grass.

⎯⎯⎯

1515

TO think of time . . . . to think through the retrospection,

1516

To think of today . . and the ages continued henceforward.

1517

Have you guessed you yourself would not continue? Have you dreaded those

earth-beetles?

1518

Have you feared the future would be nothing to you?

1519

Is today nothing? Is the beginningless past nothing?

1520

If the future is nothing they are just as surely nothing.

1521

To think that the sun rose in the east . . . . that men and women were flexible and

real and alive . . . . that every thing was real and alive;

1522

To think that you and I did not see feel think nor bear our part,

1523

To think that we are now here and bear our part.

1524

Not a day passes . . not a minute or second without an accouchement;

1525

Not a day passes . . not a minute or second without a corpse.

1526

When the dull nights are over, and the dull days also,

1527

When the soreness of lying so much in bed is over,

1528

When the physician, after long putting off, gives the silent and terrible look for an

answer,

1529

When the children come hurried and weeping, and the brothers and sisters have

been sent for,

1530

When medicines stand unused on the shelf, and the camphor-smell has pervaded the

rooms,

1531

When the faithful hand of the living does not desert the hand of the dying,

1532

When the twitching lips press lightly on the forehead of the dying,

1533

When the breath ceases and the pulse of the heart ceases,

1534

Then the corpse-limbs stretch on the bed, and the living look upon them,

1535

They are palpable as the living are palpable.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

66 Leaves of Grass.

1536

The living look upon the corpse with their eyesight,

1537

But without eyesight lingers a different living and looks curiously on the corpse.

1538

To think that the rivers will come to flow, and the snow fall, and fruits ripen . . and

act upon others as upon us now . . . . yet not act upon us;

1539

To think of all these wonders of city and country . . and others taking great interest

in them . . and we taking small interest in them.

1540

To think how eager we are in building our houses,

1541

To think others shall be just as eager . . and we quite indifferent.

1542

I see one building the house that serves him a few years . . . . or seventy or eighty

years at most;

1543

I see one building the house that serves him longer than that.

1544

Slowmoving and black lines creep over the whole earth . . . . they never cease . . . .

they are the burial lines,

1545

He that was President was buried, and he that is now President shall surely be

buried.

1546

Cold dash of waves at the ferrywharf,

1547

Posh and ice in the river . . . . half-frozen mud in the streets,

document	location	text
loc.00025	#nde11	In the city when the streets have been long neglected, they heap up banks of mud in the shape of graves, and put boards at the head and feet, with very significant inscriptions.—

1548

A gray discouraged sky overhead . . . . the short last daylight of December,

1549

A hearse and stages . . . . other vehicles give place,

1550

The funeral of an old stagedriver . . . . the cortege mostly drivers.

1551

Rapid the trot to the cemetery,

1552

Duly rattles the deathbell . . . . the gate is passed . . . . the grave is halted at . . . .

the living alight . . . . the hearse uncloses,

1553

The coffin is lowered and settled . . . . the whip is laid on the coffin,

1554

The earth is swiftly shovelled in . . . . a minute . . no one moves or speaks . . . . it is

done,

1555

He is decently put away . . . . is there anything more?

1556

He was a goodfellow,

1557

Freemouthed, quicktempered, not badlooking, able to take his own part,

1558

Witty, sensitive to a slight, ready with life or death for a friend,

1559

Fond of women, . . played some . . eat hearty and drank hearty,

1560

Had known what it was to be flush . . grew lowspirited toward the last . . sickened

. . was helped by a contribution,

1561

Died aged forty-one years . . and that was his funeral.

1562

Thumb extended or finger uplifted,

1563

Apron, cape, gloves, strap . . . . wetweather clothes . . . . whip carefully chosen . . . .

boss, spotter, starter, and hostler,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 67

1564

Somebody loafing on you, or you loafing on somebody . . . . headway . . . . man

before and man behind,

1565

Good day's work or bad day's work . . . . pet stock or mean stock . . . . first out or

last out . . . . turning in at night,

1566

To think that these are so much and so nigh to other drivers . . and he there takes

no interest in them.

1567

The markets, the government, the workingman's wages . . . . to think what account

they are through our nights and days;

1568

To think that other workingmen will make just as great account of them . . yet we

make little or no account.

1569

The vulgar and the refined . . . . what you call sin and what you call goodness . . to

think how wide a difference;

1570

To think the difference will still continue to others, yet we lie beyond the difference.

1571

To think how much pleasure there is!

1572

Have you pleasure from looking at the sky? Have you pleasure from poems?

1573

Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business? or planning a nomina-

tion and election? or with your wife and family?

1574

Or with your mother and sisters? or in womanly housework? or the beautiful ma-

ternal cares?

1575

These also flow onward to others . . . . you and I flow onward;

1576

But in due time you and I shall take less interest in them.

1577

Your farm and profits and crops . . . . to think how engrossed you are;

1578

To think there will still be farms and profits and crops . . yet for you of what avail?

1579

What will be will be well—for what is is well,

1580

To take interest is well, and not to take interest shall be well.

1581

The sky continues beautiful . . . . the pleasure of men with women shall never be

sated . . nor the pleasure of women with men . . nor the pleasure from poems;

1582

The domestic joys, the daily housework or business, the building of houses—they

are not phantasms . . they have weight and form and location;

1583

The farms and profits and crops . . the markets and wages and government . . they

also are not phantasms;

1584

The difference between sin and goodness is no apparition;

document	location	text
loc.00042	#l04	And [Nor?] I say that And I say that man is not _^space is not an apparition;
loc.00141	#tw26	Man is not Nor man an apparition;

1585

The earth is not an echo . . . . man and his life and all the things of his life are well-

considered.

document	location	text
loc.00042	#l03	And I say this _^the earth _^globe world is not an _^ [ earth and ?] the stars are not echo,s
	#l04	And [Nor?] I say that And I say that man is not _^space is not an apparition;
loc.00141	#tw25	The _^know I say the earth is [illegible]not _^an echo;
	#tw26	Man is not Nor man an apparition;
tex.00057	#l10	And I say the stars are not echoes

1586

You are not thrown to the winds . . you gather certainly and safely around yourself,

1587

Yourself! Yourself! Yourself forever and ever!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

68 Leaves of Grass.

1588

It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father—it is to

identify you,

1589

It is not that you should be undecided, but that you should be decided;

1590

Something long preparing and formless is arrived and formed in you,

1591

You are thenceforth secure, whatever comes or goes.

1592

The threads that were spun are gathered . . . . the weft crosses the warp . . . .

the pattern is systematic.

1593

The preparations have every one been justified;

1594

The orchestra have tuned their instruments sufficiently . . . . the baton has given the

signal.

1595

The guest that was coming . . . . he waited long for reasons . . . . he is now housed,

1596

He is one of those who are beautiful and happy . . . . he is one of those that to look

upon and be with is enough.

1597

The law of the past cannot be eluded,

1598

The law of the present and future cannot be eluded,

1599

The law of the living cannot be eluded . . . . it is eternal,

1600

The law of promotion and transformation cannot be eluded,

1601

The law of heroes and good-doers cannot be eluded,

1602

The law of drunkards and informers and mean persons cannot be eluded.

1603

Slowmoving and black lines go ceaselessly over the earth,

1604

Northerner goes carried and southerner goes carried . . . . and they on the Atlantic

side and they on the Pacific, and they between, and all through the Mississippi

country . . . . and all over the earth.

1605

The great masters and kosmos are well as they go . . . . the heroes and good-doers

are well,

document	location	text
tul.00002	#l01	The great three or four poets _^of the stretch of the are well . . . . the wellknown names of leaders and inventors . . . . the rich owners and the _^pious and distinguished; —may be well, ?

1606

The known leaders and inventors and the rich owners and pious and distinguished

may be well,

document	location	text
tul.00002	#l01	The great three or four poets _^of the stretch of the are well . . . . the wellknown names of leaders and inventors . . . . the rich owners and the _^pious and distinguished; —may be well, ?
	#l02	But what are of all the rest?—Are Is there none of account but _^of poets and the distinguished and the [illegible] the owners _^and pious? ?

1607

But there is more account than that . . . . there is strict account of all.

document	location	text
tul.00002	#l02	But what are of all the rest?—Are Is there none of account but _^of poets and the distinguished and the [illegible] the owners _^and pious? ?

1608

The interminable hordes of the ignorant and wicked are not nothing,

document	location	text
tul.00002	#l03	Are the ignorant and wicked nothing?
	#l04	Are the interminable races hordes of Asia and Africa nothing

1609

The barbarians of Africa and Asia are not nothing,

document	location	text
tul.00002	#l04	Are the interminable races hordes of Asia and Africa nothing

1610

The common people of Europe are not nothing . . . . the American aborigines are

not nothing,

document	location	text
tul.00002	#l05	Are the [illegible] common people of Europe and America nothing?
	#l06	Are the American aborigines and the [neg?] nothing?

1611

A zambo or a foreheadless Crowfoot or a Camanche is not nothing,

document	location	text
tul.00002	#l07	Are Is the a zZambo and the or a _^foreheadless cCrowfoot or the a Camanche nothing?

1612

The infected in the immigrant hospital are not nothing . . . . the murderer or mean

person is not nothing,

document	location	text
tul.00002	#l08	Is the a wretched young polluted man, thievish, —a thief, uneducated, polluted, rank, swiftly dying with the polluting rank sickness, nothing?
	#l09	Is the Are the infected in the immigrant hospital nothing?

1613

The perpetual succession of shallow people are not nothing as they go,

1614

The prostitute is not nothing . . . . the mocker of religion is not nothing as he goes.

1615

I shall go with the rest . . . . we have satisfaction:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 69

1616

I have dreamed that we are not to be changed so much . . . . nor the law of us

changed;

1617

I have dreamed that heroes and good-doers shall be under the present and past law,

1618

And that murderers and drunkards and liars shall be under the present and past law;

1619

For I have dreamed that the law they are under now is enough.

1620

And I have dreamed that the satisfaction is not so much changed . . . . and that there

is no life without satisfaction;

1621

What is the earth? what are body and soul without satisfaction?

1622

I shall go with the rest,

1623

We cannot be stopped at a given point . . . . that is no satisfaction;

1624

To show us a good thing or a few good things for a space of time—that is no satis-

faction;

1625

We must have the indestructible breed of the best, regardless of time.

1626

If otherwise, all these things came but to ashes of dung;

1627

If maggots and rats ended us, then suspicion and treachery and death.

1628

Do you suspect death? If I were to suspect death I should die now,

1629

Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited toward annihilation?

1630

Pleasantly and well-suited I walk,

1631

Whither I walk I cannot define, but I know it is good,

1632

The whole universe indicates that it is good,

1633

The past and the present indicate that it is good.

1634

How beautiful and perfect are the animals! How perfect is my soul!

1635

How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!

1636

What is called good is perfect, and what is called sin is just as perfect;

1637

The vegetables and minerals are all perfect . . and the imponderable fluids are

perfect;

document	location	text
nyp.00025	#l01	As the soiledness turbulence of the expressions of the earth,—as the great heat and the great cold—as the soiledness of animals and the bareness of vegetables and minerals

1638

Slowly and surely they have passed on to this, and slowly and surely they will yet

pass on.

1639

O my soul! if I realize you I have satisfaction,

1640

Animals and vegetables! if I realize you I have satisfaction,

1641

Laws of the earth and air! if I realize you I have satisfaction.

1642

I cannot define my satisfaction . . yet it is so,

1643

I cannot define my life . . yet it is so.

1644

I swear I see now that every thing has an eternal soul!

1645

The trees have, rooted in the ground . . . . the weeds of the sea have . . . . the

animals.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

70 Leaves of Grass.

1646

I swear I think there is nothing but immortality!

1647

That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for it, and the cohering

is for it,

1648

And all preparation is for it . . and identity is for it . . and life and death are for it.

