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Leaves of Grass (1881-82)

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WHOEVER you are holding me now in hand,

Without one thing all will be useless,

I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,

I am not what you supposed, but far different.

Who is he that would become my follower?

Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections?

The way is suspicious, the result uncertain, perhaps destructive,

You would have to give up all else, I alone would expect to be
your sole and exclusive standard,

Your novitiate would even then be long and exhausting,

The whole past theory of your life and all conformity to the lives
around you would have to be abandon'd,

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Therefore release me now before troubling yourself any further, let
go your hand from my shoulders,

Put me down and depart on your way.

Or else by stealth in some wood for trial,

Or back of a rock in the open air,

(For in any roof'd room of a house I emerge not, nor in com-
pany,

And in libraries I lie as one dumb, a gawk, or unborn, or dead,)

But just possibly with you on a high hill, first watching lest any
person for miles around approach unawares,

Or possibly with you sailing at sea, or on the beach of the sea or
some quiet island,

Here to put your lips upon mine I permit you,

With the comrade's long-dwelling kiss or the new husband's kiss,

For I am the new husband and I am the comrade.

Or if you will, thrusting me beneath your clothing,

Where I may feel the throbs of your heart or rest upon your
hip,

Carry me when you go forth over land or sea;

For thus merely touching you is enough, is best,

And thus touching you would I silently sleep and be carried
eternally.

But these leaves conning you con at peril,

For these leaves and me you will not understand,

They will elude you at first and still more afterward, I will
certainly elude you,

Even while you should think you had unquestionably caught me,
behold!

Already you see I have escaped from you.

For it is not for what I have put into it that I have written this
book,

Nor is it by reading it you will acquire it,

Nor do those know me best who admire me and vauntingly praise
me,

Nor will the candidates for my love (unless at most a very few)
prove victorious,

Nor will my poems do good only, they will do just as much evil,
perhaps more,

For all is useless without that which you may guess at many times
and not hit, that which I hinted at;

Therefore release me and depart on your way.

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