 | Leaves of grass. |  |
15
36 O the joy of suffering!
To struggle against great odds! to meet enemies un- daunted!
To be entirely alone with them! to find how much one
can stand!
To look strife, torture, prison, popular odium, death, face to face!
To mount the scaffold! to advance to the muzzles of guns with perfect nonchalance!
To be indeed a God!
37 O the gleesome saunter over fields and hill-sides!
The leaves and flowers of the commonest weeds — the moist fresh stillness of the woods,
The exquisite smell of the earth at day-break, and all through the forenoon.
38 O love-branches! love-root! love-apples!
O chaste and electric torrents! O mad-sweet drops.
39 O the orator's joys!
To inflate the chest — to roll the thunder of the voice out from the ribs and throat,
To make the people rage, weep, hate, desire, with yourself,
To lead America — to quell America with a great tongue.
40 O the joy of a manly self-hood!
Personality — to be servile to none — to defer to none — not to any tyrant, known or unknown,
To walk with erect carriage, a step springy and elastic,
To look with calm gaze, or with a flashing eye,
To speak with a full and sonorous voice, out of a broad chest,
To confront with your personality all the other per- sonalities of the earth.
41 O to have my life henceforth my poem of joys!
To dance, clap hands, exult, shout, skip, leap, roll on, float on,
An athlete — full of rich words — full of joys.
To struggle against great odds! to meet enemies un- daunted!
279
To look strife, torture, prison, popular odium, death, face to face!
To mount the scaffold! to advance to the muzzles of guns with perfect nonchalance!
To be indeed a God!
37 O the gleesome saunter over fields and hill-sides!
The leaves and flowers of the commonest weeds — the moist fresh stillness of the woods,
The exquisite smell of the earth at day-break, and all through the forenoon.
38 O love-branches! love-root! love-apples!
O chaste and electric torrents! O mad-sweet drops.
39 O the orator's joys!
To inflate the chest — to roll the thunder of the voice out from the ribs and throat,
To make the people rage, weep, hate, desire, with yourself,
To lead America — to quell America with a great tongue.
40 O the joy of a manly self-hood!
Personality — to be servile to none — to defer to none — not to any tyrant, known or unknown,
To walk with erect carriage, a step springy and elastic,
To look with calm gaze, or with a flashing eye,
To speak with a full and sonorous voice, out of a broad chest,
To confront with your personality all the other per- sonalities of the earth.
41 O to have my life henceforth my poem of joys!
To dance, clap hands, exult, shout, skip, leap, roll on, float on,
An athlete — full of rich words — full of joys.
280
| Leaves of grass. | |