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 | Leaves of grass (1872) |  |
18
55
I swear I dare not shirk any part of myself,Not any part of America, good or bad,
Not the promulgation of Liberty—not to cheer up slaves and horrify foreign despots,
Not to build for that which builds for mankind,
Not to balance ranks, complexions, creeds, and the sexes,
Not to justify science, nor the march of equality,
Nor to feed the arrogant blood of the brawn beloved of time.
56
I swear I am for those that have never been master'd!For men and women whose tempers have never been master'd,
For those whom laws, theories, conventions, can never master.
325
57
I swear I am for those who walk abreast with the whole earth!Who inaugurate one, to inaugurate all.
58
I swear I will not be outfaced by irrational things!I will penetrate what it is in them that is sarcastic upon me!
I will make cities and civilizations defer to me!
This is what I have learnt from America—it is the amount—and it I teach again.
59
(Democracy! while weapons were everywhere aim'd at your breast,I saw you serenely give birth to immortal children—saw in dreams your dilating form;
Saw you with spreading mantle covering the world.)
| Leaves of grass (1872) | |