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 | Leaves of grass. |  |
37
238 O Christ ! This is
mastering me!
Through the conquer'd doors they crowd. I am possess'd.
239 I embody all presences outlaw'd or suffering;
See myself in prison shaped like another man,
And feel the dull unintermitted pain.
240 For me the keepers of convicts shoulder their ear- bines and keep watch;
It is I let out in the morning, and barr'd at night.
241 Not a mutineer walks handcuff'd to jail, but I am handcuff'd to him and walk by his side;
(I am less the jolly one there, and more the silent one, with sweat on my twitching lips.)
242 Not a youngster is
taken for larceny, but I go up too,
and am tried
and sentenced.
243 Not a cholera patient lies at the last gasp, but I also lie at the last gasp;
My face is ash-color'd — my sinews gnarl — away from me people retreat.
244 Askers embody themselves in me, and I am embo- died in them;
I project my hat, sit shame-faced, and beg.
Through the conquer'd doors they crowd. I am possess'd.
239 I embody all presences outlaw'd or suffering;
See myself in prison shaped like another man,
And feel the dull unintermitted pain.
240 For me the keepers of convicts shoulder their ear- bines and keep watch;
It is I let out in the morning, and barr'd at night.
241 Not a mutineer walks handcuff'd to jail, but I am handcuff'd to him and walk by his side;
(I am less the jolly one there, and more the silent one, with sweat on my twitching lips.)
74
243 Not a cholera patient lies at the last gasp, but I also lie at the last gasp;
My face is ash-color'd — my sinews gnarl — away from me people retreat.
244 Askers embody themselves in me, and I am embo- died in them;
I project my hat, sit shame-faced, and beg.
| Leaves of grass. | |