With one man or woman — (no matter which one — I even
    pick out the lowest,)
With him or her I now illustrate the whole law;
I say that every right, in politics or what-not, shall be
    eligible to that one man or woman, on the same terms as any.

1860

DEBRIS

Any thing is as good as established, when that is established
    that will produce and continue it.

What General has a good army in himself, has a good army;
He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy,
But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than
    you can beget or conceive a child by others.

One sweeps by, attended by an immense train,
All emblematic of peace — not a soldier or menial among
    them.

One sweeps by, old, with black eyes, and profuse white hair,
He has the simple magnificence of health and strength,
His face strikes as with flashes of lightning whoever it turns
    toward.

Three old men slowly pass, followed by three others, and
    they by three others,
They are beautiful — the one in the middle of each group
    holds his companions by the hand,
As they walk, they give out perfume wherever they walk.

What weeping face is that looking from the window?
Why does it stream those sorrowful tears?
Is it for some burial place, vast and dry?
Is it to wet the soil of graves?

I will take an egg out of the robin's nest in the orchard,
I will take a branch of gooseberries from the old bush in the
    garden, and go and preach to the world;
You shall see I will not meet a single heretic or scorner,
You shall see how I stump clergymen, and confound them,
You shall see me showing a scarlet tomato, and a white
    pebble from the beach.

Behavior — fresh, native, copious, each one for himself or
    herself,
Nature and the Soul expressed — America and freedom expressed
     — in it the finest art,
In it pride, cleanliness, sympathy, to have their chance,
In it physique, intellect, faith — in it just as much as to
    manage an army or a city, or to write a book — perhaps more,
The youth, the laboring person, the poor person, rivalling all
    the rest — perhaps outdoing the rest,
The effects of the universe no greater than its;
For there is nothing in the whole universe that can be more
    effective than a man's or a woman's daily behavior can
    be,
In any position, in any one of These States.

I thought I was not alone, walking here by the shore,
But the one I thought was with me, as now I walk by the
    shore,
As I lean and look through the glimmering light — that one
    has utterly disappeared,
And those appear that perplex me.

1860

THOUGHT

Of what I write from myself — As if that were not the resumé
Of Histories — As if such, however complete, were not less
    complete than the preceding poems;
As if those shreds, the records of nations, could possibly be
    as lasting as the preceding poems;
As if here were not the amount of all nations, and of all the
    lives of heroes.

1860