Walt Whitman

Immense have been the preparations for me,

Long I was hugged close .... long and long.

And took my time .... and took no hurt from the fœtid carbon.

And slept while God carried me through the lethargic mist,

I know I was even there .... I waited unseen and always,

Afar down I see the huge first Nothing, the vapor from the nostrils of death,

Rise after rise bow the phantoms behind me,

All below duly traveled – and still I mount and mount.

On every step bunches of ages, and larger bunches between the steps,

My feet strike an apex of the apices of the stairs,

I am an acme of things accomplished, and I an encloser of things to be.

What have I to do with lamentation?

All has been gentle with me ...... I keep no account with lamentation;

I am sorry for you.... they are not murderous or jealous upon me;

Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you my brother or my sister?

That which fills its period and place is equal to any.

I do not call one greater and one smaller,

And other births will bring us richness and variety.

Births have brought us richness and variety,

There are trillions ahead, and trillions ahead of them.

We have thus far exhausted trillions of winters and summers;

They pour and they pour and they exhale away.

Eternity lies in bottomless reservoirs .... its buckets are rising forever and ever,

The clock indicates the moment .... but what does eternity indicate?

What is known I strip away .... I launch all men and women forward with me into the unknown.

It is time to explain myself .... let us stand up.

Nor the present, nor the least wisp that is known.

Nor any thing in the myriads of spheres, nor one of the myriads of myriads that inhabit them,

Nor any thing in the earth, or down in the oldest graves of the earth,

Nor the sacs merely floating with open mouths for food to slip in,