"Leaves Of Grass"

POETS TO COME

Poets to come ! orators, singers, musicians to come !

Not to-day is to justify me and answer what I am for,

But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than

          before known,

Arouse ! for you must justify me.

I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,

I but advance a moment only to wheel and hurry back in the

         darkness.

I am a man who, sauntering along without fully stopping, turns a

         casual look upon you and then averts his face

Leaving it to you to prove and define it,

Expecting the main things from you.

~ WALT WHITMAN

Delaware Township, New Jersey, on my way to the studio, June 2012