"Leaves of Grass" [4]

("The Sleepers")

Related Manuscripts

tex.00030 (high)
uva.00256 (high)
uva.00257 (high)
uva.00258 (high)
uva.00260 (high)
duk.00258 (low)
duk.00260 (low)
duk.00787 (low)
duk.00883 (low)

Leaves of Grass.

⎯⎯⎯

1649

I WANDER all night in my vision,

1650

Stepping with light feet . . . . swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l45	Stepped my soul spirit with light feet, and pried among them their heads and [drew in?] made fissures in their breasts, to look through

1651

Bending with open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers;

1652

Wandering and confused . . . . lost to myself . . . . ill-assorted . . . . contradictory,

1653

Pausing and gazing and bending and stopping.

1654

How solemn they look there, stretched and still;

1655

How quiet they breathe, the little children in their cradles.

1656

The wretched features of ennuyees, the white features of corpses, the livid faces of

drunkards, the sick-gray faces of onanists,

1657

The gashed bodies on battlefields, the insane in their strong-doored rooms, the

sacred idiots,

1658

The newborn emerging from gates and the dying emerging from gates,

1659

The night pervades them and enfolds them.

1660

The married couple sleep calmly in their bed, he with his palm on the hip of the

wife, and she with her palm on the hip of the husband,

1661

The sisters sleep lovingly side by side in their bed,

1662

The men sleep lovingly side by side in theirs,

1663

And the mother sleeps with her little child carefully wrapped.

1664

The blind sleep, and the deaf and dumb sleep,

1665

The prisoner sleeps well in the prison . . . . the runaway son sleeps,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 71

1666

The murderer that is to be hung next day . . . . how does he sleep?

1667

And the murdered person . . . . how does he sleep?

1668

The female that loves unrequited sleeps,

1669

And the male that loves unrequited sleeps;

1670

The head of the moneymaker that plotted all day sleeps,

1671

And the enraged and treacherous dispositions sleep.

1672

I stand with drooping eyes by the worstsuffering and restless,

1673

I pass my hands soothingly to and fro a few inches from them;

1674

The restless sink in their beds . . . . they fitfully sleep.

1675

The earth recedes from me into the night,

1676

I saw that it was beautiful . . . . and I see that what is not the earth is beautiful.

1677

I go from bedside to bedside . . . . I sleep close with the other sleepers, each

in turn;

1678

I dream in my dream all the dreams of the other dreamers,

1679

And I become the other dreamers.

1680

I am a dance . . . . Play up there! the fit is whirling me fast.

1681

I am the everlaughing . . . . it is new moon and twilight,

1682

I see the hiding of douceurs . . . . I see nimble ghosts whichever way I look,

document	location	text
loc.00025	#seg02	I think ten million supple-_^fingered gods are perpetually employed hiding beauty in the world—hiding burying its every-where in every-thing—but and most of all where in spots that men and women do not think of it, and never look—as in death, and misery poverty and wickedness.
	#seg09	I think ten million supple-fingered wristed gods are perpetually employed always hiding beauty in the world—burying it every where in every thing—and most of all in spots that men and women do not think of and never look—as Death and Poverty and Wickedness.

1683

Cache and cache again deep in the ground and sea, and where it is neither ground or

sea.

document	location	text
loc.00025	#seg03	Cache [illegible] _^after and cache —it is— again they all over the earth, and in the heavens above _^that swathe the earth and in the dept waters of the sea.
	#seg10	Cache! and Cache again! all over the earth, and in the heavens that swathe the earth, and in the waters of the sea.

1684

Well do they do their jobs, those journeymen divine,

1685

Only from me can they hide nothing and would not if they could;

document	location	text
loc.00025	#seg05	But Only to from the poet do can they _^can hide nothing; _^and would not if they could.—hide.
	#seg12	Only from the Poet they can hide nothing and would not if they could.

1686

I reckon I am their boss, and they make me a pet besides,

document	location	text
loc.00025	#ab03	President Lo _^Their Their Rules and their Pets! I see them lead him onward now.—I see the his large slow gait, his face _^illuminated and gay like the face of a happy young child.—I see him shooting the light of his soul
	#seg07	I think reckon he is the really the god Boss of those gods; for they and the work they do is done for him, and all that they have concealed they have concealed for his sake sake
	#seg13	I reckon he is Boss of those gods; and the work they do is done for him; and all they have concealed, they have concealed for his sake.—Him they attend indoors and outdoors.
	#nde04	Their President and their Pet! I see them lead him now.—I see his large, slow gait—his face illuminated like the face of an arm-bound child. Onward he moves with the gay procession, and the laughing pioneers, and the wild trilling bugles of joy.—

1687

And surround me, and lead me and run ahead when I walk,

document	location	text
loc.00025	#ab03	President Lo _^Their Their Rules and their Pets! I see them lead him onward now.—I see the his large slow gait, his face _^illuminated and gay like the face of a happy young child.—I see him shooting the light of his soul
	#seg08	Ahead _^For Him they attend outdoors or indoors; to his perceptions they open all.—They ru run nimbly ahead as when he walks, and and to lift their cunning covers, and poi signify to him with pointed pointed stretched arms.—The The (They undress Delight
	#seg14	They run ahead when he walks, and lift their cunning covers and signify him with pointed stretched arms.
	#nde04	Their President and their Pet! I see them lead him now.—I see his large, slow gait—his face illuminated like the face of an arm-bound child. Onward he moves with the gay procession, and the laughing pioneers, and the wild trilling bugles of joy.—

1688

And lift their cunning covers and signify me with stretched arms, and resume the

way;

document	location	text
loc.00025	#seg06	Him they attend wait on night and day and show where they take uncover all, that he shall see the naked breast and the most private of Delight.
	#seg08	Ahead _^For Him they attend outdoors or indoors; to his perceptions they open all.—They ru run nimbly ahead as when he walks, and and to lift their cunning covers, and poi signify to him with pointed pointed stretched arms.—The The (They undress Delight
	#seg13	I reckon he is Boss of those gods; and the work they do is done for him; and all they have concealed, they have concealed for his sake.—Him they attend indoors and outdoors.
	#seg14	They run ahead when he walks, and lift their cunning covers and signify him with pointed stretched arms.

1689

Onward we move, a gay gang of blackguards with mirthshouting music and wild-

flapping pennants of joy.

document	location	text
loc.00025	#seg01	that when they leave me the pennants of my joy sink flat from the and lank in the deadest calm?—
	#ab04	Onward _^he moves _^with the gay procession, to the music of laughter and the [swing?] band of laughing pioneers and the _^wild trilling bugles of joy.—
	#ab05	Onward he moves with the gay procession, and the laughing pioneers, and the wild-trilling bugles of joy
	#nde04	Their President and their Pet! I see them lead him now.—I see his large, slow gait—his face illuminated like the face of an arm-bound child. Onward he moves with the gay procession, and the laughing pioneers, and the wild trilling bugles of joy.—

1690

I am the actor and the actress . . . . the voter . . the politician,

1691

The emigrant and the exile . . the criminal that stood in the box,

1692

He who has been famous, and he who shall be famous after today,

1693

The stammerer . . . . the wellformed person . . the wasted or feeble person.

1694

I am she who adorned herself and folded her hair expectantly,

1695

My truant lover has come and it is dark.

1696

Double yourself and receive me darkness,

1697

Receive me and my lover too . . . . he will not let me go without him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

72 Leaves of Grass.

1698

I roll myself upon you as upon a bed . . . . I resign myself to the dusk.

1699

He whom I call answers me and takes the place of my lover,

1700

He rises with me silently from the bed.

1701

Darkness you are gentler than my lover . . . . his flesh was sweaty and panting,

1702

I feel the hot moisture yet that he left me.

1703

My hands are spread forth . . I pass them in all directions,

1704

I would sound up the shadowy shore to which you are journeying.

1705

Be careful, darkness . . . . already, what was it touched me?

1706

I thought my lover had gone . . . . else darkness and he are one,

1707

I hear the heart-beat . . . . I follow . . I fade away.

1708

O hotcheeked and blushing! O foolish hectic!

1709

O for pity's sake, no one must see me now! . . . . my clothes were stolen while I

was abed,

1710

Now I am thrust forth, where shall I run?

1711

Pier that I saw dimly last night when I looked from the windows,

1712

Pier out from the main, let me catch myself with you and stay . . . . I will not chafe

you;

1713

I feel ashamed to go naked about the world,

1714

And am curious to know where my feet stand . . . . and what is this flooding

me, childhood or manhood . . . . and the hunger that crosses the bridge

between.

1715

The cloth laps a first sweet eating and drinking,

1716

Laps life-swelling yolks . . . . laps ear of rose-corn, milky and just ripened:

1717

The white teeth stay, and the boss-tooth advances in darkness,

1718

And liquor is spilled on lips and bosoms by touching glasses, and the best liquor

afterward.

1719

I descend my western course . . . . my sinews are flaccid,

1720

Perfume and youth course through me, and I am their wake.

1721

It is my face yellow and wrinkled instead of the old woman's,

1722

I sit low in a strawbottom chair and carefully darn my grandson's stockings.

1723

It is I too . . . . the sleepless widow looking out on the winter midnight,

1724

I see the sparkles of starshine on the icy and pallid earth.

1725

A shroud I see—and I am the shroud . . . . I wrap a body and lie in the coffin;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l91	The sepulchre
	#l92	Observing the shroud
	#l93	The sepulchre and the white linen have yielded me up
	#tw59	Observing the summer grass
tex.00030	#l01	[I?] am _^[can be?] [I am can?] become a corpse, shroud; shrouded and buried,
	#l08	I have wrapped a man's body body, and am lie in the coffin with him. it.

1726

It is dark here underground . . . . it is not evil or pain here . . . . it is blank here, for

reasons.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 73

1727

It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy;

document	location	text
duk.00260	#l01	The mighty magic of lLight and air!
tex.00030	#l04	Now it seems to me that any every thing out of from not under above _^in the ground light _^above must be happy, enough,—

1728

Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough.

1729

I see a beautiful gigantic swimmer swimming naked through the eddies of the sea,

1730

His brown hair lies close and even to his head . . . . he strikes out with courageous

arms . . . . he urges himself with his legs.

1731

I see his white body . . . . I see his undaunted eyes;

1732

I hate the swift-running eddies that would dash him headforemost on the rocks.

1733

What are you doing you ruffianly red-trickled waves?

1734

Will you kill the courageous giant? Will you kill him in the prime of his middle age?

1735

Steady and long he struggles;

1736

He is baffled and banged and bruised . . . . he holds out while his strength holds out,

1737

The slapping eddies are spotted with his blood . . . . they bear him away . . . . they

roll him and swing him and turn him:

1738

His beautiful body is borne in the circling eddies . . . . it is continually bruised on

rocks,

1739

Swiftly and out of sight is borne the brave corpse.

1740

I turn but do not extricate myself;

1741

Confused . . . . a pastreading . . . . another, but with darkness yet.

1742

The beach is cut by the razory ice-wind . . . . the wreck-guns sound,

1743

The tempest lulls and the moon comes floundering through the drifts.

1744

I look where the ship helplessly heads end on . . . . I hear the burst as she strikes . .

I hear the howls of dismay . . . . they grow fainter and fainter.

1745

I cannot aid with my wringing fingers;

1746

I can but rush to the surf and let it drench me and freeze upon me.

1747

I search with the crowd . . . . not one of the company is washed to us alive;

1748

In the morning I help pick up the dead and lay them in rows in a barn.

1749

Now of the old war-days . . the defeat at Brooklyn;

1750

Washington stands inside the lines . . he stands on the entrenched hills amid a crowd

of officers,

1751

His face is cold and damp . . . . he cannot repress the weeping drops . . . . he lifts

the glass perpetually to his eyes . . . . the color is blanched from his cheeks,

1752

He sees the slaughter of the southern braves confided to him by their parents.

