Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men - go freely with powerful uneducated persons, and with the young, and with the mothers or families - re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body.
From the 1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass
Gee listener, that's scary. And, only 40!
ReplyDeleteNot to display my ignorance, or anythingg, but what's The Desiderata?
ReplyDeleteGuess I could google it...
Google is an amazing and most helpful service!
ReplyDeleteHere's the link:
http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/desiderata.html
Yes indeed, it does sound a good deal like the Whitman. I din't explore further, so know nothing about the poet. The page carries the copyright for the poem, though, 1952. So, this may have been someone consciously echoing Whitman, or perhaps someone who was familiar with Whitman and didn't realize how closely his own poem resembled the 1855 preface. Or, I suppose, it may be possible that the poet was totally unfamiliar with Whitman. That's certainly an interesting thought.