Leaves of grass
Have you reckon’d a thousand acres much? have you reckon’d the earth much?
Have you practis’d so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?
Stop this day and night with me, and you shall possess the origin of all poems;
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun-(there are millions of suns left;)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books;
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me:
You shall listen to all sides, and filter them from yourself.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then, I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes).
The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me-he complains of my gab and my loitering.
I too am not a bit tamed-I too am untranslatable;
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged;
Missing me one place, search another;
I stop somewhere, waiting for you.
Have you practis’d so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?
Stop this day and night with me, and you shall possess the origin of all poems;
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun-(there are millions of suns left;)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books;
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me:
You shall listen to all sides, and filter them from yourself.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then, I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes).
The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me-he complains of my gab and my loitering.
I too am not a bit tamed-I too am untranslatable;
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged;
Missing me one place, search another;
I stop somewhere, waiting for you.