The Walt Whitman Archive
Published Works
Books by Whitman
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [begin page 416] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
BEGINNERS.
HOW they are provided for upon the earth, (appear-
ing at intervals,)
ing at intervals,)
How dear and dreadful they are to the earth,
How they inure to themselves as much as to any—
What a paradox appears, their age,
What a paradox appears, their age,
How people respond to them, yet know them not,
How there is something relentless in their fate, all
times,
times,
How all times mischoose the objects of their adulation
and reward,
and reward,
And how the same inexorable price must still be paid
for the same great purchase.
for the same great purchase.