I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman was a poet of great standing. His book, Leaves of Grass, published in 1876, is full of inspirational messages for poets everywhere.
Song of Myself, a poem with over 50 parts, is a deep "song" of Whitman, and aptly portrays him as he believed himself to be.
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Song of Myself, Part 1
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, formed from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.
A short but informative biography
Leaves of Grass, By Walt Whitman
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