Not a mutineer walks handcuffed to jail, but I am handcuffed and walk by
his side;
* * * * *
"Not a youngster is taken for larceny, but I go up too, and am tried and
sentenced.
Not a cholera patient lies at the last gasp but I also lie at the last
gasp;
My face is ash-colored--my sinews gnarl--away from me people retreat.
* * * * *
"Askers embody themselves in me, and I am embodied in them;
I project my hat, sit shame-faced and beg."
If any one imagines that Whitman was not a religious man, let him read the
following:
"I say that no man has ever yet been half devout enough;
None has ever yet adored or worshipped half enough;
None has begun to think how divine he himself is, and how certain the
future is."
There is a sublime confidence and worship in these words which belittles
the churchman's hope and prayer that God may be good to him and bless him
with a future life. Whitman's philosophy, less specific as to method, is
assuredly more certain, more faithful in effect.
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