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Leaves of Grass

  
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LEAVES OF GRASS.
 1. 
1 — Poem of Walt Whitman, an American.
 2. 
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.
 13. 
13 — Poem of Procreation.
 14. 
14 — Poem of The Poet.
 15. 
15 — Clef Poem.
 16. 
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.
 25. 
25 — Poem of The Child That Went Forth, and Always Goes Forth, Forever and Forever
 26. 
26 — Night Poem.
 27. 
27 — Poem of Faces.
 28. 
28 — Bunch Poem.
 29. 
29 — Lesson Poem.
 30. 
30 — Poem of The Propositions of Nakedness.
 31. 
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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29 — Lesson Poem.

WHO learns my lesson complete?      Boss, journeyman, apprentice? churchman      and atheist?
The stupid and the wise thinker? parents and      offspring? merchant, clerk, porter, and cus-     tomer? editor, author, artist, and school-     boy?
Draw nigh and commence,
It is no lesson, it lets down the bars to a good      lesson,
And that to another, and every one to another      still.
The great laws take and effuse without argument,
I am of the same style, for I am their friend,
I love them quits and quits — I do not halt and      make salaams.
I lie abstracted and hear beautiful tales of things      and the reasons of things,
They are so beautiful I nudge myself to listen.
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I cannot say to any person what I hear — I      cannot say it to myself — it is very won-     derful.
It is no little matter, this round and delicious globe      moving so exactly in its orbit forever and      ever without one jolt or the untruth of a      single second,
I do not think it was made in six days, nor      in ten thousand years, nor ten decillions of      years,
Nor planned and built one thing after another, as      an architect plans and builds a house.
I do not think seventy years is the time of a man      or woman,
Nor that seventy millions of years is the time of a      man or woman,
Nor that years will ever stop the existence of me      or any one else.
Is it wonderful that I should be immortal? as      every one is immortal,
I know it is wonderful — but my eye-sight is      equally wonderful, and how I was con-     ceived in my mother's womb is equally      wonderful,
And how I was not palpable once, but am now —      and was born on the last day of May in the      Year 43 of America — and passed from a
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babe, in the creeping trance of three summers      and three winters, to articulate and walk —      all this is equally wonderful,
And that I grew six feet high, and that I have      become a man thirty-six years old in the Year      79 of America, and that I am here anyhow,      are all equally wonderful,
And that my soul embraces you this hour, and we      affect each other without ever seeing each      other, and never perhaps to see each other,      is every bit as wonderful,
And that I can think such thoughts as these is      just as wonderful,
And that I can remind you, and you think them and      know them to be true, is just as wonderful,
And that the moon spins round the earth, and on      with the earth, is equally wonderful,
And that they balance themselves with the sun      and stars is equally wonderful.
Come! I should like to hear you tell me what      there is in yourself that is not just as won-     derful,
And I should like to hear the name of anything      between Sunday morning and Saturday night      that is not just as wonderful.
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