Leaves of Grass (1867)

contents   |   previous   |   next

 

TO RICH GIVERS.

WHAT you give me, I cheerfully accept,
A little sustenance, a hut and garden, a little money—
         these, as I rendezvous with my poems,
A traveler's lodging and breakfast as I journey through
         The States—Why should I be ashamed to own
         such gifts? Why to advertise for them?
For I myself am not one who bestows nothing upon
         man and woman;
For I bestow upon any man or woman the entrance to
         all the gifts of the universe.
contents   |   previous   |   next

Comments?

Published Works | Manuscripts | Biography & Correspondence | Criticism | Resources | Pictures & Sound

Support the Archive | About the Archive

© 1995–2008 Walt Whitman Archive, Ed Folsom & Kenneth M. Price, editors