Leaves of grass. | ||
16
56 With me, with firm
holding — yet haste, haste on.
57 For your life, adhere to me;
Of all the men of the earth, I only can unloose you and toughen you;
I may have to be persuaded many times before I consent to give myself to you — but what of that?
Must not Nature be persuaded many times?
58 No dainty dolce affettuoso I;
Bearded, sunburnt, gray-neck'd, forbidding, I have arrived,
To be wrestled with as I pass, for the solid prizes of the universe;
For such I afford whoever can persevere to win them.
57 For your life, adhere to me;
Of all the men of the earth, I only can unloose you and toughen you;
I may have to be persuaded many times before I consent to give myself to you — but what of that?
Must not Nature be persuaded many times?
58 No dainty dolce affettuoso I;
Bearded, sunburnt, gray-neck'd, forbidding, I have arrived,
To be wrestled with as I pass, for the solid prizes of the universe;
For such I afford whoever can persevere to win them.
20
Leaves of grass. | ||