 | Leaves of grass. |  |
4
5 Muscle and pluck forever!
What invigorates life, invigorates death,
And the dead advance as much as the living advance,
And the future is no more uncertain than the present,
And the roughness of the earth and of man encloses as much as the delicatesse of the earth and of man,
And nothing endures but personal qualities.
6 What do you think
endures?
Do you think the great city endures?
Or a teeming manufacturing state? or a prepared con- stitution? or the best built steamships?
Or hotels of granite and iron? or any chef-d'eouvres of engineering, forts, armaments?
7 Away ! These are not to be cherish'd for themselves;
They fill their hour, the dancers dance, the musicians play for them;
The show passes, all does well enough of course,
All does very well till one flash of defiance.
8 The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman;
If it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world.
What invigorates life, invigorates death,
And the dead advance as much as the living advance,
And the future is no more uncertain than the present,
And the roughness of the earth and of man encloses as much as the delicatesse of the earth and of man,
And nothing endures but personal qualities.
174
Do you think the great city endures?
Or a teeming manufacturing state? or a prepared con- stitution? or the best built steamships?
Or hotels of granite and iron? or any chef-d'eouvres of engineering, forts, armaments?
7 Away ! These are not to be cherish'd for themselves;
They fill their hour, the dancers dance, the musicians play for them;
The show passes, all does well enough of course,
All does very well till one flash of defiance.
8 The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman;
If it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world.
| Leaves of grass. | |