< Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu
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Chants Democratic.
:It is hinted by nearest, commonest, readiest—it is not them, though it is endlessly provoked by them, (what is there ready and near you now ?)

17. You may read in many languages, yet read nothing about it,

You may read the President's Message, and read nothing about it there,
Nothing in the reports from the State department or Treasury department, or in the daily papers or the weekly papers,
Or in the census returns, assessors' returns, prices current, or any accounts of stock.

18. The sun and stars that float in the open air—the apple-shaped earth, and we upon it—surely the drift of them is something grand!

I do not know what it is, except that it is grand, and that it is happiness,
And that the enclosing purport of us here is not a speculation, or bon-mot, or reconnoissance,
And that it is not something which by luck may turn out well for us, and without luck must be a failure for us,
And not something which may yet be retracted in a certain contingency.

19. The light and shade, the curious sense of body and identity, the greed that with perfect complaisance devours all things, the endless pride and out-stretching of man, unspeakable joys and sorrows,

The wonder every one sees in every one else he sees, and the wonders that fill each minute of time forever, and each acre of surface and space forever,
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