Poemet

per.00074.001per.00074.001_cropped [For the Saturday Press.]

Poemet.¹

That shadow, my likeness, that goes to and fro, seek- 
  ing a livelihood, chattering, chaffering, How often I find myself standing and looking at it 
  where it flits, How often I question and doubt whether that is really 
  me; But in these, and among my lovers, and carolling my 
  songs, O I never doubt whether that is really me. WALT WHITMAN.

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Notes

1. This poem later appeared as "Calamus No. 40," Leaves of Grass (1860); as "That Shadow My Likeness," Leaves of Grass (1867); and, with slight changes in the text, in Leaves of Grass (1881–82). [back]