Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/289

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Leaves of Grass.
281

I see the high pioneer-caps—I see the staves of
runners clearing the way,
I hear victorious drums.

18.This face is a life-boat,
This is the face commanding and bearded, it asks no
odds of the rest,
This face is flavored fruit, ready for eating,
This face of a healthy honest boy is the programme of
all good.

19.These faces bear testimony slumbering or awake,
They show their descent from the Master himself.

20.Off the word I have spoken I except not one—red,
white, black, are all deific,
In each house is the ovum—it comes forth after a
thousand years.

21.Spots or cracks at the windows do not disturb me,
Tall and sufficient stand behind, and make signs to
me,
I read the promise, and patiently wait.

22.This is a full-grown lily's face,
She speaks to the limber-hipp'd man near the garden
pickets,
Come here, she blushingly cries—Come nigh to me,
limber-hipp'd man, and give me your finger and
thumb,
Stand at my side till I lean as high as I can upon you,
Fill me with albescent honey, bend down to me,
Rub to me with your chafing beard, rub to my breast
and shoulders.

24*