 | Leaves of grass. |  |
I WAS LOOKING A LONG WHILE.
I was looking a long while for the
history of the past
for myself, and
for these chants — and now I
have found it;
It is not in those paged fables in the libraries, (them I neither accept nor reject;)
It is no more in the legends than in all else;
It is in the present — it is this earth to-day;
It is in Democracy — in this America — the old world also;
It is the life of one man or one woman to-day, the average man of to-day;
It is languages, social customs, literatures, arts;
It is the broad show of artificial things, ships, ma- chinery, politics, creeds, modern improvements, and the interchange of nations,
All for the average man of to-day.
It is not in those paged fables in the libraries, (them I neither accept nor reject;)
It is no more in the legends than in all else;
It is in the present — it is this earth to-day;
It is in Democracy — in this America — the old world also;
It is the life of one man or one woman to-day, the average man of to-day;
It is languages, social customs, literatures, arts;
It is the broad show of artificial things, ships, ma- chinery, politics, creeds, modern improvements, and the interchange of nations,
All for the average man of to-day.
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| Leaves of grass. | |