All seems beautiful to me ; I can repeat over to men and women, You have done such good to me, I would do the same to you. I will recruit for myself and you as I go; I will scatter myself among men and women as I go ; Whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed, and shall bless me. 6 Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear, it would not amaze me; 70 Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women appear'd, it would not astonish me. Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons, It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth. Here' a great personal deed has room; A great deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole race of men, Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law, and mocks all authority and all argument against it. Here is the test of wisdom; Wisdom is not finally tested in schools; Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it, to another not having it; Wisdom is of the Soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof, 80 Applies to all stages and objects and qualities, and is content, Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the excellence of things; Something there is in the float of the sight of things that pro vokes it out of the Soul. Now I reëxamine philosophies and religions, They may prove well 'n lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds, and along the landscape and flowing currents. 1 1856'60'67. Line 74 begins "Here is space-here a great," etc. Here is realization; Here is a man tallied--he realizes here what he has in him; The past, the future, majesty, love'-if they are vacant of you, you are vacant of them. Only the kernel of every object nourishes; Where is he who tears off the husks for you and me? 90 Where is he that undoes stratagems and envelopes for you and me? Here is adhesiveness it is not previously fashion'd-it is apropos; Do you know what it is, as you pass, to be loved by strangers ? Do you know the talk of those turning eye-balls? Here is the efflux of the Soul; 7 The efflux of the Soul comes from within, through embower'd gates, ever provoking questions :' These yearnings, why are they? These thoughts in the darkness, why are they? Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me, the sun-light expands my blood? Why, when they leave me, do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank? Why are there trees I never walk under, but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me? 100 (I think they hang there winter and summer on those trees, and always drop fruit as I pass ;) What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers? What with some fisherman, drawing his seine by the shore, as I walk by, and pause? What gives me to be free to a woman's or man's good-will? What gives them to be free to mine? 8 The efflux of the Soul is happiness-here is happiness; 1 1856 '60 '67 read "The animals, the past, the future, light, space, majesty, love, if they," etc. 2 1856'60 read "The efflux of the soul comes through beautiful gates of laws, provoking questions." Here rises the fluid and attaching character; The fluid and attaching character is the freshness and sweetness of man and woman; (The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and sweeter every day out of the roots of themselves, than it sprouts fresh and sweet continually out of itself.) Toward the fluid and attaching character exudes the sweat of the love of young and old; From it falls distill'd the charm that mocks beauty and attain ments; Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of contact. 9 Allons! whoever you are, come travel with me! The earth never tires; The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first-Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first; Be not discouraged-keep on-there are divine things, well envelop'd; I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell. Allons! we must not stop here! 120 However sweet these laid-up stores-however convenient this dwelling, we cannot remain here; However shelter'd this port, and however calm these waters, we must not anchor here; However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us, we are permitted to receive it but a little while. ΙΟ Allons! the inducements shall be greater; We will sail pathless and wild seas; We will go where winds blow, waves dash, and the Yankee clipper speeds by under full sail. Allons! with power, liberty, the earth, the elements ! From your formules, O bat-eyed and materialistic priests! 130 The stale cadaver blocks up the passage-the burial waits no longer. Allons! yet take warning! He traveling with me needs the best blood, thews, endurance; None may come to the trial, till he or she bring courage and health. Come not here if you have already spent the best of yourself; Only those may come, who come in sweet and determin'd bodies; No diseas'd person—no rum-drinker or venereal taint is permitted here. I and mine do not convince by arguments, similes, rhymes; II Listen! I will be honest with you; 140 I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough new prizes; These are the days that must happen to you: You shall not heap up what is call'd riches, You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve, You but arrive at the city to which you were destin'd-you hardly settle yourself to satisfaction, before you are call'd by an irresistible call to depart, You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mockings of those who remain behind you; What beckonings of love you receive, you shall only answer with passionate kisses of parting, You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reach'd hands toward you. 12 Allons! after the GREAT COMPANIONS! and to belong to them! 150 They too are on the road! they are the swift and majestic men ¦ they are the greatest women. Over that which hinder'd them-over that which retardedpassing impediments large or small, Committers of crimes, committers of many beautiful virtues, Sailors of many a ship, walkers of many a mile of land, Habitués of many distant countries, habitués of far-distant dwellings, Trusters of men and women, observers of cities, solitary toilers, Pausers and contemplators of tufts, blossoms, shells of the shore, Dancers at wedding-dances, kissers of brides, tender helpers of children, bearers of children, 160 Soldiers of revolts, standers by gaping graves, lowerers down of coffins, Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the years-the curious years, each emerging from that which preceded it, Journeyers as with companions, namely, their own diverse phases, Forth-steppers from the latent unrealized baby-days, Journeyers gayly with their own youth-Journeyers with their bearded and well-grain'd manhood, Journeyers with their womanhood, ample, unsurpass'd, content, Journeyers with their own sublime old age of manhood or womanhood, Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe, Old age, flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death. 13 Allons! to that which is endless, as it was beginningless, 170 To undergo much, tramps of days, rests of nights, they tend to, Again to merge them in the start of superior journeys; it and pass it, To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you— however long, but it stretches and waits for you; To see no being, not God's or any, but you also go thither, out labor or purchase—abstracting the feast, yet not ab- |