1753

The same at last and at last when peace is declared,

1754

He stands in the room of the old tavern . . . . the wellbeloved soldiers all pass

through,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

74 Leaves of Grass.

1755

The officers speechless and slow draw near in their turns,

1756

The chief encircles their necks with his arm and kisses them on the cheek,

1757

He kisses lightly the wet cheeks one after another . . . . he shakes hands and bids

goodbye to the army.

1758

Now I tell what my mother told me today as we sat at dinner together,

1759

Of when she was a nearly grown girl living home with her parents on the old home-

stead.

1760

A red squaw came one breakfasttime to the old homestead,

1761

On her back she carried a bundle of rushes for rushbottoming chairs;

1762

Her hair straight shiny coarse black and profuse halfenveloped her face,

1763

Her step was free and elastic . . . . her voice sounded exquisitely as she spoke.

1764

My mother looked in delight and amazement at the stranger,

1765

She looked at the beauty of her tallborne face and full and pliant limbs,

1766

The more she looked upon her she loved her,

1767

Never before had she seen such wonderful beauty and purity;

1768

She made her sit on a bench by the jamb of the fireplace . . . . she cooked food for

her,

1769

She had no work to give her but she gave her remembrance and fondness.

1770

The red squaw staid all the forenoon, and toward the middle of the afternoon she

went away;

1771

O my mother was loth to have her go away,

1772

All the week she thought of her . . . . she watched for her many a month,

1773

She remembered her many a winter and many a summer,

1774

But the red squaw never came nor was heard of there again.

1775

Now Lucifer was not dead . . . . or if he was I am his sorrowful terrible heir;

document	location	text
duk.00787	#l02	It is you talking—I am your voice—It was tied in you—In me it begins to be loosened.— talk.—
	#l04	I am loosen the voice tongue that was tied in you them
	#l05	In me It begins to talk out of my mouth
	#l09	I am the voice of another man
loc.00141	#l85	I am a Curse:
	#l86	O topple down like Curse! topple more heavy than death!
	#l87	I am lurid with rage!
loc.00346	#l6	And Till the taunt and curse oath [sink?] swim _^away from my dim and dizzy _^away from my in his ears
	#l7	What Lucifer felt, _^cursed when tumbling from Heaven
uva.00256	#l01	I am black a curse: a black slave negro spoke felt thought thinks me
	#l02	You You He could annot speak for himyourself, slave negro.—I lend you him my own mouth tongue
	#l03	A black I darted like a snake from his _^[illegible] mouth.—
uva.00257	#l01
	#l02	The [illegible] Black Lucifer was not dead;
	#l03	Or if he was, I am his sorrowful, terrible heir:
uva.00258	#l01	Crash Topple down upon him, Curse! [Cursing?] Light! for I am _^you seem to me all one lurid Curse oath curse;

1776

I have been wronged . . . . I am oppressed . . . . I hate him that oppresses me,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l89	I will not listen
	#l90	I will not spare
loc.00346	#l17	And his eye that shoot burns defiance and desperation hatred
uva.00257	#l04	I am Apollyon, I am the God of Revolt—deathless sorrowful vast scorner of those him _^whoever who rules _^oppresses me,
uva.00258	#l08	I will not listen—I will not spare—I will am justified of myself::

1777

I will either destroy him, or he shall release me.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l88	Let fate pursue them
uva.00257	#l05	I will either destroy them him or they he shall release me.
uva.00258	#l04	_^This day, or some other, I will have him and the like of him to curse the do my will upon.
	#l09	The I will pursue fFor a million hundred years _^I will pursue those who have injured me so much.

1778

Damn him! how he does defile me,

1779

How he informs against my brother and sister and takes pay for their blood,

1780

How he laughs when I look down the bend after the steamboat that carries away my

woman.

document	location	text
uva.00256	#l04	I My eyes are bloodshot, they look down the river,
	#l05	A steamboat carries off paddles away my woman and children.—
	#l07	T The His iIron necklace and the red sores of my the shoulders I do not feel mind,
	#l08	The hHopples and ball at my the ancles, _^and tight cuffs at the wrists does _^must not detain me
	#l09	I _^will go down the river, mywith _^the sight of my bloodshot eyes,
	#l10	I _^will go in to the steamboat that paddles _^off my wife woman and child
	#l11	A I do not stop with my woman and children,
	#l13	But for them, I sh too should have been on the steamboat [cut away]
uva.00257	#l10	He He lLlaughed when I looked _^from my iron necklace, after the steamboat that carried away my woman.—
uva.00258	#l02	I look down off the river with my bloodshot eyes, after I see the steamboat that carries off away my woman.—
uva.00260	#l01	The sores on my neck shoulders are from his iron necklace
	#l02	I look on the off on the river with my bloodshot eyes
	#l03	He stops the steamboat and till she will paddle off with away take my woman, and paddle away with her

1781

Now the vast dusk bulk that is the whale's bulk . . . . it seems mine,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#p03	—he would be growing fragrantly in the air, like a the locust blossoms—he would rumble and crash like the thunder in the sky—he would spring like a cat on his prey—he would splash like a whale in [the?]
loc.00483	#hp01	Beware the flukes of the whale. _^He is slow and sleepy—but when he moves, his lightest touch is death.——
	#hp02	The flukes of a whale they are as quick as light

1782

Warily, sportsman! though I lie so sleepy and sluggish, my tap is death.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l86	O topple down like Curse! topple more heavy than death!
loc.00483	#hp01	Beware the flukes of the whale. _^He is slow and sleepy—but when he moves, his lightest touch is death.——
	#ab101	tThat black and huge lethargic mass, my sportsmen, dull and sleepy as it seems, has holds the lightning and the taps bolts of thunder.—He is slow—O, long and long and slow and slow—but when he does move, his lightest touch is death.

1783

A show of the summer softness . . . . a contact of something unseen . . . . an amour

of the light and air;

1784

I am jealous and overwhelmed with friendliness,

1785

And will go gallivant with the light and the air myself,

1786

And have an unseen something to be in contact with them also.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 75

1787

O love and summer! you are in the dreams and in me,

1788

Autumn and winter are in the dreams . . . . the farmer goes with his thrift,

1789

The droves and crops increase . . . . the barns are wellfilled.

1790

Elements merge in the night . . . . ships make tacks in the dreams . . . . the sailor

sails . . . . the exile returns home,

1791

The fugitive returns unharmed . . . . the immigrant is back beyond months and years;

1792

The poor Irishman lives in the simple house of his childhood, with the wellknown

neighbors and faces,

1793

They warmly welcome him . . . . he is barefoot again . . . . he forgets he is welloff;

1794

The Dutchman voyages home, and the Scotchman and Welchman voyage home . .

and the native of the Mediterranean voyages home;

1795

To every port of England and France and Spain enter wellfilled ships;

1796

The Swiss foots it toward his hills . . . . the Prussian goes his way, and the

Hungarian his way, and the Pole goes his way,

1797

The Swede returns, and the Dane and Norwegian return.

1798

The homeward bound and the outward bound,

1799

The beautiful lost swimmer, the ennuyee, the onanist, the female that loves unre-

quited, the moneymaker,

1800

The actor and actress . . those through with their parts and those waiting to

commence,

1801

The affectionate boy, the husband and wife, the voter, the nominee that is chosen

and the nominee that has failed,

1802

The great already known, and the great anytime after to day,

1803

The stammerer, the sick, the perfectformed, the homely,

1804

The criminal that stood in the box, the judge that sat and sentenced him, the fluent

lawyers, the jury, the audience,

1805

The laugher and weeper, the dancer, the midnight widow, the red squaw,

1806

The consumptive, the erysipalite, the idiot, he that is wronged,

1807

The antipodes, and every one between this and them in the dark,

1808

I swear they are averaged now . . . . one is no better than the other,

1809

The night and sleep have likened them and restored them.

1810

I swear they are all beautiful,

1811

Every one that sleeps is beautiful . . . . every thing in the dim night is beautiful,

1812

The wildest and bloodiest is over and all is peace.

1813

Peace is always beautiful,

1814

The myth of heaven indicates peace and night.

1815

The myth of heaven indicates the soul;

1816

The soul is always beautiful . . . . it appears more or it appears less . . . . it comes or

lags behind,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw10b	The _^effusion or corporation of the soul is always under the beautiful laws of physiology—I guess the soul itself can never be any thing but great and pure and immortal; but it is [illegible] makes itself visible only through matter—a perfect head, and [bot?] bowels _^and bones to match will is the easy gate through which it comes from its wonderful embowered garden, and pleasantly appears to the sight of the world.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

76 Leaves of Grass.

1817

It comes from its embowered garden and looks pleasantly on itself and encloses the

world;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw10b	The _^effusion or corporation of the soul is always under the beautiful laws of physiology—I guess the soul itself can never be any thing but great and pure and immortal; but it is [illegible] makes itself visible only through matter—a perfect head, and [bot?] bowels _^and bones to match will is the easy gate through which it comes from its wonderful embowered garden, and pleasantly appears to the sight of the world.

1818

Perfect and clean the genitals previously jetting, and perfect and clean the womb

cohering,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw10b	The _^effusion or corporation of the soul is always under the beautiful laws of physiology—I guess the soul itself can never be any thing but great and pure and immortal; but it is [illegible] makes itself visible only through matter—a perfect head, and [bot?] bowels _^and bones to match will is the easy gate through which it comes from its wonderful embowered garden, and pleasantly appears to the sight of the world.

1819

The head wellgrown and proportioned and plumb, and the bowels and joints

proportioned and plumb.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw10b	The _^effusion or corporation of the soul is always under the beautiful laws of physiology—I guess the soul itself can never be any thing but great and pure and immortal; but it is [illegible] makes itself visible only through matter—a perfect head, and [bot?] bowels _^and bones to match will is the easy gate through which it comes from its wonderful embowered garden, and pleasantly appears to the sight of the world.

1820

The soul is always beautiful,

1821

The universe is duly in order . . . . every thing is in its place,

1822

What is arrived is in its place, and what waits is in its place;

1823

The twisted skull waits . . . . the watery or rotten blood waits,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw10	A twisted skull, and blood made becom thin watery or rotten by _^ancestry or gluttony, or rum or bad disorders,

1824

The child of the glutton or venerealee waits long, and the child of the drunkard

waits long, and the drunkard himself waits long,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw10	A twisted skull, and blood made becom thin watery or rotten by _^ancestry or gluttony, or rum or bad disorders,

1825

The sleepers that lived and died wait . . . . the far advanced are to go on in their

turns, and the far behind are to go on in their turns,

1826

The diverse shall be no less diverse, but they shall flow and unite . . . . they unite

now.

1827

The sleepers are very beautiful as they lie unclothed,

1828

They flow hand in hand over the whole earth from east to west as they lie un-

clothed;

1829

The Asiatic and African are hand in hand . . . . the European and American are

hand in hand,

1830

Learned and unlearned are hand in hand . . and male and female are hand in hand;

1831

The bare arm of the girl crosses the bare breast of her lover . . . . they press close

without lust . . . . his lips press her neck,

1832

The father holds his grown or ungrown son in his arms with measureless love . . . .

and the son holds the father in his arms with measureless love,

1833

The white hair of the mother shines on the white wrist of the daughter,

1834

The breath of the boy goes with the breath of the man . . . . friend is inarmed by

friend,

1835

The scholar kisses the teacher and the teacher kisses the scholar . . . . the wronged

is made right,

1836

The call of the slave is one with the master's call . . and the master salutes the slave,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l01	I am the poet of slaves, and of _^the masters of slaves
	#l07	The I go with the slaves _^of the earth _^equally with the are mine, and the masters are equally mine.
	#l201	And I will stand between the masters and the slaves,
	#l08	And I eEntering into both, and so that both shall understand me alike.

1837

The felon steps forth from the prison . . . . the insane becomes sane . . . . the suffer-

ing of sick persons is relieved,

1838

The sweatings and fevers stop . . the throat that was unsound is sound . . the lungs

of the consumptive are resumed . . the poor distressed head is free,

1839

The joints of the rheumatic move as smoothly as ever, and smoother than ever,

1840

Stiflings and passages open . . . . the paralysed become supple,

1841

The swelled and convulsed and congested awake to themselves in condition,

1842

They pass the invigoration of the night and the chemistry of the night and awake.

