Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/315

Rh The souse upon me of my lover the sea, as I lie willing
 * and naked,

The merriment of the twin-babes that crawl over the
 * grass in the sun, the mother never turning her
 * vigilant eyes from them,

The walnut-trunk, the walnut-husks, and the ripening
 * or ripened long-round walnuts,

The continence of vegetables, birds, animals, The consequent meanness of me should I skulk or find
 * myself indecent, while birds and animals never
 * once skulk or find themselves indecent,

The great chastity of paternity, to match the great
 * chastity of maternity,

The oath of procreation I have sworn—my Adamic
 * and fresh daughters,

The greed that eats me day and night with hungry
 * gnaw, till I saturate what shall produce boys to
 * fill my place when I am through,

The wholesome relief, repose, content, And this bunch plucked at random from myself, It has done its work—I toss it carelessly to fall
 * where it may.



O confine me not! (What is this that frees me so in storms? What do my shouts amid lightnings and raging winds
 * mean?)