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Friendship, self-esteem, justice, health, clear the way
with irresistible power;
How dare you place anything before a man?

33. Fall behind me, States!
A man, before all—myself, typical, before all.

34. Give me the pay I have served for!
Give me to speak beautiful words! take all the
rest;
I have loved the earth, sun, animals—I have despised
riches,
I have given alms to every one that asked, stood up
for the stupid and crazy, devoted my income
and labor to others,
I have hated tyrants, argued not concerning God,
had patience and indulgence toward the people,
taken off my hat to nothing known or unknown,
I have gone freely with powerful uneducated persons,
and with the young, and with the mothers of
families,
I have read these leaves to myself in the open air—
I have tried them by trees, stars, rivers,
I have dismissed whatever insulted my own Soul or
defiled my body,
I have claimed nothing to myself which I have not
carefully claimed for others on the same terms,
I have studied my land, its idioms and men,
I am willing to wait to be understood by the growth
of the taste of myself,
I reject none, I permit all,
Whom I have staid with once I have found longing
for me ever afterward.