Leaves of Grass (1860)

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OF Public Opinion,

Of a calm and cool fiat, sooner or later, (How im-
passive! 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 of personality;

Of the New World—Of the Democracies, resplendent,
en-masse,

Of the conformity of politics, armies, navies, to them
and to me,

Of the shining sun by them—Of the inherent light,
greater than the rest,

Of the envelopment of all by them, and of the effusion
of all from them.

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