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Leaves of Grass (1881-82)
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TO A FOIL'D EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONAIRE.
COURAGE yet, my brother or my sister! |
Keep on—Liberty is to be subserv'd whatever occurs; |
That is nothing that is quell'd by one or two failures, or any num-
ber of failures,
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Or by the indifference or ingratitude of the people, or by any
unfaithfulness,
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Or the show of the tushes of power, soldiers, cannon, penal statutes. |
What we believe in waits latent forever through all the continents, |
Invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is
positive and composed, knows no discouragement,
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Waiting patiently, waiting its time. |
(Not songs of loyalty alone are these, |
But songs of insurrection also, |
For I am the sworn poet of every dauntless rebel the world over, |
And he going with me leaves peace and routine behind him, |
And stakes his life to be lost at any moment.) |
The battle rages with many a loud alarm and frequent advance
and retreat,
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The infidel triumphs, or supposes he triumphs, |
The prison, scaffold, garroté, handcuffs, iron necklace and lead-
balls do their work,
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The named and unnamed heroes pass to other spheres, |
The great speakers and writers are exiled, they lie sick in distant
lands,
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The cause is asleep, the strongest throats are choked with their
own blood,
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The young men droop their eyelashes toward the ground when
they meet;
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But for all this Liberty has not gone out of the place, nor the
infidel enter'd into full possession.
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When liberty goes out of a place it is not the first to go, nor the
second or third to go,
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It waits for all the rest to go, it is the last. |
When there are no more memories of heroes and martyrs, |
And when all life and all the souls of men and women are dis-
charged from any part of the earth,
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Then only shall liberty or the idea of liberty be discharged from
that part of the earth,
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And the infidel come into full possession. |
Then courage European revolter, revoltress! |
For till all ceases neither must you cease. |
I do not know what you are for, (I do not know what I am for
myself, nor what any thing is for,)
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But I will search carefully for it even in being foil'd, |
In defeat, poverty, misconception, imprisonment—for they too
are great.
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Did we think victory great? |
So it is—but now it seems to me, when it cannot be help'd, that
defeat is great,
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And that death and dismay are great. |
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