Published Works

Books by Whitman

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [begin page 409] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

OF persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies,
wealth, scholarships, and the like,

To me, all that those persons have arrived at, sinks
away from them, except as it results to their
bodies and Souls,

So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked,

And often, to me, each one mocks the others, and
mocks himself or herself,

And of each one, the core of life, namely happiness,
is full of the rotten excrement of maggots,

And often, to me, those men and women pass un-
wittingly the true realities of life, and go toward
false realities,

And often, to me, they are alive after what custom
has served them, but nothing more,

And often, to me, they are sad, hasty, unwaked son-
nambules, walking the dusk.

Distributed under a Creative Commons License. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price, editors.