1843

I too pass from the night;

1844

I stay awhile away O night, but I return to you again and love you;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 77

1845

Why should I be afraid to trust myself to you?

1846

I am not afraid . . . . I have been well brought forward by you;

1847

I love the rich running day, but I do not desert her in whom I lay so long:

1848

I know not how I came of you, and I know not where I go with you . . . . but I

know I came well and shall go well.

1849

I will stop only a time with the night . . . . and rise betimes.

1850

I will duly pass the day O my mother and duly return to you;

1851

Not you will yield forth the dawn again more surely than you will yield forth me

again,

1852

Not the womb yields the babe in its time more surely than I shall be yielded from

you in my time.

"Leaves of Grass" [5]

("I Sing the Body Electric")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00878 (high)
duk.00128 (low)
duk.00297 (low)
nyp.00085 (low)
nyp.00116 (low)
nyp.00524 (low)
nyp.00734 (low)
tex.00088 (low)
uva.00249 (low)
uva.00269 (low)
uva.00287 (low)
yal.00483 (low)

Leaves of Grass.

⎯⎯⎯

1853

THE bodies of men and women engirth me, and I engirth them,

1854

They will not let me off nor I them till I go with them and respond to them

and love them.

1855

Was it dreamed whether those who corrupted their own live bodies could conceal

themselves?

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q03	No man and no woman can with bruise gash or starve or overburden or pollute or imbibe bad rotten stuff in the that superior nature of his or her's, any more than one can poison or starve his body.—
nyp.00524	#ab01	tainting the best of the rich orchard of himself . . . . and he who anyway does not respect his own organs and cherish them and strengthen them, and keep himself clean not only on his face but outside and inside—need not let that man young or old never de deceive himself with the folly that the bad sore stuff and the under is hid by the cloth he wears and his makes no avowal.—Though the secret is well hid, though the eye does not see, nor the hand touch, nor the nose smell, the rank odor strikes out

1856

And whether those who defiled the living were as bad as they who defiled the

dead?

1857

The expression of the body of man or woman balks account,

1858

The male is perfect and that of the female is perfect.

1859

The expression of a wellmade man appears not only in his face,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab10	The expression of a wellperfectmade man appears not only in his face—but in his limbs—The motion of his hands and arms and all his joints—his walk—the carriage of his neck—and the flex of his waist and hips

1860

It is in his limbs and joints also . . . . it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab10	The expression of a wellperfectmade man appears not only in his face—but in his limbs—The motion of his hands and arms and all his joints—his walk—the carriage of his neck—and the flex of his waist and hips

1861

It is in his walk . . the carriage of his neck . . the flex of his waist and knees . . . .

dress does not hide him,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#ab10	The expression of a wellperfectmade man appears not only in his face—but in his limbs—The motion of his hands and arms and all his joints—his walk—the carriage of his neck—and the flex of his waist and hips
	#seg03	Dress does not hide him. The quality he has and the clean strong sweet supple [illegible] nature he has [illegible] strike through his the cotton and woolen.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

78 Leaves of Grass.

1862

The strong sweet supple quality he has strikes through the cotton and flannel;

document	location	text
loc.05589	#seg03	Dress does not hide him. The quality he has and the clean strong sweet supple [illegible] nature he has [illegible] strike through his the cotton and woolen.

1863

To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem . . perhaps more,

1864

You linger to see his back and the back of his neck and shoulderside.

1865

The sprawl and fulness of babes . . . . the bosoms and heads of women . . . . the

folds of their dress . . . . their style as we pass in the street . . . . the contour of

their shape downwards;

1866

The swimmer naked in the swimmingbath . . seen as he swims through the salt

transparent greenshine, or lies on his back and rolls silently with the heave of

the water;

1867

Framers bare-armed framing a house . . hoisting the beams in their places . . or

using the mallet and mortising-chisel,

1868

The bending forward and backward of rowers in rowboats . . . . the horseman in his

saddle;

1869

Girls and mothers and housekeepers in all their exquisite offices,

1870

The group of laborers seated at noontime with their open dinnerkettles, and their

wives waiting,

1871

The female soothing a child . . . . the farmer's daughter in the garden or cowyard,

1872

The woodman rapidly swinging his axe in the woods . . . . the young fellow hoeing

corn . . . . the sleighdriver guiding his six horses through the crowd,

1873

The wrestle of wrestlers . . two apprentice-boys, quite grown, lusty, goodnatured,

nativeborn, out on the vacant lot at sundown after work,

1874

The coats vests and caps thrown down . . the embrace of love and resistance,

1875

The upperhold and underhold—the hair rumpled over and blinding the eyes;

1876

The march of firemen in their own costumes—the play of the masculine muscle

through cleansetting trowsers and waistbands,

1877

The slow return from the fire . . . . the pause when the bell strikes suddenly again—

the listening on the alert,

document	location	text
duk.00878	#seg01	Attitudes and expressions of fire company of returning [slowly?] home, with fire flushed [faces?] and loose attire:
	#seg02	The alarm bell strikes, a fresh [alarm?], and on the instant [cut away] stop and each has a [cut away] and eager, listening look, to

1878

The natural perfect and varied attitudes . . . . the bent head, the curved neck, the

counting:

1879

Suchlike I love . . . . I loosen myself and pass freely . . . . and am at the mother's

breast with the little child,

1880

And swim with the swimmer, and wrestle with wrestlers, and march in line with the

firemen, and pause and listen and count.

1881

I knew a man . . . . he was a common farmer . . . . he was the father of five sons . . .

and in them were the fathers of sons . . . and in them were the fathers of sons.

1882

This man was of wonderful vigor and calmness and beauty of person;

1883

The shape of his head, the richness and breadth of his manners, the pale yellow

and white of his hair and beard, the immeasurable meaning of his black eyes,

1884

These I used to go and visit him to see . . . . He was wise also,

1885

He was six feet tall . . . . he was over eighty years old . . . . his sons were massive

clean bearded tanfaced and handsome,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 79

1886

They and his daughters loved him . . . all who saw him loved him . . . they did not

love him by allowance . . . they loved him with personal love;

1887

He drank water only . . . . the blood showed like scarlet through the clear brown

skin of his face;

1888

He was a frequent gunner and fisher . . . he sailed his boat himself . . . he had a fine

one presented to him by a shipjoiner . . . . he had fowling-pieces, presented to

him by men that loved him;

1889

When he went with his five sons and many grandsons to hunt or fish you would pick

him out as the most beautiful and vigorous of the gang,

1890

You would wish long and long to be with him . . . . you would wish to sit by him in

the boat that you and he might touch each other.

1891

I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough,

1892

To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,

1893

To be surrounded by beautiful curious breathing laughing flesh is enough,

1894

To pass among them . . to touch any one . . . . to rest my arm ever so lightly round

his or her neck for a moment . . . . what is this then?

1895

I do not ask any more delight . . . . I swim in it as in a sea.

1896

There is something in staying close to men and women and looking on them and in

the contact and odor of them that pleases the soul well,

1897

All things please the soul, but these please the soul well.

1898

This is the female form,

1899

A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot,

1900

It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction,

1901

I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor . . . . all falls

aside but myself and it,

1902

Books, art, religion, time . . the visible and solid earth . . the atmosphere and the

fringed clouds . . what was expected of heaven or feared of hell are now

consumed,

1903

Mad filaments, ungovernable shoots play out of it . . the response likewise ungovern-

able,

1904

Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, negligent falling hands—all diffused . . . . mine too

diffused,

1905

Ebb stung by the flow, and flow stung by the ebb . . . . loveflesh swelling and

deliciously aching,

1906

Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous . . . . quivering jelly of love . . . white-

blow and delirious juice,

1907

Bridegroom-night of love working surely and softly into the prostrate dawn,

1908

Undulating into the willing and yielding day,

1909

Lost in the cleave of the clasping and sweetfleshed day.

1910

This is the nucleus . . . after the child is born of woman the man is born of woman,

1911

This is the bath of birth . . . this is the merge of small and large and the outlet again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

80 Leaves of Grass.

1912

Be not ashamed women . . your privilege encloses the rest . . it is the exit of the rest,

1913

You are the gates of the body and you are the gates of the soul.

1914

The female contains all qualities and tempers them . . . . she is in her place . . . .

she moves with perfect balance,

1915

She is all things duly veiled . . . . she is both passive and active . . . . she is to con-

ceive daughters as well as sons and sons as well as daughters.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#p03	There is a fullsized woman of calm and voluptuous beauty. . . . [illegible] the unspeak[illegible] unspeakable charm of the face of the mother of many children is the charm of her face . . . . she is clean and sweet and simple with immortal health . . . she holds always before her [illegible] what has the quality of a mirror, and dwells serenely behind it.—

1916

As I see my soul reflected in nature . . . . as I see through a mist one with inexpress-

ible completeness and beauty . . . . see the bent head and arms folded over the

breast . . . . the female I see,

document	location	text
loc.05589	#p10	☞ over leaf The [illegible] Nature is an ethereal mirror deep deep and floating The mirror that Nature holds _^and hides behind is deep and floating and ethereal and faithful. —in [illegible]it _^a man _^always sends and sees himself in it— from it himself he reflects his _^the fashion of his gods and all his religions and politics and books and art and social and public institutions—ignorance or knowledge—kindness or cruelty—grossness or refinement—definitions or chaos—each [illegible] is unerringly sent back to him or her who curiously gazes.
	#p03	There is a fullsized woman of calm and voluptuous beauty. . . . [illegible] the unspeak[illegible] unspeakable charm of the face of the mother of many children is the charm of her face . . . . she is clean and sweet and simple with immortal health . . . she holds always before her [illegible] what has the quality of a mirror, and dwells serenely behind it.—

1917

I see the bearer of the great fruit which is immortality . . . . the good thereof is

not tasted by roues, and never can be.

1918

The male is not less the soul, nor more . . . . he too is in his place,

1919

He too is all qualities . . . . he is action and power . . . . the flush of the known

universe is in him,

document	location	text
duk.00128	#p02	I know well enough the perpetual myself in my poems—but it is because the universe is in myself,—it shall all pass through me as a procession.—I say nothing of myself, which I do not equally say of all others, men and women
uva.00287	#l03	Man, microcosm of all Creation's wildness, terror, beauty and power,

1920

Scorn becomes him well and appetite and defiance become him well,

1921

The fiercest largest passions . . bliss that is utmost and sorrow that is utmost be-

come him well . . . . pride is for him,

1922

The fullspread pride of man is calming and excellent to the soul;

1923

Knowledge becomes him . . . . he likes it always . . . . he brings everything to the

test of himself,

document	location	text
uva.00249	#l01	To me I subject all the teachings of the schools, and all dicta and authority, to my the tests of myself
	#l02	And myself,—and I encourage you to subject the same to the tests of yourself—and to subject me and my words, severely as any, to _^the strongest stronger tests than any thing else of an[cut away]

1924

Whatever the survey . . whatever the sea and the sail, he strikes soundings at last

only here,

1925

Where else does he strike soundings except here?

1926

The man's body is sacred and the woman's body is sacred . . . . it is no matter who,

1927

Is it a slave? Is it one of the dullfaced immigrants just landed on the wharf?

1928

Each belongs here or anywhere just as much as the welloff . . . . just as much as

you,

1929

Each has his or her place in the procession.

1930

All is a procession,

1931

The universe is a procession with measured and beautiful motion.

document	location	text
duk.00128	#p02	I know well enough the perpetual myself in my poems—but it is because the universe is in myself,—it shall all pass through me as a procession.—I say nothing of myself, which I do not equally say of all others, men and women
loc.00163	#q10	Life in the universe—a vast circular procession whose ? rings expand outward and outward
loc.00346	#q06	and marches, like gladly round, a _^beautiful tangible creature, in itsher place in the newer processions of God,

1932

Do you know so much that you call the slave or the dullface ignorant?

