To a Common Prostitute.
1.Be composed — be at ease with me — I am Walt
Whitman, liberal and lusty as Nature,
Not till the sun excludes you, do I exclude you,
Not till the waters refuse to glisten for you, and the
leaves to rustle for you, do my words refuse to
glisten and rustle for you.
2.My girl, I appoint with you an appointment — and I
charge you that you make preparation to be
worthy to meet me.
And I charge you that you be patient and perfect till
I come.
3.Till then, I salute you with a significant look, that
you do not forget me.
To Rich Givers.
What you give me, I cheerfully accept,
A little sustenance, a hut and garden, a little money
— these as I rendezvous with my poems,
A traveller's lodging and breakfast as I journey
through The States — Why should I be ashamed
to own such gifts? Why to advertise for them?
For I myself am not one who bestows nothing upon
man and woman,
For I know that what I bestow upon any man or
woman is no less than the entrance to all the
gifts of the universe.