Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/16

Chants inclusive—wide reverberating chants,
Chants of the Many In One.

11.In the Year 80 of The States,
My tongue, every atom of my blood, formed from
this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here,
From parents the same, and their parents' parents
the same,
I, now thirty-six years old, in perfect health,
begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.

12.Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while, sufficed at what they are, but
never forgotten,
With accumulations, now coming forward in front,
Arrived again, I harbor, for good or bad—I permit
to speak,
Nature, without check, with original energy.

13.Take my leaves, America!
Make welcome for them everywhere, for they are
your own offspring;
Surround them, East and West! for they would
surround you,
And you precedents! connect lovingly with them, for
they connect lovingly with you.

14.I conned old times,
I sat studying at the feet of the great masters;
Now, if eligible, O that the great masters might
return and study me!