1933

Do you suppose you have a right to a good sight . . . and he or she has no

right to a sight?

1934

Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffused float, and the soil is

on the surface and water runs and vegetation sprouts for you . . and not for

him and her?

1935

A slave at auction!

1936

I help the auctioneer . . . . the sloven does not half know his business.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 81

1937

Gentlemen look on this curious creature,

1938

Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for him,

1939

For him the globe lay preparing quintillions of years without one animal or plant,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#ab15	Could we imagine such a thing—let us suggest that before a manchild or womanchild was born it should be suggested that a human being could be born—imagine the world in its formation—the long rolling heaving cycles—can man appear here?—can the beautiful animal vegetable and animal life appear here?
loc.05589	#l19	For him the earth lay preparing billions of years without one animal or plant

1940

For him the revolving cycles truly and steadily rolled.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#ab15	Could we imagine such a thing—let us suggest that before a manchild or womanchild was born it should be suggested that a human being could be born—imagine the world in its formation—the long rolling heaving cycles—can man appear here?—can the beautiful animal vegetable and animal life appear here?

1941

In that head the allbaffling brain,

1942

In it and below it the making of the attributes of heroes.

1943

Examine these limbs, red black or white . . . . they are very cunning in tendon and

nerve;

1944

They shall be stript that you may see them.

1945

Exquisite senses, lifelit eyes, pluck, volition,

1946

Flakes of breastmuscle, pliant backbone and neck, flesh not flabby, goodsized arms

and legs,

1947

And wonders within there yet.

1948

Within there runs his blood . . . . the same old blood . . the same red running blood;

1949

There swells and jets his heart . . . . There all passions and desires . . all reachings

and aspirations:

1950

Do you think they are not there because they are not expressed in parlors and

lecture-rooms?

document	location	text
duk.00297	#seg05	and In in tTheir indefinable excellence giving gives us out something as superior to all much above beyond the _^special productions [of colleges and pews and parlors as the morning air of the prairie or the sea-shore outsmells the costliest scents of the perfume shop.]
loc.05589	#ab50	Literature to these gentlemen is a parlor in which no person is to be welcomed unless he come attired in dress coat and observing the approved decorums with the fashionable

1951

This is not only one man . . . . he is the father of those who shall be fathers in their

turns,

1952

In him the start of populous states and rich republics,

1953

Of him countless immortal lives with countless embodiments and enjoyments.

1954

How do you know who shall come from the offspring of his offspring through the

centuries?

1955

Who might you find you have come from yourself if you could trace back through

the centuries?

1956

A woman at auction,

1957

She too is not only herself . . . . she is the teeming mother of mothers,

1958

She is the bearer of them that shall grow and be mates to the mothers.

1959

Her daughters or their daughters' daughters . . who knows who shall mate with

them?

1960

Who knows through the centuries what heroes may come from them?

1961

In them and of them natal love . . . . in them the divine mystery . . . . the same old

beautiful mystery.

1962

Have you ever loved a woman?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

82 Leaves of Grass.

1963

Your mother . . . . is she living? . . . . Have you been much with her? and has she

been much with you?

1964

Do you not see that these are exactly the same to all in all nations and times all

over the earth?

1965

If life and the soul are sacred the human body is sacred;

1966

And the glory and sweet of a man is the token of manhood untainted,

1967

And in man or woman a clean strong firmfibred body is beautiful as the most

beautiful face.

1968

Have you seen the fool that corrupted his own live body? or the fool that corrupted

her own live body?

1969

For they do not conceal themselves, and cannot conceal themselves.

1970

Who degrades or defiles the living human body is cursed,

1971

Who degrades or defiles the body of the dead is not more cursed.

"Leaves of Grass" [6]

("Faces")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00905 (high)
tex.00321 (high)
uva.00562 (high)
uva.00566 (high)
duk.00797 (low)
nyp.00110 (low)

Leaves of Grass.

⎯⎯⎯

1972

SAUNTERING the pavement or riding the country byroad here then are

faces,

1973

Faces of friendship, precision, caution, suavity, ideality,

1974

The spiritual prescient face, the always welcome common benevolent face,

1975

The face of the singing of music, the grand faces of natural lawyers and judges

broad at the backtop,

1976

The faces of hunters and fishers, bulged at the brows . . . . the shaved blanched

faces of orthodox citizens,

1977

The pure extravagant yearning questioning artist's face,

1978

The welcome ugly face of some beautiful soul . . . . the handsome detested or

despised face,

1979

The sacred faces of infants . . . . the illuminated face of the mother of many children,

document	location	text
loc.00163	#ab01	Poem descriptive of a good wife (housekeeper, cook, mother of many children.)
loc.05589	#p03	There is a fullsized woman of calm and voluptuous beauty. . . . [illegible] the unspeak[illegible] unspeakable charm of the face of the mother of many children is the charm of her face . . . . she is clean and sweet and simple with immortal health . . . she holds always before her [illegible] what has the quality of a mirror, and dwells serenely behind it.—

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 83

1980

The face of an amour . . . . the face of veneration,

1981

The face as of a dream . . . . the face of an immobile rock,

1982

The face withdrawn of its good and bad . . a castrated face,

1983

A wild hawk . . his wings clipped by the clipper,

1984

A stallion that yielded at last to the thongs and knife of the gelder.

1985

Sauntering the pavement or crossing the ceaseless ferry, here then are faces;

1986

I see them and complain not and am content with all.

1987

Do you suppose I could be content with all if I thought them their own finale?

1988

This now is too lamentable a face for a man;

document	location	text
loc.00025	#nde09	Why what is this curious little thing creature thing you pr you out hold before us?—We read in the advertisements of your new and edition of our the race, enlarged and improved. Do you call this such as this such an abject wretched thing creature as you have pictured here a man?—A mMan is the President of the earth. Why tThis is no man _^Man is [a?] master of the President of the _^whole earth..—This is some _^the abject louse—some the milk-faced maggot
	#nde10	What an abject creature would make a human being man.—Notice! what louse is this—you what crawling snivelling milk faced maggot, that falls lays _^flattens itself upon the ground, and asks leave to live, as of no not as of right of its own, but by special favor; snufflin snivelling how it is were righteously condemned, being of the vermin race, and is will crawl be only too thankful if it be let can, creep crawl escape to go to its hole under the dung, and escape dodge the stick or booted heel! and escape to its hole under the dung!

1989

Some abject louse asking leave to be . . cringing for it,

document	location	text
loc.00025	#nde09	Why what is this curious little thing creature thing you pr you out hold before us?—We read in the advertisements of your new and edition of our the race, enlarged and improved. Do you call this such as this such an abject wretched thing creature as you have pictured here a man?—A mMan is the President of the earth. Why tThis is no man _^Man is [a?] master of the President of the _^whole earth..—This is some _^the abject louse—some the milk-faced maggot
	#nde10	What an abject creature would make a human being man.—Notice! what louse is this—you what crawling snivelling milk faced maggot, that falls lays _^flattens itself upon the ground, and asks leave to live, as of no not as of right of its own, but by special favor; snufflin snivelling how it is were righteously condemned, being of the vermin race, and is will crawl be only too thankful if it be let can, creep crawl escape to go to its hole under the dung, and escape dodge the stick or booted heel! and escape to its hole under the dung!

1990

Some milknosed maggot blessing what lets it wrig to its hole.

document	location	text
loc.00025	#nde09	Why what is this curious little thing creature thing you pr you out hold before us?—We read in the advertisements of your new and edition of our the race, enlarged and improved. Do you call this such as this such an abject wretched thing creature as you have pictured here a man?—A mMan is the President of the earth. Why tThis is no man _^Man is [a?] master of the President of the _^whole earth..—This is some _^the abject louse—some the milk-faced maggot
	#nde10	What an abject creature would make a human being man.—Notice! what louse is this—you what crawling snivelling milk faced maggot, that falls lays _^flattens itself upon the ground, and asks leave to live, as of no not as of right of its own, but by special favor; snufflin snivelling how it is were righteously condemned, being of the vermin race, and is will crawl be only too thankful if it be let can, creep crawl escape to go to its hole under the dung, and escape dodge the stick or booted heel! and escape to its hole under the dung!

1991

This face is a dog's snout sniffing for garbage;

1992

Snakes nest in that mouth . . I hear the sibilant threat.

1993

This face is a haze more chill than the arctic sea,

1994

Its sleepy and wobbling icebergs crunch as they go.

1995

This is a face of bitter herbs . . . . this an emetic . . . . they need no label,

1996

And more of the drugshelf . . laudanum, caoutchouc, or hog's lard.

1997

This face is an epilepsy advertising and doing business . . . . its wordless tongue

gives out the unearthly cry,

1998

Its veins down the neck distend . . . . its eyes roll till they show nothing but their

whites,

1999

Its teeth grit . . the palms of the hands are cut by the turned-in nails,

document	location	text
duk.00905	#l01	[The teeth grit?] [cut away] [palms of the?] hands are cut by the naturned in nails

2000

The man falls struggling and foaming to the ground while he speculates well.

document	location	text
duk.00905	#l02	St He It _^The man falls struggling and foaming to the ground, though he begs and barters there.— so cooly.—

2001

This face is bitten by vermin and worms,

2002

And this is some murderer's knife with a halfpulled scabbard.

2003

This face owes to the sexton his dismalest fee,

document	location	text
uva.00562	#l01	This face mouth is the death‑bell pulled by the some sexton for his dismalest fee,

2004

An unceasing deathbell tolls there.

document	location	text
uva.00562	#l01	This face mouth is the death‑bell pulled by the some sexton for his dismalest fee,
	#l02	The death‑bell tolls there.—

2005

Those are really men! . . . . the bosses and tufts of the great round globe!

2006

Features of my equals, would you trick me with your creased and cadaverous

march?

2007

Well then you cannot trick me.

2008

I see your rounded never-erased flow,

2009

I see neath the rims of your haggard and mean disguises.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

84 Leaves of Grass.

2010

Splay and twist as you like . . . . poke with the tangling fores of fishes or rats,

2011

You'll be unmuzzled . . . . you certainly will.

2012

I saw the face of the most smeared and slobbering idiot they had at the asylum,

document	location	text
duk.00905	#l03	I remember when I visited the Asylum and they showed me their most smeared and slobbering idiot,

2013

And I knew for my consolation what they knew not;

document	location	text
duk.00905	#l04	Yet I knew for my for my consolation, of the great laws that emptied and broke my my brothers

2014

I knew of the agents that emptied and broke my brother,

document	location	text
duk.00905	#l04	Yet I knew for my for my consolation, of the great laws that emptied and broke my my brothers

2015

The same wait to clear the rubbish from the fallen tenement;

2016

And I shall look again in a score or two of ages,

2017

And I shall meet the real landlord perfect and unharmed, every inch as good as

myself.

2018

The Lord advances and yet advances:

2019

Always the shadow in front . . . . always the reached hand bringing up the laggards.

2020

Out of this face emerge banners and horses . . . . O superb! . . . . I see what is

coming,

document	location	text
uva.00562	#l03	This face [marches?] with [banners?] banners and champing cha horses
uva.00566	#l06	I know the great procession is coming,

2021

I see the high pioneercaps . . . . I see the staves of runners clearing the way,

document	location	text
uva.00566	#l01	[cut away] clearing the way.—
	#l07	I see _^far off through the dust the towering caps of pioneers, _^from _^off through the [cut away]
	#l08	I see the gilt tipt staves of policemen—clearing the way,

2022

I hear victorious drums.

document	location	text
uva.00566	#l02	I h Faintly through _^above the roar I clearly hear the [illegible] the clear tutti of the victorious horns.— triumphal music drums.
	#l03	I hear They I catch
	#l04	I already catch the tutti of
	#l09	Above the [th?] roar, I hear the the clear tutti of victorious horns.—

2023

This face is a lifeboat;

2024

This is the face commanding and bearded . . . . it asks no odds of the rest;

2025

This face is flavored fruit ready for eating;

2026

This face of a healthy honest boy is the programme of all good.

