No more for him life’s stormy conflicts,
Nor victory, nor defeat—­no more time’s dark events,
Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky. 
But sing poet in our name,

Sing of the love we bore him—­because you, dweller in camps, know it truly.

As they invault the coffin there,
Sing—­as they close the doors of earth upon him—­one verse,
For the heavy hearts of soldiers.

} This Dust Was Once the Man

This dust was once the man,
Gentle, plain, just and resolute, under whose cautious hand,
Against the foulest crime in history known in any land or age,
Was saved the Union of these States.

[Book XXIII]

} By Blue Ontario’s Shore

By blue Ontario’s shore,
As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return’d, and the
    dead that return no more,
A Phantom gigantic superb, with stern visage accosted me,
Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America,
    chant me the carol of victory,
And strike up the marches of Libertad, marches more powerful yet,
And sing me before you go the song of the throes of Democracy.

(Democracy, the destin’d conqueror, yet treacherous lip-smiles everywhere,
And death and infidelity at every step.)

2
A Nation announcing itself,
I myself make the only growth by which I can be appreciated,
I reject none, accept all, then reproduce all in my own forms.

A breed whose proof is in time and deeds,
What we are we are, nativity is answer enough to objections,
We wield ourselves as a weapon is wielded,
We are powerful and tremendous in ourselves,
We are executive in ourselves, we are sufficient in the variety of
    ourselves,
We are the most beautiful to ourselves and in ourselves,
We stand self-pois’d in the middle, branching thence over the world,
From Missouri, Nebraska, or Kansas, laughing attacks to scorn.

Nothing is sinful to us outside of ourselves,
Whatever appears, whatever does not appear, we are beautiful or
    sinful in ourselves only.

(O Mother—­O Sisters dear! 
If we are lost, no victor else has destroy’d us,
It is by ourselves we go down to eternal night.)

     3
Have you thought there could be but a single supreme?  There can be any number of supremes—­one does not countervail
    another any more than one eyesight countervails another, or
    one life countervails another.

All is eligible to all,
All is for individuals, all is for you,
No condition is prohibited, not God’s or any.

All comes by the body, only health puts you rapport with the universe.

Produce great Persons, the rest follows.

4
Piety and conformity to them that like,
Peace, obesity, allegiance, to them that like,
I am he who tauntingly compels men, women, nations,
Crying, Leap from your seats and contend for your lives!