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I too knitted the old knot of contrariety,
Blabbed, blushed, resented, lied, stole, grudged,
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak,
Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly,
malignant,
The wolf, the snake, the hog, not wanting in me,
The cheating look, the frivolous word, the adulterous
wish, not wanting,
Refusals, hates, postponements, meanness, laziness,
none of these wanting.

17.But I was a Manhattanese, free, friendly, and proud!
I was called by my nighest name by clear loud voices
of young men as they saw me approaching or
passing,
Felt their arms on my neck as I stood, or the negligent
leaning of their flesh against me as I sat,
Saw many I loved in the street, or ferry-boat, or public
assembly, yet never told them a word,
Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing,
gnawing, sleeping,
Played the part that still looks back on the actor or
actress,
The same old rôle, the rôle that is what we make it,
as great as we like,
Or as small as we like, or both great and
small.

18.Closer yet I approach you,
What thought you have of me, I had as much of you
—I laid in my stores in advance,
I considered long and seriously of you before you
were born.