Leaves of Grass (1891-92)


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THOUGHTS.


OF public opinion,
Of a calm and cool fiat sooner or later, (how impassive! how
         certain and final!)
Of the President with pale face asking secretly to himself, What
          will the people say at last?
Of the frivolous Judge—of the corrupt Congressman, Governor,
         Mayor—of such as these standing helpless and exposed,
Of the mumbling and screaming priest, (soon, soon deserted,)
Of the lessening year by year of venerableness, and of the dicta
         of officers, statutes, pulpits, schools,
Of the rising forever taller and stronger and broader of the intui-
         tions of men and women, and of Self-esteem and Per-
         sonality;
Of the true New World—of the Democracies resplendent en-
         masse,
Of the conformity of politics, armies, navies, to them,
Of the shining sun by them—of the inherent light, greater than
         the rest,
Of the envelopment of all by them, and the effusion of all from
         them.
 
 
 
 
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