Leaves of Grass :: :: University of Virginia Library

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I am good- fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

The earth — that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women — I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am filled with them, and I will fill them in return.

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You road I travel and look around! I believe you are not all that is here!
I believe that something unseen is also here.

Here is the profound lesson of reception, neither      preference or denial,
The black with his woolly head, the felon, the      diseased, the illiterate person, are not de-     nied,
The birth, the hasting after the physician, the      beggar's tramp, the drunkard's stagger, the      laughing party of mechanics,
The escaped youth, the rich person's carriage, the      fop, the eloping couple,
The early market-man, the hearse, the moving of      furniture into the town, the return back from      the town,
They pass, I also pass, any thing passes, none can      be interdicted,
None but are accepted, none but are dear to me.

You air that serves me with breath to speak!
You objects that call from diffusion my meanings      and give them shape!
You light that wraps me and all things in delicate      equable showers!
You animals moving serenely over the earth!
You birds that wing yourselves through the air!      you insects!

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You sprouting growths from the farmers' fields!      you stalks and weeds by the fences!
You paths worn in the irregular hollows by the      road-sides!
I think you are latent with curious existences —      you are so dear to me.

You flagged walks of the cities! you strong curbs      at the edges!
You ferries! you planks and posts of wharves!      you timber-lined sides! you distant ships!
You rows of houses! you window-pierced facades!      you roofs!
You porches and entrances! you copings and iron      guards!
You windows whose transparent shells might      expose so much!
You doors and ascending steps! you arches!
You gray stones of interminable pavements! you      trodden crossings!
From all that has been near you I believe you      have imparted to yourselves, and now would      impart the same secretly to me,
From the living and the dead I think you have      peopled your impassive surfaces, and the      spirits thereof would be evident and ami-     cable with me.

The earth expanding right hand and left hand,

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The picture alive, every part in its best light,
The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road — the gay fresh sentiment of the road.

O highway I travel! O public road! do you say      to me, Do not leave me?
Do you say, Venture not? If you leave me, you      are lost?
Do you say, I am already prepared — I am well-     beaten and undenied — Adhere to me?

O public road! I say back, I am not afraid to leave you — yet I love you,
You express me better than I can express myself,
You shall be more to me than my poem.

I think heroic deeds were all conceived in the open air,
I think I could stop here myself, and do miracles,
I think whatever I meet on the road I shall like, and whatever beholds me shall like me,
I think whoever I see must be happy.

From this hour, freedom!
From this hour, I ordain myself loosed of limits and imaginary lines!
Going where I list — my own master, total and absolute,

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Listening to others, and considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.

I inhale great draughts of air,
The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.

I am larger than I thought!
I did not know I held so much goodness!

All seems beautiful to me,
I can repeat over to men and women, You have done such good to me, I would do the same to you.

I will recruit for myself and you as I go,
I will scatter myself among men and women as      I go,
I will toss the new gladness and roughness among
Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me,
Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed,      and shall bless me.

Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear, it would not amaze me,

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Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women ap- peared, it would not astonish me.

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons,
It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth.

Here is space — here a great personal deed has      room,
A great deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole      race of men,
Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law,      and mocks all authority and all argument      against it.

Here is the test of wisdom,
Wisdom is not finally tested in schools,
Wisdom cannot be passed from one having it, to      another not having it,
Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof,      is its own proof,
Applies to all stages and objects and qualities, and      is content,
Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of      things, and the excellence of things,
Something there is in the float of the sight of      things that provokes it out of the soul.

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Now I re-examine philosophics and religions,
They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds, and along the landscape and flowing currents.

Here is realization,
Here is a man tallied — he realizes here what he has in him,
The animals, the past, the future, light, space, majesty, love, if they are vacant of you, you are vacant of them.

Only the kernel of every object nourishes;
Where is he who tears off the husks for you and me?
Where is he that undoes stratagems and envelopes for you and me?

Here is adhesiveness — it is not previously fashioned, it is apropos;
Do you know what it is as you pass to be loved by strangers?
Do you know the talk of those turning eye-balls?

Here is the efflux of the soul,
The efflux of the soul comes through beautiful gates of laws, provoking questions,
These yearnings, why are they? these thoughts in the darkness, why are they?

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Why are there men and women that while they      are nigh me the sun-light expands my blood?
Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy      sink flat and lank?
Why are there trees I never walk under but large      and melodious thoughts descend upon me?
(I think they hang there winter and summer on      those trees, and always drop fruit as I pass;)
What is it I interchange so suddenly with stran-     gers?
What with some driver as I ride on the seat by      his side?
What with some fisherman, drawing his seine by      the shore, as I walk by and pause?
What gives me to be free to a woman's or man's      good-will? What gives them to be free to      mine?

The efflux of the soul is happiness — here is happiness,
I think it pervades the air, waiting at all times,
Now it flows into us — we are rightly charged.

Here rises the fluid and attaching character;
The fluid and attaching character is the freshness and sweetness of man and woman,
The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and sweeter every day out of the roots of them- selves, than it sprouts fresh and sweet contin- ually out of itself.

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Toward the fluid and attaching character exudes      the sweat of the love of young and old,
From it falls distilled the charm that mocks beauty      and attainments,
Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of      contact.

Allons! Whoever you are, come travel with me!
Traveling with me, you find what never tires.

The earth never tires!
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at      first — nature is rude and incomprehensible      at first,
Be not discouraged — keep on — there are divine      things, well enveloped,
I swear to you there are divine things more beau-     tiful than words can tell!

Allons! We must not stop here!
However sweet these laid-up stores, however      convenient this dwelling, we cannot remain      here!
However sheltered this port, however calm these      waters, we must not anchor here!
However welcome the hospitality that surrounds      us, we are permitted to receive it but a little      while.

