 | Leaves of grass. |  |
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18 The SOUL!
Forever and forever — longer than soil is brown and solid — longer than water ebbs and flows.
19 I will make the poems of
materials, for I think they
are to be the
most spiritual poems;
And I will make the poems of my body and of mor- tality,
For I think I shall then supply myself with the poems of my Soul, and of immortality.
20 I will make a song for These States, that no one State may under any circumstances be sub- jected to another State;
And I will make a song that there shall be comity by day and by night between all The States, and between any two of them;
And I will make a song for the ears of the President, full of weapons with menacing points,
And behind the weapons countless dissatisfied faces :
And a song make I, of the One form'd out of all;
The fang'd and glittering One whose head is over all;
Resolute, warlike One, including and over all;
(However high the head of any else, that head is over all.)
21 I will acknowledge contemporary lands;
I will trail the whole geography of the globe, and sa- lute courteously every city large and small;
And employments! I will put in my poems, that with you is heroism, upon land and sea — And I will report all heroism from an American point of view;
And sexual organs and acts! do you concentrate in me — for I am determin'd to tell you with cour- ageous clear voice, to prove you illustrious.
22 I will sing the song of companionship;
I will show what alone must finally compact These;
I believe These are to found their own ideal of manly love, indicating it in me;
I will therefore let flame from me the burning fires that were threatening to consume me;
I will lift what has too long kept down those
smoul- dering
fires;
I will give them complete abandonment;
I will write the evangel-poem of comrades and of
love;
(For who but I should understand love, with all its
sorrow and joy?
And who but I should be the poet of comrades?)
Forever and forever — longer than soil is brown and solid — longer than water ebbs and flows.
11
And I will make the poems of my body and of mor- tality,
For I think I shall then supply myself with the poems of my Soul, and of immortality.
20 I will make a song for These States, that no one State may under any circumstances be sub- jected to another State;
And I will make a song that there shall be comity by day and by night between all The States, and between any two of them;
And I will make a song for the ears of the President, full of weapons with menacing points,
And behind the weapons countless dissatisfied faces :
And a song make I, of the One form'd out of all;
The fang'd and glittering One whose head is over all;
Resolute, warlike One, including and over all;
(However high the head of any else, that head is over all.)
21 I will acknowledge contemporary lands;
I will trail the whole geography of the globe, and sa- lute courteously every city large and small;
And employments! I will put in my poems, that with you is heroism, upon land and sea — And I will report all heroism from an American point of view;
And sexual organs and acts! do you concentrate in me — for I am determin'd to tell you with cour- ageous clear voice, to prove you illustrious.
22 I will sing the song of companionship;
I will show what alone must finally compact These;
I believe These are to found their own ideal of manly love, indicating it in me;
I will therefore let flame from me the burning fires that were threatening to consume me;
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I will give them complete abandonment;
I will write the evangel-poem of comrades and of
love;
(For who but I should understand love, with all its
sorrow and joy?
And who but I should be the poet of comrades?)
| Leaves of grass. | |