Song of Myself —excerpt
Have you reckcon’d a thousand acres much? Have You
……. reckon’d earth as much?
Have you practis’d so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?
Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the
……. origin of all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are
……. millions of suns left,)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor
……. look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the
……. spectres in books,
Backward I see my own days where I sweated through
……. fog with linguists and contenders,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things
……. from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them through your self.
……
I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait.
by Walt Whitman
from Walt Whitman-Poetry and Prose
Viking Press, 1982