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Leaves of Grass (1881-82)
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THERE WAS A CHILD WENT FORTH.
THERE was a child went forth every day, |
And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became, |
And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part
of the day,
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Or for many years or stretching cycles of years. |
The early lilacs became part of this child, |
And grass and white and red morning-glories, and white and red
clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird,
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And the Third-month lambs and the sow's pink-faint litter, and
the mare's foal and the cow's calf,
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And the noisy brood of the barnyard or by the mire of the pond-
side,
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And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there, and
the beautiful curious liquid,
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And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads, all became part
of him.
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The field-sprouts of Fourth-month and Fifth-month became part
of him,
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Winter-grain sprouts and those of the light-yellow corn, and the
esculent roots of the garden,
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And the apple-trees cover'd with blossoms and the fruit afterward,
and wood-berries, and the commonest weeds by the road,
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And the old drunkard staggering home from the outhouse of the
tavern whence he had lately risen,
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And the schoolmistress that pass'd on her way to the school, |
And the friendly boys that pass'd, and the quarrelsome boys, |
And the tidy and fresh-cheek'd girls, and the barefoot negro boy
and girl,
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And all the changes of city and country wherever he went. |
His own parents, he that had father'd him and she that had con-
ceiv'd him in her womb and birth'd him,
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They gave this child more of themselves than that, |
They gave him afterward every day, they became part of him. |
The mother at home quietly placing the dishes on the supper-
table,
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The mother with mild words, clean her cap and gown, a whole-
some odor falling off her person and clothes as she walks by,
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The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, anger'd, unjust, |
The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure, |
The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture, the
yearning and swelling heart,
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Affection that will not be gainsay'd, the sense of what is real, the
thought if after all it should prove unreal,
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The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night-time, the curious
whether and how,
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Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks? |
Men and women crowding fast in the streets, if they are not flashes
and specks what are they?
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The streets themselves and the façades of houses, and goods in
the windows,
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Vehicles, teams, the heavy-plank'd wharves, the huge crossing at
the ferries,
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The village on the highland seen from afar at sunset, the river
between,
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Shadows, aureola and mist, the light falling on roofs and gables of
white or brown two miles off,
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The schooner near by sleepily dropping down the tide, the little
boat slack-tow'd astern,
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The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests, slapping, |
The strata of color'd clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint away
solitary by itself, the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
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The horizon's edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt
marsh and shore mud,
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These became part of that child who went forth every day, and
who now goes, and will always go forth every day.
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