Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/94

274.I am he bringing help for the sick as they pant on
their backs,
And for strong upright men I bring yet more needed
help.
 
275.I heard what was said of the universe,
Heard it and heard it of several thousand years;
It is middling well as far as it goes,—But is that all?

276.Magnifying and applying come I,
Outbidding at the start the old cautious hucksters,
The most they offer for mankind and eternity less
than a spirt of my own seminal wet,
Taking myself the exact dimensions of Jehovah,
Lithographing Kronos, Zeus his son, and Hercules
his grandson,
Buying drafts of Osiris, Isis, Belus, Brahma, Buddha,
In my portfolio placing Manito loose, Allah on a leaf,
the crucifix engraved,
With Odin, and the hideous-faced Mexitli, and every
idol and image,
Taking them all for what they are worth, and not a
cent more,
Admitting they were alive and did the work of their
day,
Admitting they bore mites, as for unfledged birds,
who have now to rise and fly and sing for themselves,
Accepting the rough deific sketches to fill out better
in myself—bestowing them freely on each man
and woman I see,
Discovering as much, or more, in a framer framing a
house,