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Allons! the inducements shall be great to you,
We will sail pathless and wild seas,
We will go where winds blow, waves dash, and the Yankee clipper speeds by under full sail.

Allons! With power, liberty, the earth, the elements!
Health, defiance, gaiety, self-esteem, curiosity!

Allons! From all formulas!
From your formulas, O bat-eyed and materialistic priests!

The stale cadaver blocks up the passage — the burial waits no longer.

Allons! Yet take warning!
He traveling with me needs the best blood, thews, endurance,
None may come to the trial till he or she bring courage and health.

Come not here if you have already spent the best      of yourself!
Only those may come who come in sweet and      determined bodies,
No diseased person — no rum-drinker or venereal      taint is permitted here,

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I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes, rhymes,
We convince by our presence.

Listen! I will be honest with you,
I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer      rough new prizes,
These are the days that must happen to you:
You shall not heap up what is called riches,
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you      earn or achieve,
You but arrive at the city to which you were      destined — you hardly settle yourself to satis-     faction, before you are called by an irresistible      call to depart,
You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and      mockings of those who remain behind you,
What beckonings of love you receive, you shall      only answer with passionate kisses of parting,
You shall not allow the hold of those who spread      their reached hands toward you.

Allons! After the great companions! and to be- long to them!
They too are on the road! they are the swift and majestic men! they are the greatest women!

Over that which hindered them, over that which retarded, passing impediments large or small,

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Committers of crimes, committers of many beauti-     ful virtues,
Enjoyers of calms of seas, and storms of seas,
Sailors of many a ship, walkers of many a mile of      land,
Habitues of many different countries, habitues of      far-distant dwellings,
Trusters of men and women, observers of cities,      solitary toilers,
Pausers and contemplaters of tufts, blossoms, shells      of the shore,
Dancers at wedding-dances, kissers of brides,      tender helpers of children, bearers of children,
Soldiers of revolts, standers by gaping graves,      lowerers down of coffins,
Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the      years — the curious years, each emerging      from that which preceded it,
Journeyers as with companions, namely, their own      diverse phases,
Forth-steppers from the latent unrealized baby-     days,
Journeyers gaily with their own youth — journey-     ers with their bearded and well-grained      manhood,
Journeyers with their womanhood, ample, unsur-     passed, content,
Journeyers with their sublime old age of manhood      or womanhood,

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Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe,
Old age, flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.

Allons! to that which is endless as it was      beginningless!
To undergo much, tramps of days, rests of nights!
To merge all in the travel they tend to, and the      days and nights they tend to!
Again to merge them in the start of superior      journeys!
To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach      it and pass it!
To conceive no time, however distant, but what      you may reach it and pass it!
To look up or down no road but it stretches and      waits for you! however long, but it stretches      and waits for you!
To see no being, not God's or any, but you also      go thither!
To see no possession but you may possess it!      enjoying all without labor or purchase —      abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one      particle of it;
To take the best of the farmer's farm and the rich      man's elegant villa, and the chaste blessings      of the well-married couple, and the fruits of      orchards and flowers of gardens!

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To take to your use out of the compact cities as      you pass through!
To carry buildings and streets with you afterward      wherever you go!
To gather the minds of men out of their brains as      you encounter them! to gather the love out      of their hearts!
To take your own lovers on the road with      you, for all that you leave them behind      you!
To know the universe itself as a road — as many      roads — as roads for traveling souls!

The soul travels,
The body does not travel as much as the soul,
The body has just as great a work as the soul, and parts away at last for the journeys of the soul.

All parts away for the progress of souls,
All religion, all solid things, arts, governments — all that was or is apparent upon this globe or any globe, falls into niches and corners before the processions of souls along the grand roads of the universe,
Of the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.

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Forever alive, forever forward,
Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad,      turbulent, feeble, dissatisfied,
Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men,      rejected by men,
They go! they go! I know that they go, but I      know not where they go,
But I know that they go toward the best —
toward something great.

Allons! Whoever you are! come forth!
You must not stay in your house, though you built it, or though it has been built for you.

Allons! out of the dark confinement!
It is useless to protest — I know all, and expose it.

Behold through you as bad as the rest!
Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,
Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those washed and trimmed faces,
Behold a secret silent loathing and despair!

No husband, no wife, no friend, no lover, so      trusted as to hear the confession,
Another self, a duplicate of every one, skulking and      hiding it goes, open and above-board it goes,
Formless and wordless through the streets of the      cities, polite and bland in the parlors,

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In the cars of rail-roads, in steam-boats, in the      public assembly,
Home to the houses of men and women, among      their families, at the table, in the bed-room,      every where,
Smartly attired, countenance smiling, form upright,      death under the breast-bones, hell under the      skull-bones,
Under the broad-cloth and gloves, under the      ribbons and artificial flowers,
Keeping fair with the customs, speaking not a      syllable of itself,
Speaking of anything else, but never of itself.

Allons! through struggles and wars!
The goal that was named cannot be counter-     manded.
Have the past struggles succeeded?
What has succeeded? Yourself? Your nation?      Nature?
Now understand me well — it is provided in the      essence of things, that from any fruition of      success, no matter what, shall come forth      something to make a greater struggle neces-     sary.

My call is the call of battle — I nourish active rebellion,

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He going with me must go well armed,
He going with me goes often with spare diet, poverty, angry enemies, contentions.

Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe — I have tried it — my own feet have tried it well.

Allons! be not detained!
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and      the book on the shelf unopened!
Let the tools remain in the work-shop! let the      money remain unearned!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the      teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the      lawyer plead in the court, and the judge      expound the law!

Mon enfant! I give you my hand!
I give you my love, more precious than money,
I give you myself, before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?