2027

These faces bear testimony slumbering or awake,

2028

They show their descent from the Master himself.

2029

Off the word I have spoken I except not one . . . . red white or black, all are deific,

2030

In each house is the ovum . . . . it comes forth after a thousand years.

2031

Spots or cracks at the windows do not disturb me,

2032

Tall and sufficient stand behind and make signs to me;

2033

I read the promise and patiently wait.

2034

This is a fullgrown lily's face,

2035

She speaks to the limber-hip'd man near the garden pickets,

2036

Come here, she blushingly cries . . . . Come nigh to me limber-hip'd man and give me

your finger and thumb,

2037

Stand at my side till I lean as high as I can upon you,

2038

Fill me with albescent honey . . . . bend down to me,

2039

Rub to me with your chafing beard . . rub to my breast and shoulders.

2040

The old face of the mother of many children:

document	location	text
loc.00163	#ab01	Poem descriptive of a good wife (housekeeper, cook, mother of many children.)
loc.05589	#p03	There is a fullsized woman of calm and voluptuous beauty. . . . [illegible] the unspeak[illegible] unspeakable charm of the face of the mother of many children is the charm of her face . . . . she is clean and sweet and simple with immortal health . . . she holds always before her [illegible] what has the quality of a mirror, and dwells serenely behind it.—

2041

Whist! I am fully content.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 85

2042

Lulled and late is the smoke of the Sabbath morning,

2043

It hangs low over the rows of trees by the fences,

2044

It hangs thin by the sassafras, the wildcherry and the catbrier under them.

2045

I saw the rich ladies in full dress at the soiree,

2046

I heard what the run of poets were saying so long,

2047

Heard who sprang in crimson youth from the white froth and the water-blue.

2048

Behold a woman!

2049

She looks out from her quaker cap . . . . her face is clearer and more beautiful than

the sky.

2050

She sits in an armchair under the shaded porch of the farmhouse,

2051

The sun just shines on her old white head.

2052

Her ample gown is of creamhued linen,

2053

Her grandsons raised the flax, and her granddaughters spun it with the distaff and

the wheel.

2054

The melodious character of the earth!

2055

The finish beyond which philosophy cannot go and does not wish to go!

2056

The justified mother of men!

[Untitled] [1]

("Song of the Answerer")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00128 (high)
duk.00797 (low)
loc.00162 (low)

2057

A YOUNG man came to me with a message from his brother,

2058

How should the young man know the whether and when of his brother?

2059

Tell him to send me the signs.

2060

And I stood before the young man face to face, and took his right hand in my left

hand and his left hand in my right hand,

2061

And I answered for his brother and for men . . . . and I answered for the poet, and

sent these signs.

2062

Him all wait for . . . . him all yield up to . . . . his word is decisive and final,

2063

Him they accept . . . . in him lave . . . . in him perceive themselves as amid light,

2064

Him they immerse, and he immerses them.

2065

Beautiful women, the haughtiest nations, laws, the landscape, people and animals,

2066

The profound earth and its attributes, and the unquiet ocean,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

86 Leaves of Grass.

2067

All enjoyments and properties, and money, and whatever money will buy,

2068

The best farms. . . . . others toiling and planting, and he unavoidably reaps,

2069

The noblest and costliest cities . . . . others grading and building, and he domiciles

there;

2070

Nothing for any one but what is for him . . . . near and far are for him,

2071

The ships in the offing . . . . the perpetual shows and marches on land are for him if

they are for any body.

2072

He puts things in their attitudes,

2073

He puts today out of himself with plasticity and love,

2074

He places his own city, times, reminiscences, parents, brothers and sisters, associ-

ations employment and politics, so that the rest never shame them afterward,

nor assume to command them.

2075

He is the answerer,

2076

What can be answered he answers, and what cannot be answered he shows how it

cannot be answered.

2077

A man is a summons and challenge,

2078

It is vain to skulk . . . . Do you hear that mocking and laughter? Do you hear the

ironical echoes?

2079

Books friendships philosophers priests action pleasure pride beat up and down

seeking to give satisfaction;

2080

He indicates the satisfaction, and indicates them that beat up and down also.

2081

Whichever the sex . . . whatever the season or place he may go freshly and gently

and safely by day or by night,

2082

He has the passkey of hearts . . . . to him the response of the prying of hands on the

knobs.

2083

His welcome is universal . . . . the flow of beauty is not more welcome or universal

than he is,

2084

The person he favors by day or sleeps with at night is blessed.

2085

Every existence has its idiom . . . . every thing has an idiom and tongue;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw11a	Every soul has its own individual language, often unspoken, or lamely feebly haltingly spoken; but a perfect true fit for [illegible]that a and man, and perfectly adapted forto his use.—The truths I tell _^to you or any other, may not be apparent plain to you, or that other, because I do not translate them well right fully from my idiom into yours.—If I could do so, and do it well, they would be as apparent to you as they are to me; for they are eternal truths.—No two have exactly the same language, but and the great translator and joiner of all _^the whole is the poet, because

2086

He resolves all tongues into his own, and bestows it upon men . . and any man

translates . . and any man translates himself also:

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw11a	Every soul has its own individual language, often unspoken, or lamely feebly haltingly spoken; but a perfect true fit for [illegible]that a and man, and perfectly adapted forto his use.—The truths I tell _^to you or any other, may not be apparent plain to you, or that other, because I do not translate them well right fully from my idiom into yours.—If I could do so, and do it well, they would be as apparent to you as they are to me; for they are eternal truths.—No two have exactly the same language, but and the great translator and joiner of all _^the whole is the poet, because
loc.00142	#p03	He drinks up quickly All terms, all languages, and words. meanings.—To his curbless and bottomless powers, they are as be like the small ponds of rain water to the migrating herds of buffalo when they spread over occupy square miles and who make the earth _^[illegible] miles square. look like a creeping spread.—Look See! he has only passed this way, and they are drained dry.

2087

One part does not counteract another part . . . . He is the joiner . . he sees how they

join.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw11a	Every soul has its own individual language, often unspoken, or lamely feebly haltingly spoken; but a perfect true fit for [illegible]that a and man, and perfectly adapted forto his use.—The truths I tell _^to you or any other, may not be apparent plain to you, or that other, because I do not translate them well right fully from my idiom into yours.—If I could do so, and do it well, they would be as apparent to you as they are to me; for they are eternal truths.—No two have exactly the same language, but and the great translator and joiner of all _^the whole is the poet, because

2088

He says indifferently and alike, How are you friend? to the President at his levee,

document	location	text
loc.00024	#rf03	And to the great king "How are you friend?"
loc.00141	#tw11	He enters into th has the divine grammar of all tongues, and what says _^indifferently and alike, How are you friend? to the President in the midst of his cabinet,

2089

And he says Good day my brother, to Cudge that hoes in the sugarfield;

document	location	text
loc.00024	#rf02	Where others are scornfully silent at some one steerage passenger from a foreign land, or black _^or emptier of privies the poet says, "Good day, mMy brother! good day!"
loc.00141	#tw11b	and Good day my brother, to Sambo, among the black slaves rowed hoes of the sugar field,

2090

And both understand him and know that his speech is right.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#tw11c	and both _^understand him and know that his his speech is _^right, well, right.

2091

He walks with perfect ease in the capitol,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 87

2092

He walks among the Congress . . . . and one representative says to another, Here is

our equal appearing and new.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#l01	He walks with perfect ease among a congress of kings,
	#l02	And one king saith says to another, Here is our equal, _^a prince whom we knew not before

2093

Then the mechanics take him for a mechanic,

2094

And the soldiers suppose him to be a captain . . . . and the sailors that he has

followed the sea,

2095

And the authors take him for an author . . . . and the artists for an artist,

2096

And the laborers perceive he could labor with them and love them;

2097

No matter what the work is, that he is one to follow it or has followed it,

2098

No matter what the nation, that he might find his brothers and sisters there.

2099

The English believe he comes of their English stock,

2100

A Jew to the Jew he seems . . . . a Russ to the Russ . . . . usual and near . .

removed from none.

2101

Whoever he looks at in the traveler's coffeehouse claims him,

2102

The Italian or Frenchman is sure, and the German is sure, and the Spaniard is

sure . . . . and the island Cuban is sure.

2103

The engineer, the deckhand on the great lakes or on the Mississippi or St Law-

rence or Sacramento or Hudson or Delaware claims him.

2104

The gentleman of perfect blood acknowledges his perfect blood,

2105

The insulter, the prostitute, the angry person, the beggar, see themselves in the ways

of him . . . . he strangely transmutes them,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#p02	The soul or spirit transmutes itself into all matter—into rocks, and cand live the life of a rock—into the sea, and can feel itself the sea—into the oak, or other tree—into an animal, and feel itself a horse, a fish, or a bird—into the earth—into the motions of the suns and stars—

2106

They are not vile any more . . . . they hardly know themselves, they are so grown.

2107

You think it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses,

2108

Well it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses;

2109

But what are verses beyond the flowing character you could have? . . . . or

beyond beautiful manners and behaviour?

2110

Or beyond one manly or affectionate deed of an apprenticeboy? . . or old woman? . .

or man that has been in prison or is likely to be in prison?

[Untitled] [2]

("Europe, the 72d and 73d Years of These States")

Related Manuscripts

No manuscripts found

View Periodical Version

Compare to Periodical Version (in Juxta)

2111

SUDDENLY out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves,

2112

Like lightning Europe le'pt forth . . . . half startled at itself,

2113

Its feet upon the ashes and the rags . . . . Its hands tight to the throats of kings.

2114

O hope and faith! O aching close of lives! O many a sickened heart!

2115

Turn back unto this day, and make yourselves afresh.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

88 Leaves of Grass.

2116

And you, paid to defile the People . . . . you liars mark:

2117

Not for numberless agonies, murders, lusts,

2118

For court thieving in its manifold mean forms,

2119

Worming from his simplicity the poor man's wages;

2120

For many a promise sworn by royal lips, And broken, and laughed at in the breaking,

2121

Then in their power not for all these did the blows strike of personal revenge . . or

the heads of the nobles fall;

2122

The People scorned the ferocity of kings.

2123

But the sweetness of mercy brewed bitter destruction, and the frightened rulers come

back:

2124

Each comes in state with his train . . . . hangman, priest and tax-gatherer . . . .

soldier, lawyer, jailer and sycophant.

2125

Yet behind all, lo, a Shape,

2126

Vague as the night, draped interminably, head front and form in scarlet folds,

2127

Whose face and eyes none may see,

2128

Out of its robes only this . . . . the red robes, lifted by the arm,

2129

One finger pointed high over the top, like the head of a snake appears.

2130

Meanwhile corpses lie in new-made graves . . . . bloody corpses of young men:

2131

The rope of the gibbet hangs heavily . . . . the bullets of princes are flying . . . .

the creatures of power laugh aloud,

2132

And all these things bear fruits . . . . and they are good.

2133

Those corpses of young men,

2134

Those martyrs that hang from the gibbets . . . those hearts pierced by the gray lead,

2135

Cold and motionless as they seem . . live elsewhere with unslaughter'd vitality.

2136

They live in other young men, O kings,

2137

They live in brothers, again ready to defy you:

2138

They were purified by death . . . . They were taught and exalted.

2139

Not a grave of the murdered for freedom but grows seed for freedom . . . . in its

turn to bear seed,

2140

Which the winds carry afar and re-sow, and the rains and the snows nourish.

2141

Not a disembodied spirit can the weapons of tyrants let loose,

2142

But it stalks invisibly over the earth . . whispering counseling cautioning.

2143

Liberty let others despair of you . . . . I never despair of you.

2144

Is the house shut? Is the master away?

