Leaves of Grass (1860)/Thoughts

by Walt Whitman

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THOUGHTS

1.

Of the visages of things—And of piercing   through to the accepted hells beneath; Of ugliness—To me there is just as much in it as   there is in beauty—And now the ugliness of   human beings is acceptable to me; Of detected persons—To me, detected persons are   not, in any respect, worse than undetected per-   sons—and are not in any respect worse than I   am myself;Of criminals—To me, any judge, or any juror, is   equally criminal—and any reputable person is   also—and the President is also.

2.

Of waters, forests, hills, Of the earth at large, whispering through medium   of me;Of vista—Suppose some sight in arriere, through the   formative chaos, presuming the growth, fulness,   life, now attained on the journey; (But I see the road continued, and the journey ever   continued;) Of what was once lacking on the earth, and in due   time has become supplied—And of what will   yet be supplied, Because all I see and know, I believe to have purport   in what will yet be supplied.

3.

Of persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies,   wealth, scholarships, and the like,To me, all that those persons have arrived at, sinks   away from them, except as it results to their   bodies and Souls, So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked, And often, to me, each one mocks the others, and   mocks himself or herself,And of each one, the core of life, namely happiness,   is full of the rotten excrement of maggots,And often, to me, those men and women pass unwittingly   the true realities of life, and go toward   false realities, And often, to me, they are alive after what custom   has served them, but nothing more,And often, to me, they are sad, hasty, unwaked sonnambules,  walking the dusk.

4.

Of ownership—As if one fit to own things could not   at pleasure enter upon all, and incorporate them   into himself or herself; Of Equality—As if it harmed me, giving others the   same chances and rights as myself—As if it   were not indispensable to my own rights that   others possess the same; Of Justice—As if Justice could be any thing but   the same ample law, expounded by natural   judges and saviours,As if it might be this thing or that thing, according   to decisions.

5.

As I sit with others, at a great feast, suddenly, while  the music is playing, To my mind, (whence it comes I know not,) spectral,   in mist, of a wreck at sea,Of the flower of the marine science of fifty generations,   foundered off the Northeast coast, and   going down—Of the steamship Arctic going   down,Of the veiled tableau—Women gathered together   on deck, pale, heroic, waiting the moment that   draws so close—O the moment! O the huge sob—A few bubbles—the white foam   spirting up—And then the women gone, Sinking there, while the passionless wet flows on—   And I now pondering, Are those women indeed   gone? Are Souls drowned and destroyed so? Is only matter triumphant?

6.

Of what I write from myself—As if that were not   the resumé; Of Histories—As if such, however complete, were   not less complete than my poems; As if the shreds, the records of nations, could possibly be  as lasting as my poems; As if here were not the amount of all nations, and of all the  lives of heroes.

7.

Of obedience, faith, adhesiveness; As I stand aloof and look, there is to me something  profoundly affecting in large masses of men,   following the lead of those who do not believe in   men.