Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/419

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Thoughts.
411
O the huge sob—A few bubbles—the white foam
  spirting up—And then the women gone,
Sinking there, while the passionless wet flows on—
  And I now pondering, Are those women indeed
  gone?
Are Souls drowned and destroyed so?
Is only matter triumphant?

6.

Of what I write from myself—As if that were not
  the resumé;
Of Histories—As if such, however complete, were
  not less complete than my poems;
As if the shreds, the records of nations, could possibly be
  as lasting as my poems;
As if here were not the amount of all nations, and of all the
  lives of heroes.

7.

Of obedience, faith, adhesiveness;
As I stand aloof and look, there is to me something
  profoundly affecting in large masses of men,
  following the lead of those who do not believe in
  men.