Doubtless I could not have perceived the universe,
or written one of my poems, if I had not freely
given myself to comrades, to love.
40.
That shadow, my likeness, that goes to and fro, seeking
a livelihood, chattering, chaffering.
How often I find myself standing and looking at it
where it flits.
How often I question and doubt whether that is really
me;
But in these, and among my lovers, and carolling my
songs,
I never doubt whether that is really me.
41.
1.Among the men and women, the multitude, I perceive
one picking me out by secret and divine
signs.
Acknowledging none else—not parent, wife, husband,
brother, child, any nearer than I am;
Some are baffled—But that one is not—that one
knows me.
2. Lover and perfect equal!
I meant that you should discover me so, by my faint
indirections,
And I, when I meet you, mean to discover you by the
like in you.
