Poem by Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass. 32. From Noon to Starry Night. 11. Thoughts

Of public opinion,
Of a calm and cool fiat sooner or later, (how impassive! how certain
      and final!)
Of the President with pale face asking secretly to himself, What
      will the people say at last?
Of the frivolous Judge—of the corrupt Congressman, Governor,
      Mayor—of such as these standing helpless and exposed,
Of the mumbling and screaming priest, (soon, soon deserted,)
Of the lessening year by year of venerableness, and of the dicta of
      officers, statutes, pulpits, schools,
Of the rising forever taller and stronger and broader of the
      intuitions of men and women, and of Self-esteem and Personality;
Of the true New World—of the Democracies resplendent en-masse,
Of the conformity of politics, armies, navies, to them,
Of the shining sun by them—of the inherent light, greater than the rest,
Of the envelopment of all by them, and the effusion of all from them.

1. Leaves of Grass. 34. Sands at Seventy. 56. Old Age's Lambent Peaks
2. Leaves of Grass. 24. Autumn Rivulets. 13. Out from Behind This Mask [To Confront a Portrait]
3. Leaves of Grass. 34. Sands at Seventy. 32. Life
4. Leaves of Grass. 5. Calamus. 16. Behold This Swarthy Face
5. Leaves of Grass. 5. Calamus. 21. The Prairie-Grass Dividing

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