What chemistry!
That the winds are really not infectious,
That this is no cheat, this transparent green- wash of the sea
     which is so amorous after me,
That it is safe to allow it to lick my naked body all over with
     its tongues,
That it will not endanger me with the fevers that have deposited
     themselves in it,
That all is clean forever and forever,
That the cool drink from the well tastes so good,
That blackberries are so flavorous and juicy,
That the fruits of the apple-orchard and the orange-orchard,
     that melons, grapes, peaches, plums, will none of them
    poison me,
That when I recline on the grass I do not catch any disease,
Though probably every spear of grass rises out of what was
     once a catching disease.

Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and patient,
It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions,
It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless
    successions of diseas'd corpses,

It distills such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor,
It renews with such unwitting looks its prodigal, annual,
     sumptuous crops,
It gives such divine materials to men, and accepts such leavings
    from them at last.

1856 1881

TO A FOIL'D EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONAIRE

Courage yet, my brother or my sister!
Keep on — Liberty is to be subserv'd whatever occurs;
That is nothing that is quell'd by one or two failures, or any
     number of failures,
Or by the indifference or ingratitude of the people, or by any
     unfaithfulness,
Or the show of the tushes of power, soldiers, cannon, penal
     statutes.

What we believe in waits latent forever through all the
     continents,
Invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light,
     is positive and composed, knows no discouragement,
Waiting patiently, waiting its time.

(Not songs of loyalty alone are these,
But songs of insurrection also,
For I am the sworn poet of every dauntless rebel the world
     over,
And he going with me leaves peace and routine behind him,
And stakes his life to be lost at any moment.)

The battle rages with many a loud alarm and frequent
     advance and retreat,
The infidel triumphs, or supposes he triumphs,
The prison, scaffold, garrote, handcuffs, iron necklace and
    lead-balls do their work,
The named and unnamed heroes pass to other spheres,
The great speakers and writers are exiled, they lie sick in
    distant lands,
The cause is asleep, the strongest throats are choked with
    their own blood,

The young men droop their eyelashes toward the ground
    when they meet;
But for all this Liberty has not gone out of the place, nor the
     infidel enter'd into full possession.

When Liberty goes out of a place it is not the first to go, nor
    the second or third to go,
It waits for all the rest to go, it is the last.

When there are no more memories of heroes and martyrs,
And when all life and all the souls of men and women are
    discharged from any part of the earth,
Then only shall liberty or the idea of liberty be discharged
    from that part of the earth,
And the infidel come into full possession.

Then courage European revolter, revoltress!
For till all ceases neither must you cease.

I do not know what you are for, (I do not know what I am
    for myself, nor what any thing is for,)
But I will search carefully for it even in being foil'd,
In defeat, poverty, misconception, imprisonment — for they
    too are great.

Did we think victory great?
So it is — but now it seems to me, when it cannot be help'd,
    that defeat is great,
And that death and dismay are great.

1856 1881