Published Works

Books by Whitman

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [begin page 137] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I Hear it was Charged Against Me.

I HEAR it was charged against me that I sought to de-
stroy institutions;

But really I am neither for nor against institutions;

(What indeed have I in common with them?—Or what
with the destruction of them?)

Only I will establish in the Mannahatta, and in every
city of These States, inland and seaboard,

And in the fields and woods, and above every keel,
little or large, that dents the water,

Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argu-
ment,

The institution of the dear love of comrades.

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