 | Leaves of grass (1872) |  |
3
6
Meanwhile, corpses lie in new-made graves—bloody corpses of young men;The rope of the gibbet hangs heavily, the bullets of princes are flying, the creatures of power laugh aloud,
And all these things bear fruits—and they are good.
7
Those corpses of young men,Those martyrs that hang from the gibbets—those hearts pierc'd by the gray lead,
Cold and motionless as they seem, live elsewhere with unslaughter'd vitality.
8
They live in other young men, O kings!They live in brothers, again ready to defy you!
They were purified by death—they were taught and exalted.
9
Not a grave of the murder'd for freedom, but grows seed for freedom, in its turn to bear seed,Which the winds carry afar and re-sow, and the rains and the snows nourish.
10
Not a disembodied spirit can the weapons of tyrants let loose,But it stalks invisibly over the earth, whispering, counseling, cautioning.
| Leaves of grass (1872) | |