Leaves of grass. :: :: University of Virginia Library

Of the visages of things — And of piercing through      to the accepted hells beneath;
Of ugliness — To me there is just as much in it as      there is in beauty — And now the ugliness of      human beings is acceptable to me;
Of detected persons — To me, detected persons are      not, in any respect, worse than undetected per-     sons — and are not in any respect worse than I      am myself;
Of criminals — To me, any judge, or any juror, is      equally criminal — and any reputable person is      also — and the President is also.

2.

OF waters, forests, hills;
Of the earth at large, whispering through medium of      me;
Of vista — Suppose some sight in arriere, through the      formative chaos, presuming the growth, fulness,      life, now attain'd on the journey;
(But I see the road continued, and the journey ever      continued;)
Of what was once lacking on earth, and in due time      has become supplied — And of what will yet be      supplied,
Because all I see and know, I believe to have purport      in what will yet be supplied.

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3.

OF persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies,      wealth, scholarships, and the like;
To me, all that those persons have arrived at, sinks      away from them, except as it results to their      Bodies and Souls,
So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked;
And often, to me, each one mocks the others, and      mocks himself or herself,
And of each one, the core of life, namely happiness,      is full of the rotten excrement of maggots,
And often, to me, those men and women pass unwit-     tingly the true realities of life, and go toward      false realities,
And often, to me, they are alive after what custom has      served them, but nothing more,
And often, to me, they are sad, hasty, unwaked son-     nambules, walking the dusk.

4.

OF ownership — As if one fit to own things could not      at pleasure enter upon all, and incorporate      them into himself or herself;
Of Equality — As if it harm'd me, giving others the      same chances and rights as myself — As if it      were not indispensable to my own rights that      others possess the same;
Of Justice — As if Justice could be anything but the      same ample law, expounded by natural judges      and saviors,
As if it might be this thing or that thing, according      to decisions.

5.

As I sit with others, at a great feast, suddenly, while the music is playing,

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To my mind, (whence it comes I know not,) spectral,      in mist, of a wreck at sea,
Of the flower of the marine science of fifty generations,      founder'd off the Northeast coast, and going      down — Of the steamship Arctic going down,
Of the veil'd tableau — Women gather'd together on      deck, pale, heroic, waiting the moment that      draws so close — O the moment!
O the huge sob — A few bubbles — the white foam      spirting up — And then the women gone,
Sinking there, while the passionless wet flows on —      And I now pondering, Are those women indeed      gone?
Are Souls drown'd and destroy'd so?
Is only matter triumphant?

6.

OF what I write from myself — As if that were not the      resumé;
Of Histories — As if such, however complete, were not      less complete than my poems;
As if the shreds, the records of nations, could possibly      be as lasting as my poems;
As if here were not the amount of all nations, and of      all the lives of heroes.

7.

OF obedience, faith, adhesiveness;
As I stand aloof and look, there is to me something profoundly affecting in large masses of men, following the lead of those who do not believe in men.

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