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 | Leaves of grass (1872) |  |
4
11
In the Year 80 of The States,My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here, from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-six years old, in perfect health, begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
12
Creeds and schools in abeyance,(Retiring back a while, sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,)
I harbor, for good or bad—I permit to speak, at every hazard,
Nature now without check, with original energy.
| Leaves of grass (1872) | |