Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/324

6.Here is the profound lesson of reception, neither
preference or denial,
The black with his woolly head, the felon, the diseased,
the illiterate person, are not denied;
The birth, the hasting after the physician, the beggar's
tramp, the drunkard's stagger, the laughing
party of mechanics,
The escaped youth, the rich person's carriage, the fop,
the eloping couple,
The early market-man, the hearse, the moving of
furniture into the town, the return back from
the town,
They pass, I also pass, any thing passes—none can
be interdicted.
None but are accepted, none but are dear to me.

7.You air that serves me with breath to speak!
You objects that call from diffusion my meanings and
give them shape!
You light that wraps me and all things in delicate
equable showers!
You animals moving serenely over the earth!
You birds that wing yourselves through the air! you
insects!
You sprouting growths from the farmers' fields! you
stalks and weeds by the fences!
You paths worn in the irregular hollows by the roadsides!
I think you are latent with curious existences—you
are so dear to me.

8.You flagged walks of the cities! you strong curbs at
the edges!