10.This face owes to the sexton his dismalest fee,
An unceasing death-bell tolls there.
11.Those then are really men—the bosses and tufts of
the great round globe!
12.Features of my equals, would you trick me with your
creased and cadaverous march?
Well, you cannot trick me.
13.I see your rounded never-erased flow,
I see neath the rims of your haggard and mean disguises.
14.Splay and twist as you like—poke with the tangling
fores of fishes or rats,
You'll be unmuzzled, you certainly will.
15.I saw the face of the most smeared and slobbering
idiot they had at the asylum,
And I knew for my consolation what they knew not,
And I knew of the agents that emptied and broke my
brother,
The same wait to clear the rubbish from the fallen
tenement,
And I shall look again in a score or two of ages,
And I shall meet the real landlord, perfect and unharmed,
every inch as good as myself.
16.The Lord advances, and yet advances,
Always the shadow in front—always the reached
hand bringing up the laggards.
17. Out of this face emerge banners and horses—O
superb! I see what is coming,
Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/288
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Leaves of Grass.
