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Leaves of Grass

  
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LEAVES OF GRASS.
 1. 
1 — Poem of Walt Whitman, an American.
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2 — Poem of Women.
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3 — Poem of Salutation.
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4 — Poem of The Daily Work of The Workmen and Workwomen of These States.
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5 — Broad-Axe Poem.
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6 — Poem of a Few Greatnesses.
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7 — Poem of The Body.
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8 — Poem of Many In One.
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9 — Poem of Wonder at The Resurrection of The Wheat.
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10 — Poem of You, Whoever You Are.
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11 — Sun-Down Poem.
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12 — Poem of The Road.
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13 — Poem of Procreation.
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14 — Poem of The Poet.
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15 — Clef Poem.
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16 — Poem of The Dead Young Men of Europe, The 72d and 73d Years of These States
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17 — Poem of The Heart of The Son of Manhattan Island.
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18 — Poem of The Last Explanation of Prudence.
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19 — Poem of The Singers, and of The Words of Poems.
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20 — Faith Poem.
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21 — Liberty Poem for Asia, Africa, Europe, America, Australia, Cuba, and The Archipelogoes of the Sea.
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22 — Poem of Apparitions in Boston, The 78th Year of These States.
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23 — Poem of Remembrances for A Girl or A Boy of These States.
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24 — Poem of Perfect Miracles.
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25 — Poem of The Child That Went Forth, and Always Goes Forth, Forever and Forever
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26 — Night Poem.
 27. 
27 — Poem of Faces.
 28. 
28 — Bunch Poem.
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29 — Lesson Poem.
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30 — Poem of The Propositions of Nakedness.
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31 — Poem of The Sayers of The Words of The Earth.
 32. 
32 — Burial Poem.
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LEAVES-DROPPINGS.
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Correspondence.
 1. 
LETTER TO WALT WHITMAN.
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LETTER TO RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
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Opinions. 1855-6.
 1. 
From the London Weekly Dispatch. (London, England.) LEAVES OF GRASS. By Walt Whitman. Horsell, Oxford Street.
 2. 
From the Brooklyn Daily Times. LEAVES OF GRASS. A volume of Poems, just published.
 3. 
From the Christian Spiritualist. LEAVES OF GRASS.
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From the American Phrenological Journal. AN ENGLISH AND AN AMERICAN POET.
 5. 
From the Critic. (London, England.) LEAVES OF GRASS. New York, 1855. London: Horsell.
 6. 
From the Examiner. (London, England.) LEAVES OF GRASS. Brooklyn, New York.
 7. 
From the London Leader. TRANSATLANTIC LATTER-DAY POETRY.
 7. 
From the Boston Intelligencer, May 8d, 1856 LEAVES OF GRASS. Brooklyn, New York, 1855.

  
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21 — Liberty Poem for Asia, Africa, Europe, America, Australia, Cuba, and The Archipelogoes of the Sea.

COURAGE! my brother or my sister!      Keep on! Liberty is to be subserved, what-     ever occurs;
That is nothing, that is quelled by one or two fail-     ures, or any number of failures,
Or by the indifference or ingratitude of the      people,
Or the show of the tushes of power — soldiers,      cannon, penal statutes.
What we believe in waits latent forever through      Asia, Africa, Europe, America, Australia,      Cuba, and all the islands and archipelagoes      of the sea;
What we believe in invites no one, promises      nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive      and composed, knows no discouragement,
Waits patiently its time — a year — a century —      a hundred centuries.
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The battle rages with many a loud alarm and      frequent advance and retreat,
The infidel triumphs — or supposes he triumphs,
The prison, scaffold, garrote, hand-cuffs, iron neck-     lace and anklet, lead-balls, do their work,
The named and unnamed heroes pass to other      spheres,
The great speakers and writers are exiled — they      lie sick in distant lands,
The cause is asleep — the strong throats are      choked with their own blood,
The young men drop their eye-lashes toward the      ground when they meet,
But for all this, liberty has not gone out of the      place, nor the infidel entered into pos-     session.
When liberty goes out of a place, it is not the      first to go, nor the second or third to go,
It waits for all the rest to go — it is the last.
When there are no more memories of the lovers      of the whole of the nations of the world,
The lovers' names scouted in the public gatherings      by the lips of the orators,
Boys not christened after them, but christened      after traitors and murderers instead,
Laws for slaves sweet to the taste of people —      the slave-hunt acknowledged,
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You or I walking abroad upon the earth, elated      at the sight of slaves, no matter who they      are,
And when all life and all the souls of men and      women are discharged from any part of the      earth,
Then shall the instinct of liberty be discharged      from that part of the earth,
Then shall the infidel and the tyrant come into      possession.
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