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Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892

"Poems By Walt Whitman"



2.
Youth, large, lusty, loving--Youth, full of grace, force, fascination!
Do you know that Old Age may come after you, with equal grace, force,
fascination?
Day, full-blown and splendid--Day of the immense sun, action, ambition,
laughter,
The Night follows close, with millions of suns, and sleep, and restoring
darkness.
Wealth, with the flush hand, fine clothes, hospitality;
But then the soul's wealth, which is candour, knowledge, pride, enfolding
love;
Who goes for men and women showing Poverty richer than wealth?
Expression of speech! in what is written or said, forget not that Silence
is also expressive;
That anguish as hot as the hottest, and contempt as cold as the coldest,
may be without words.

3.
Great is the Earth, and the way it became what it is:
Do you imagine it has stopped at this? the increase abandoned?
Understand then that it goes as far onward from this as this is from the
times when it lay in covering waters and gases, before man had
appeared.

4.
Great is the quality of Truth in man;
The quality of truth in man supports itself through all changes;
It is inevitably in the man--he and it are in love, and never leave each
other.


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