 | Leaves of grass. (1861-1861) |  |
236
[17. I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame]
I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame,I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate,
I see the wife misused by her husband—I see the treacherous seducer of the young woman,
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be hid—I see these sights on the earth,
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny—I see martyrs and prisoners,
I observe a famine at sea—I observe the sailors casting lots who shall be killed, to preserve the lives of the rest,
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these—All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent.
| Leaves of grass. (1861-1861) | |