Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/234

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Leaves of Grass.
226

I charge that there be no theory or school founded out
of me,
I charge you to leave all free, as I have left all free.

11.After me, vista!
O, I see life is not short, but immeasurably long,
I henceforth tread the world, chaste, temperate, an
early riser, a gymnast, a steady grower,
Every hour the semen of centuries—and still of centuries.

12.I will follow up these continual lessons of the air,
water, earth,
I perceive I have no time to lose.

11.

1.Who learns my lesson complete?
Boss, journeyman, apprentice—churchman and atheist,
The stupid and the wise thinker—parents and offspring—
merchant, clerk, porter, and customer,
Editor, author, artist, and schoolboy—Draw nigh and
commence;
It is no lesson—it lets down the bars to a good
lesson,
And that to another, and every one to another still.

2.The great laws take and effuse without argument,
I am of the same style, for I am their friend,