Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/208

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Leaves of Grass.

2. Great is Liberty! great is Equality! I am their fol-
lower,
Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft! where you
sail, I sail,
Yours is the muscle of life or death—yours is the
perfect science—in you I have absolute faith.

3. Great is To-day, and beautiful,
It is good to live in this age—there never was any
better.

4. Great are the plunges, throes, triumphs, downfalls of
Democracy,
Great the reformers, with their lapses and screams,
Great the daring and venture of sailors, on new ex-
plorations.

5. Great are Yourself and Myself,
We are just as good and bad as the oldest and young-
est or any,
What the best and worst did, we could do,
What they felt, do not we feel it in ourselves?
What they wished, do we not wish the same?

6. Great is Youth—equally great is Old Age—great
are the Day and Night,
Great is Wealth—great is Poverty—great is Ex-
pression—great is Silence.

7. Youth, large, lusty, loving—Youth, full of grace,
force, fascination,
Do you know that Old Age may come after you, with
equal grace, force, fascination?