Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/13

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Proto-Leaf.


1.Free, fresh, savage,
Fluent, luxuriant, self-content, fond of persons and
places,
Fond of fish-shape Paumanok, where I was born,
Fond of the sea—lusty-begotten and various,
Boy of the Mannahatta, the city of ships, my city,
Or raised inland, or of the south savannas,
Or full-breath'd on Californian air, or Texan or
Cuban air,
Tallying, vocalizing all—resounding Niagara—
resounding Missouri,
Or rude in my home in Kanuck woods,
Or wandering and hunting, my drink water, my diet
meat,
Or withdrawn to muse and meditate in some deep
recess,
Far from the clank of crowds, an interval passing,
rapt and happy,
Stars, vapor, snow, the hills, rocks, the Fifth Month
flowers, my amaze, my love,

1*
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