2145

Nevertheless be ready . . . . be not weary of watching,

2146

He will soon return . . . . his messengers come anon.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 89

[Untitled] [3]

("A Boston Ballad")

Related Manuscripts

No manuscripts found

2147

CLEAR the way there Jonathan!

2148

Way for the President's marshal! Way for the government cannon!

2149

Way for the federal foot and dragoons . . . . and the phantoms afterward.

2150

I rose this morning early to get betimes in Boston town;

2151

Here's a good place at the corner . . . . I must stand and see the show.

2152

I love to look on the stars and stripes . . . . I hope the fifes will play Yankee Doodle.

2153

How bright shine the foremost with cutlasses,

2154

Every man holds his revolver . . . . marching stiff through Boston town.

2155

A fog follows . . . . antiques of the same come limping,

2156

Some appear wooden-legged and some appear bandaged and bloodless.

2157

Why this is a show! It has called the dead out of the earth,

2158

The old graveyards of the hills have hurried to see;

2159

Uncountable phantoms gather by flank and rear of it,

2160

Cocked hats of mothy mould and crutches made of mist,

2161

Arms in slings and old men leaning on young men's shoulders.

2162

What troubles you, Yankee phantoms? What is all this chattering of bare gums?

2163

Does the ague convulse your limbs? Do you mistake your crutches for firelocks,

and level them?

2164

If you blind your eyes with tears you will not see the President's marshal,

2165

If you groan such groans you might balk the government cannon.

2166

For shame old maniacs! . . . . Bring down those tossed arms, and let your white

hair be;

2167

Here gape your smart grandsons . . . . their wives gaze at them from the windows,

2168

See how well-dressed . . . . see how orderly they conduct themselves.

2169

Worse and worse . . . . Can't you stand it? Are you retreating?

2170

Is this hour with the living too dead for you?

2171

Retreat then! Pell-mell! . . . . Back to the hills, old limpers!

2172

I do not think you belong here anyhow.

2173

But there is one thing that belongs here . . . . Shall I tell you what it is, gentlemen of

Boston?

2174

I will whisper it to the Mayor . . . . he shall send a committee to England,

2175

They shall get a grant from the Parliament, and go with a cart to the royal vault.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

90 Leaves of Grass.

2176

Dig out King George's coffin . . . . unwrap him quick from the graveclothes . . . .

box up his bones for a journey:

2177

Find a swift Yankee clipper . . . . here is freight for you blackbellied clipper,

2178

Up with your anchor! shake out your sails! . . . . steer straight toward Boston bay.

2179

Now call the President's marshal again, and bring out the government cannon,

2180

And fetch home the roarers from Congress, and make another procession and guard

it with foot and dragoons.

2181

Here is a centrepiece for them:

2182

Look! all orderly citizens . . . . look from the windows women.

2183

The committee open the box and set up the regal ribs and glue those that will not

stay,

2184

And clap the skull on top of the ribs, and clap a crown on top of the skull.

2185

You have got your revenge old buster! . . . . The crown is come to its own and more

than its own.

2186

Stick your hands in your pockets Jonathan . . . . you are a made man from this day,

2187

You are mighty cute . . . . and here is one of your bargains.

[Untitled] [4]

("There Was a Child Went Forth")

Related Manuscripts

uva.00265 (high)
nyp.00119 (low)

2188

THERE was a child went forth every day,

document	location	text
loc.00005	#ab2	☞ good subject Poem—Variety of characters, each one of whom comes forth every day—things appearing, transfers and promotions every day.
	#ab3	There was a child went forth every day—and the first thing that he saw looked at with fixed love, that thing he became for the day.—

2189

And the first object he looked upon and received with wonder or pity or love

or dread, that object he became,

2190

And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day . . . . or

for many years or stretching cycles of years.

2191

The early lilacs became part of this child,

2192

And grass, and white and red morningglories, and white and red clover, and the song

of the phœbe-bird,

2193

And the March-born lambs, and the sow's pink-faint litter, and the mare's foal, and

                    the cow's calf, and the noisy brood of the barnyard or by the mire of the pond-

                    side . . and the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there . . and the

                    beautiful curious liquid . . and the water-plants with their graceful flat heads . .

                    all became part of him.

2194

And the field-sprouts of April and May became part of him . . . . wintergrain sprouts,

and those of the light-yellow corn, and of the esculent roots of the garden,

2195

And the appletrees covered with blossoms, and the fruit afterward . . . . and wood-

berries . . and the commonest weeds by the road;

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 91

2196

And the old drunkard staggering home from the outhouse of the tavern whence he

had lately risen,

2197

And the schoolmistress that passed on her way to the school . . and the friendly boys

that passed . . and the quarrelsome boys . . and the tidy and freshcheeked girls . .

and the barefoot negro boy and girl,

2198

And all the changes of city and country wherever he went.

2199

His own parents . . he that had propelled the fatherstuff at night, and fathered him . .

and she that conceived him in her womb and birthed him . . . . they gave this

child more of themselves than that,

2200

They gave him afterward every day . . . . they and of them became part of him.

2201

The mother at home quietly placing the dishes on the suppertable,

2202

The mother with mild words . . . . clean her cap and gown . . . . a wholesome odor

falling off her person and clothes as she walks by:

2203

The father, strong, selfsufficient, manly, mean, angered, unjust,

2204

The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,

2205

The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture . . . . the yearning and

swelling heart,

2206

Affection that will not be gainsayed . . . . The sense of what is real . . . . the thought

if after all it should prove unreal,

2207

The doubts of daytime and the doubts of nighttime . . . the curious whether and how,

2208

Whether that which appears so is so . . . . Or is it all flashes and specks?

2209

Men and women crowding fast in the streets . . if they are not flashes and specks

what are they?

document	location	text
nyp.00119	#l01	As seen in the windows of the shops, passing up as I turn from and over the crowded street, and peer _^through the plate glass at the pictures or rich goods

2210

The streets themselves, and the facades of houses . . . . the goods in the windows,

document	location	text
nyp.00119	#l01	As seen in the windows of the shops, passing up as I turn from and over the crowded street, and peer _^through the plate glass at the pictures or rich goods

2211

Vehicles . . teams . . the tiered wharves, and the huge crossing at the ferries;

2212

The village on the highland seen from afar at sunset . . . . the river between,

2213

Shadows . . aureola and mist . . light falling on roofs and gables of white or brown,

three miles off,

2214

The schooner near by sleepily dropping down the tide . . the little boat slacktowed

astern,

2215

The hurrying tumbling waves and quickbroken crests and slapping;

2216

The strata of colored clouds . . . . the long bar of maroontint away solitary by

itself . . . . the spread of purity it lies motionless in,

2217

The horizon's edge, the flying seacrow, the fragrance of saltmarsh and shoremud;

document	location	text
loc.00141	#l36	And the odor of the salt marsh is _^delicious perfume, enough
	#l37	And the salt marsh _^and creek have a delicious odors,
uva.00265	#l01	Odor the smell of the salt marsh, and of the mud and sea‑weed, sea‑gulls—the sights of tThe horizon's edge, the faint shriek of the the flying seacrow,
	#l02	the unearthly laugh of the laughing-gull, and the odor of saltmarsh and shoremud. odor.—

2218

These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes and

will always go forth every day,

2219

And these become of him or her that peruses them now.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

92 Leaves of Grass.

[Untitled] [5]

("Who Learns My Lesson Complete")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00264 (high)
nyp.00097 (high)
nyp.00100 (high)
tex.00079 (low)

2220

WHO learns my lesson complete?

2221

Boss and journeyman and apprentice? . . . . churchman and atheist?

2222

The stupid and the wise thinker . . . . parents and offspring . . . . merchant and clerk

and porter and customer . . . . editor, author, artist and schoolboy?

2223

Draw nigh and commence,

2224

It is no lesson . . . . it lets down the bars to a good lesson,

2225

And that to another . . . . and every one to another still.

2226

The great laws take and effuse without argument,

document	location	text
duk.00264	#l01	The Great Laws do not treasure chips, and or stick for the odd cent;

2227

I am of the same style, for I am their friend,

2228

I love them quits and quits . . . . I do not halt and make salaams.

2229

I lie abstracted and hear beautiful tales of things and the reasons of things,

2230

They are so beautiful I nudge myself to listen.

2231

I cannot say to any person what I hear . . . . I cannot say it to myself . . . . it is

very wonderful.

2232

It is no little matter, this round and delicious globe, moving so exactly in its orbit

forever and ever, without one jolt or the untruth of a single second;

2233

I do not think it was made in six days, nor in ten thousand years, nor ten decillions

of years,

2234

Nor planned and built one thing after another, as an architect plans and builds a house.

2235

I do not think seventy years is the time of a man or woman,

2236

Nor that seventy millions of years is the time of a man or woman,

2237

Nor that years will ever stop the existence of me or any one else.

2238

Is it wonderful that I should be immortal? as every one is immortal,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q12	We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any _^all or _^the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—_^By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *

2239

I know it is wonderful . . . . but my eyesight is equally wonderful . . . . and how I was

conceived in my mother's womb is equally wonderful,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#q12	We hear of miracles.—But what is there that is not a miracle? What Of wWhat can may you conceive of or propound name to me in the future, that were a greater miracle than stranger or subtler shall be beyond me any _^all or _^the least thing around us?—I am looking in your eyes;—tell me O then, if you can, what is there in the immortality of the soul more incomprehensible than this curious spiritual and beautiful miracle of sight?—_^By the equally subtle one of Volition, is an I open to almond-sized two pairs of lids, only as big as a peach-pits, when lo! the unnamable variety and whelming splendor *
nyp.00100	#l01	[cut away] born at all is equally wonderful . . . . and that I rose from passed from being a babe in the infantile creeping trance of three years summers and three winters to be articulate child

2240

And how I was not palpable once but am now . . . . and was born on the last day of

May 1819 . . . . and passed from a babe in the creeping trance of three summers

and three winters to articulate and walk . . . . are all equally wonderful.

document	location	text
nyp.00100	#l01	[cut away] born at all is equally wonderful . . . . and that I rose from passed from being a babe in the infantile creeping trance of three years summers and three winters to be articulate child

2241

And that I grew six feet high . . . . and that I have become a man thirty-six years old

in 1855 . . . . and that I am here anyhow—are all equally wonderful;

2242

And that my soul embraces you this hour, and we affect each other without ever

seeing each other, and never perhaps to see each other, is every bit as

wonderful:

2243

And that I can think such thoughts as these is just as wonderful,

2244

And that I can remind you, and you think them and know them to be true is just as

wonderful,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 93

2245

And that the moon spins round the earth and on with the earth is equally wonderful,

2246

And that they balance themselves with the sun and stars is equally wonderful.

2247

Come I should like to hear you tell me what there is in yourself that is not just as

wonderful,

2248

And I should like to hear the name of anything between Sunday morning and

Saturday night that is not just as wonderful.

[Untitled] [6]

("Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night")

Related Manuscripts

duk.00032 (high)
duk.00259 (high)
duk.00029 (low)
duk.00104 (low)
duk.00889 (low)
nyp.00029 (low)

2249

GREAT are the myths . . . . I too delight in them,

2250

Great are Adam and Eve . . . . I too look back and accept them;

document	location	text
duk.00259	#l02	Great are Adam and Eve . . . . I too look back and accept them,
loc.00346	#seg100	All around me I hear how great is Adam or Eve—
loc.05589	#l110	I see—Adam and Eve again

2251

Great the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages, inventors, rulers,

warriors and priests.

document	location	text
duk.00029	#l01	_^I perceive that Sages, poets, inventers, benefactors, lawgivers are but only those who think have thought,
duk.00259	#l03	Great between them and me the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages, rulers, warriors and priests.—

2252

Great is liberty! Great is equality! I am their follower,

2253

Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft . . . . where you sail I sail,

2254

Yours is the muscle of life or death . . . . yours is the perfect science . . . . in you I

have absolute faith.

2255

Great is today, and beautiful,

2256

It is good to live in this age . . . . there never was any better.

