15. In the name of These States, shall I scorn the
antique?
Why These are the children of the antique, to
justify it.
16.Dead poets, philosophs, priests,
Martyrs, artists, inventors, governments long since,
Language-shapers, on other shores,
Nations once powerful, now reduced, withdrawn,
or desolate,
I dare not proceed till I respectfully credit what you
have left, wafted hither,
I have perused it—I own it is admirable,
I think nothing can ever be greater—Nothing can
ever deserve more than it deserves;
I regard it all intently a long while,
Then take my place for good with my own day and
race here.
17.Here lands female and male,
Here the heirship and heiress-ship of the world—
Here the flame of materials,
Here Spirituality, the translatress, the openly-avowed,
The ever-tending, the finale of visible forms,
The satisfier, after due long-waiting, now advancing,
Yes, here comes the mistress, the Soul.
18.The Soul!
Forever and forever—Longer than soil is brown and
solid—Longer than water ebbs and flows.
19.I will make the poems of materials, for I think they
are to be the most spiritual poems,
Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/17
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