I celebrate myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

[...]

There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now;
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

Urge and urge and urge,
Always the procreant urge of the world.

Out of the dimness opposite equals advance.... Always
       substance and increase,
Always a knit of identity.... always distinction....
       always a breed of life.

To elaborate is no avail.... Learned and unlearned feel
       that it is so.

Sure as the most certain sure.... plumb in the uprights,
       well entretied, braced in the beams,
Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,
I and this mystery here we stand.

Clear and sweet is my soul.... and clear and sweet is all
       that is not my soul.

Lack one lacks both.... and the unseen is proved by the
       seen,
Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn.

[...]

Trippers and askers surround me,
People I meet.... the effect upon me of my early life
       .... of the ward and city I live in.... of the nation,
The latest news.... discoveries, inventions, societies
       authors old and new,
My dinner, dress, associates, looks, business, compliments,
       dues,
The real or fancied indifference of some man or woman I
       love,
The sicknesss of one of my folks--or of myself.... or ill-
       doing.... or loss or lack of money....or
       depressions or exaltations,
They come to me days and nights and go from me again,
But they are not the Me myself.

[...]

Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog
       with linguists and contenders,
I have no mockings or arguments.... I witness and wait.

[...]

Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I
       know it.