2257

Great are the plunges and throes and triumphs and falls of democracy,

2258

Great the reformers with their lapses and screams,

2259

Great the daring and venture of sailors on new explorations.

2260

Great are yourself and myself,

2261

We are just as good and bad as the oldest and youngest or any,

document	location	text
duk.00259	#l05	We are just as good and bad as the oldest or youngest or nearest any,
loc.00346	#q17	But _^greatness is the other word for developement, and in my soul to me I know that I am great large and strong as any of them, probably greater.— larger.—
	#seg101	Because all that they did I feel that I too could do, and more _^and that multiplied; ;

2262

What the best and worst did we could do,

2263

What they felt . . do not we feel it in ourselves?

2264

What they wished . . do we not wish the same?

2265

Great is youth, and equally great is old age . . . . great are the day and night;

2266

Great is wealth and great is poverty . . . . great is expression and great is silence.

2267

Youth large lusty and loving . . . . youth full of grace and force and fascination,

document	location	text
duk.00032	#l01	Great are you, You lusty and loving graceflu youth! but you are great you are not exclusively great, in youth.— graceful and fascinating youth;
loc.00025	#l02	How muscular, how full of love and grace and unspeak able fascination

2268

Do you know that old age may come after you with equal grace and force and

fascination?

document	location	text
duk.00032	#l02	Your old age [come with?] shall be equally great shall have with resistless majesty and bloom and fascination and love,
loc.00025	#l03	But old age may wear more love and graces and fascinations a thousand fold.

2269

Day fullblown and splendid . . . . day of the immense sun, and action and ambition

and laughter,

2270

The night follows close, with millions of suns, and sleep and restoring darkness.

2271

Wealth with the flush hand and fine clothes and hospitality:

document	location	text
loc.00025	#l06	How magnificent are riches is wealth that spread over one affording gifts without stint from the ample hand, and superb clothes and hospitality

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

94 Leaves of Grass.

2272

But then the soul's wealth—which is candor and knowledge and pride and enfolding

love:

2273

Who goes for men and women showing poverty richer than wealth?

2274

Expression of speech . . in what is written or said forget not that silence is also

expressive,

2275

That anguish as hot as the hottest and contempt as cold as the coldest may be with-

out words,

2276

That the true adoration is likewise without words and without kneeling.

2277

Great is the greatest nation . . the nation of clusters of equal nations.

2278

Great is the earth, and the way it became what it is,

2279

Do you imagine it is stopped at this? . . . . and the increase abandoned?

2280

Understand then that it goes as far onward from this as this is from the times when

it lay in covering waters and gases.

document	location	text
duk.00104	#seg01	that in due time the earth _^beautiful as it is now, and will be as much beyond _^proportionately different from what it is now, as wh it now is proportionately different from what it was in its earlier gaseous or marine period, uncounted cycles before man and woman grew.

2281

Great is the quality of truth in man,

2282

The quality of truth in man supports itself through all changes,

2283

It is inevitably in the man . . . . He and it are in love, and never leave each other.

2284

The truth in man is no dictum . . . . it is vital as eyesight,

2285

If there be any soul there is truth . . . . if there be man or woman there is truth . . . .

If there be physical or moral there is truth,

2286

If there be equilibrium or volition there is truth . . . . if there be things at all upon the

earth there is truth.

2287

O truth of the earth! O truth of things! I am determined to press the whole way

toward you,

2288

Sound your voice! I scale mountains or dive in the sea after you.

2289

Great is language . . . . it is the mightiest of the sciences,

2290

It is the fulness and color and form and diversity of the earth . . . . and of men and

women . . . . and of all qualities and processes;

2291

It is greater than wealth . . . . it is greater than buildings or ships or religions or

paintings or music.

2292

Great is the English speech . . . . What speech is so great as the English?

2293

Great is the English brood . . . . What brood has so vast a destiny as the English?

2294

It is the mother of the brood that must rule the earth with the new rule,

2295

The new rule shall rule as the soul rules, and as the love and justice and equality

that are in the soul rule.

2296

Great is the law . . . . Great are the old few landmarks of the law . . . . they are the

same in all times and shall not be disturbed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Leaves of Grass. 95

2297

Great are marriage, commerce, newspapers, books, freetrade, railroads, steamers,

international mails and telegraphs and exchanges.

2298

Great is Justice;

2299

Justice is not settled by legislators and laws . . . . it is in the soul,

document	location	text
loc.00141	#ab02	* the people of this state shal instead of being ruled by the old complex laws, and the involved machinery of all governments hitherto, shall be ruled mainly by individual character and conviction.—The recognized character of the citizen shall be so pervaded by the best qualities of law and power that law and power shall be superseded from the government and transferred to the citizen
	#seg03	Justice does not depend upon is not varied or tempered in the passage of an laws by legislatures.
	#seg05	The quality of justice is in the soul.—It is immutable . . . . it remains through all times and nations and administrations . . . . it does not depend on majorities and and minorities . . . . Whoever violates it may shall fall pays the penalty just as certainly as he who violates the attraction of gravity . . . . whether a nation _^violates it or an individual, it makes no difference.

2300

It cannot be varied by statutes any more than love or pride or the attraction of

gravity can,

document	location	text
duk.00889	#l01	Does the light or heat pick out? Does the attraction o of _^gravity pick out?
loc.00141	#seg04	The legislatures cannot settle alter it any more than they can settle love or pride.—or the attraction of gravity.
	#seg05	The quality of justice is in the soul.—It is immutable . . . . it remains through all times and nations and administrations . . . . it does not depend on majorities and and minorities . . . . Whoever violates it may shall fall pays the penalty just as certainly as he who violates the attraction of gravity . . . . whether a nation _^violates it or an individual, it makes no difference.
loc.00142	#p08	The attraction of gravity is the law under which you make your house plumb but that's not what the law is specially made for
nyp.00029	#l01	The power by which the carpenter plumbs his house, is the same power that dashes his brains out if he fall from the roof.—
nyp.00129	#seg03	Priests and The doctors might all deny the attraction of gravity, and that sublime law power would never complain.—Be thou you like the grand powers.—

2301

It is immutable . . it does not depend on majorities . . . . majorities or what not come

at last before the same passionless and exact tribunal.

document	location	text
loc.00141	#seg05	The quality of justice is in the soul.—It is immutable . . . . it remains through all times and nations and administrations . . . . it does not depend on majorities and and minorities . . . . Whoever violates it may shall fall pays the penalty just as certainly as he who violates the attraction of gravity . . . . whether a nation _^violates it or an individual, it makes no difference.

2302

For justice are the grand natural lawyers and perfect judges . . . . it is in their souls,

2303

It is well assorted . . . . they have not studied for nothing . . . . the great includes the

less,

2304

They rule on the highest grounds . . . . they oversee all eras and states and

administrations,

2305

The perfect judge fears nothing . . . . he could go front to front before God,

2306

Before the perfect judge all shall stand back . . . . life and death shall stand back

. . . . heaven and hell shall stand back.

2307

Great is goodness;

2308

I do not know what it is any more than I know what health is . . . . but I know it is

great.

2309

Great is wickedness . . . . I find I often admire it just as much as I admire good-

ness:

2310

Do you call that a paradox? It certainly is a paradox.

2311

The eternal equilibrium of things is great, and the eternal overthrow of things is

great,

2312

And there is another paradox.

2313

Great is life . . and real and mystical . . wherever and whoever,

2314

Great is death . . . . Sure as life holds all parts together, death holds all parts

together;

2315

Sure as the stars return again after they merge in the light, death is great as life.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Reviews and extracts]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Free endpaper]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Endpaper]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Back cover]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [page break] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Spine]

document	location	text
prc.00127	#l09	_^Only What fully satisfies the senses _^of all all men is truth;
tex.00088	#seg05	Whatever thoroughly satisfies the soul is Truth.—

document	location	text
duk.00787	#l01	[cut away] myself to celebrate [cut away]
	#l03	I celebrate myself to celebrate you; every man and woman alive;
	#l06	I celebrate myself to celebrate you:

document	location	text
duk.00787	#l10	I transpose my my spirit
loc.01019	#seg05	Every hour, every atom, every where is chock with beautiful miracles,

document	location	text
uva.00250	#l06	Lo! I offer men no painted saucers—I make every one a present of the sun; himself;
	#l07	I have plenty more—I have millions of suns left.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#l14	Nor any more youth or age
uva.00568	#l04	TNor any more youth nor age than there is now [cut away]

document	location	text
loc.05589	#l15	And will never be any more perfection
uva.00568	#l06	Nor any more perfection than there is now.

document	location	text
loc.05589	#l16	Nor any more heaven or hell
uva.00568	#l03	I think there will never be any more heaven or hell than there is now,

document	location	text
duk.00942	#l07	How can you be so dark?
	#l08	Are you not from the white _^white blanched white heads of the old mothers of old mothers?

document	location	text
duk.00942	#l14	[And to the old men and the mothers?]
	#l15	[And the [cut away] _^[cut away]?] taken soon out of their laps—

document	location	text
loc.00346	#ab05	when they have a great heat in the fire.—
	#ab06	Five or six blacksmiths swing their sledges in overhand overhand overhand—

document	location	text
loc.00142	#p07	The ox is too dtired—he rests standing
uva.00561	#l03	[cut away] halt in the shade,
	#l04	[cut away] in your eyes oxen?

document	location	text
loc.00507	#l18	Me going in for my chances, . . . spending
	#l19	Spending for vast returns,

document	location	text
loc.00163	#q05	A lawyer, a doctor, a priest, a farmer sailor, an artist,
	#q06	A _^farmer, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a sailor, a cook,

document	location	text
yal.00483	#l02	I am not stuck up for these reasons;
	#l04	Because I am in my place what of that?

document	location	text
nyp.00078	#l18	Still _^[cut away] Night of Sleep—my bridal Night!
	#l02	Still slumberous night—
	#l03	Mad, naked, summer Night!

document	location	text
nyp.00078	#l07	Earth of the mountains, misty-topt!
	#l08	Earth of departed sunset—Earth of shine and dark, mottling the tide of the river!

document	location	text
nyp.00078	#l13	Prodigal! you have given me love;
	#l14	Therefore I to you give love;

document	location	text
loc.00042	#l12	These are the _^serene Philosophers of Nature,;
	#l13	Travelling, the earth sailing, measuring space,

document	location	text
loc.00387	#seg02	(As for me I am a born loafer.— democrat.—
uva.00269	#l02	I descend [many?] steps—I go backward primeval

document	location	text
loc.00142	#seg07	and that's what we call life.
	#seg17	and that's what we call life.—

document	location	text
duk.00001	#l05	They take every object by the hand, and lead it within me.—
uva.00602	#l05	Harmlessly softly pushing through

document	location	text
duk.00007	#l09	My feeling has made me brave from
	#l10	I am brave from th

document	location	text
loc.00346	#seg01	All truths lie hidde waiting in all things.
prc.00127	#l04	All truths stand ready wait in all things; places;

document	location	text
loc.00346	#seg02	They neither urge the opening of themselves nor resist it.—
prc.00127	#l06	They neither urge their own birth nor resist it;

document	location	text
loc.00346	#seg03	And the For their birth you need not the obstetric orforceps of the surgeon.
prc.00127	#l07	They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon;

document	location	text
loc.00346	#l12	The old woman that was chained and burnt with dry wood, and her children looking on,
	#l13	The great queens that walked serenely to the block,

document	location	text
loc.00346	#l18	And the buck shot, were
	#l20	The murderous buck-shot planted like terrible and the bullets.

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l03	But Do you stop there?
	#l05	Can you I live in no such infinitessimal meanness as that?

document	location	text
duk.00051	#l07	I disdain and denounce your shallow
	#l08	I _^ outbid you, shallow hucksters!

document	location	text
duk.00018	#l07	Ists glory floods the moon,
	#l08	Which of a night shines in some turbid pool,
	#l09	Shaken by soughing winds;