Walt Whitman

The ecstasy is so short but the forgetting is so long.

Have you heard that it was good to gain the day? I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.

Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself.

A great city is that which has the greatest men and women.

In the faces of men and women I see God.

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

From this hour I ordain myself loose of limits & imaginary lines,
Going where I list, my own master total & absolute,
Listening to others, considering well what they say,
Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,
Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.

I sing the body that is electric!  I celebrate the Self yet to be unveiled!

"For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."  

All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.