 | Leaves of grass (1872) |  |
40
254
Flaunt of the sunshine, I need not your bask,—lie over!You light surfaces only—I force surfaces and depths also.
255
Earth! you seem to look for something at my hands;Say, old Top-knot! what do you want?
256
Man or woman! I might tell how I like you, but cannot;And might tell what it is in me, and what it is in you, but cannot;
And might tell that pining I have—that pulse of my night and days.
257
Behold! I do not give lectures, or a little charity;When I give, I give myself.
258
You there, impotent, loose in the knees!Open your scarf'd chops till I blow grit within you;
Spread your palms, and lift the flaps of your pockets;
79
And anything I have I bestow.
259
I do not ask who you are—that is not so important to me;You can do nothing, and be nothing, but what I will infold you.
260
To cotton-field drudge or cleaner of privies I lean;On his right cheek I put the family kiss,
And in my soul I swear, I never will deny him.
261
On women fit for conception I start bigger and nimbler babes;(This day I am jetting the stuff of far more arrogant republics.)
262
To any one dying—thither I speed, and twist the knob of the door;Turn the bed-clothes toward the foot of the bed;
Let the physician and the priest go home.
263
I seize the descending man, and raise him with resistless will.264
O despairer, here is my neck;By God! you shall not go down! Hang your whole weight upon me.
265
I dilate you with tremendous breath—I buoy you up;Every room of the house do I fill with an arm'd force,
Lovers of me, bafflers of graves.
266
Sleep! I and they keep guard all night;Not doubt—not decease shall dare to lay finger upon you;
I have embraced you, and henceforth possess you to myself;
80
| Leaves of grass (1872) | |