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"Leaves of Grass" von Walt Whitman



Great are the myths  -  I too delight in them.
Great are Adam and Eve - I too look back and accept them.
Great the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages, inventors, rulers, warriors, and priests.
Great is Liberty! great is Equality! I am their follower.
 Great is Youth - equally great is Old Age - great are the Day and Night;
Great is Wealth - great is Poverty - great is Expression - great is Silence. 
Wealth, with the flush hand, fine clothes, hospitality;
But then the Soul's wealth, which is candor, knowledge, pride, enfolding love;
Expression of speech! in what is written or said, forget not that Silence is also expressive,
That anguish as hot as the hottest, and contempt as cold as the coldest, may be without words.
Great is the Earth, and the way it became what it is;
Great is the quality of Truth in man;
The quality of truth in man supports itself through all changes,
It is inevitably in the man - he and it are in love, and never leave each other.
O truth of the earth! I am determin'd to press my way toward you;
Sound your voice! I scale mountains, or dive in the sea after you.
Great is Language - it is the mightiest of the sciences,
It is the fulness, color, form, diversity of the earth, and of men and women, and of all qualities and processes;
It is greater than wealth - it is greater than buildings, ships, religions, paintings, music.
Great is Life, real and mystical, wherever and whoever;