The current rushing so swiftly, and swimming with
me far away,
The others that are to follow me, the ties between me
and them,
The certainty of others—the life, love, sight, hearing
of others.
4.Others will enter the gates of the ferry, and cross
from shore to shore,
Others will watch the run of the flood-tide,
Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and
west, and the heights of Brooklyn to the south
and east,
Others will see the islands large and small,
Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross,
the sun half an hour high,
A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred
years hence, others will see them,
Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring in of the flood-tide,
the falling back to the sea of the ebb-tide.
5.It avails not, neither time or place—distance avails
not,
I am with you, you men and women of a generation,
or ever so many generations hence,
I project myself—also I return—I am with you, and
know how it is.
6.Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky,
so I felt,
Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one
of a crowd,
Just as you are refreshed by the gladness of the river,
and the bright flow, I was refreshed,
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Leaves of Grass.