Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass. 1. Inscriptions. 15. Me Imperturbe

Me imperturbe, standing at ease in Nature,
Master of all or mistress of all, aplomb in the midst of irrational things,
Imbued as they, passive, receptive, silent as they,
Finding my occupation, poverty, notoriety, foibles, crimes, less
         important than I thought,
Me toward the Mexican sea, or in the Mannahatta or the Tennessee,
         or far north or inland,
A river man, or a man of the woods or of any farm-life of these
         States or of the coast, or the lakes or Kanada,
Me wherever my life is lived, O to be self-balanced for contingencies,
To confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as
         the trees and animals do.