 | Leaves of grass (1872) |  |
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Fall behind me, States!A man before all—myself, typical, before all.
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Give me the pay I have served for!Give me to sing the song of the great Idea! take all the rest;
I have loved the earth, sun, animals—I have despised riches,
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I have hated tyrants, argued not concerning God, had patience and indulgence toward the people, taken off my hat to nothing known or unknown,
I have gone freely with powerful uneducated persons, and with the young, and with the mothers of families,
I have read these leaves to myself in the open air—I have tried them by trees, stars, rivers,
I have dismiss'd whatever insulted my own Soul or defiled my Body,
I have claim'd nothing to myself which I have not carefully claim'd for others on the same terms,
I have sped to the camps, and comrades found and accepted from every State;
(In war of you, as well as peace, my suit is good, America—sadly I boast;
Upon this breast has many a dying soldier lean'd, to breathe his last;
This arm, this hand, this voice, have nourish'd, rais'd, restored,
To life recalling many a prostrate form:)
—I am willing to wait to be understood by the growth of the taste of myself,
I reject none, I permit all.
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(Say, O mother! have I not to your thought been faithful?Have I not, through life, kept you and yours before me?)
| Leaves of grass (1872) | |