Who has gone farthest? for I would go farther,
And who has been just? for I would be the most just person of the earth,
And who most cautious? for I would be more cautious,
And who has been happiest?  O I think it is I—­I think no one was
    ever happier than I,
And who has lavish’d all? for I lavish constantly the best I have,
And who proudest? for I think I have reason to be the proudest son
    alive—­for I am the son of the brawny and tall-topt city,
And who has been bold and true? for I would be the boldest and
    truest being of the universe,
And who benevolent? for I would show more benevolence than all the rest,
And who has receiv’d the love of the most friends? for I know what
    it is to receive the passionate love of many friends,
And who possesses a perfect and enamour’d body? for I do not believe
    any one possesses a more perfect or enamour’d body than mine,
And who thinks the amplest thoughts? for I would surround those thoughts,
And who has made hymns fit for the earth? for I am mad with
    devouring ecstasy to make joyous hymns for the whole earth.

} Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats

Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats,
Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me,
(For what is my life or any man’s life but a conflict with foes, the
    old, the incessant war?)
You degradations, you tussle with passions and appetites,
You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds the sharpest of all!)
You toil of painful and choked articulations, you meannesses,
You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of any;)
You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother’d ennuis! 
Ah think not you finally triumph, my real self has yet to come forth,
It shall yet march forth o’ermastering, till all lies beneath me,
It shall yet stand up the soldier of ultimate victory.

} Thoughts

Of public opinion,
Of a calm and cool fiat sooner or later, (how impassive! how certain
    and final!)
Of the President with pale face asking secretly to himself, What
    will the people say at last? 
Of the frivolous Judge—­of the corrupt Congressman, Governor,
    Mayor—­of such as these standing helpless and exposed,
Of the mumbling and screaming priest, (soon, soon deserted,)
Of the lessening year by year of venerableness, and of the dicta of
    officers, statutes, pulpits, schools,
Of the rising forever taller and stronger and broader of the
    intuitions of men and women, and of Self-esteem and Personality;
Of the true New World—­of the Democracies resplendent en-masse,
Of the conformity of politics, armies, navies, to them,
Of the shining sun by them—­of the inherent light, greater than the rest,
Of the envelopment of all by them, and the effusion of all from them.

} Mediums