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you the the timid models of the rest, the
 * majority?

Long I minded them, but hence I will not—for I
 * have adopted models for myself, and now offer
 * them to The Lands.

Behold this swarthy and unrefined face—these gray
 * eyes.

This beard—the white wool, unclipt upon my neck, My brown hands, and the silent manner of me, without
 * charm;

Yet comes one, a Manhattanese, and ever at parting,
 * kisses me lightly on the lips with robust love.

And I, in the public room, or on the crossing of the
 * street, or on the ship's deck, kiss him in return;

We observe that salute of American comrades, land
 * and sea.

We are those two natural and nonchalant persons.



in Louisiana a live-oak growing. All alone stood it, and the moss hung down from the
 * branches.

Without any companion it grew there, uttering joyous
 * leaves of dark green.

And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think
 * of myself,