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370 O me, what I was for years, now dead, (I lament not
 * —I am content;)

O to disengage myself from those corpses of me,
 * which I turn and look at, where I cast them!

To pass on, (O living! always living!) and leave the
 * corpses behind!



I peruse the conquered fame of heroes, and the
 * victories of mighty generals, I do not envy the
 * generals,

Nor the President in his Presidency, nor the rich in
 * his great house;

But when I read of the brotherhood of lovers, how it
 * was with them,

How through life, through dangers, odium, unchanging,
 * long and long,

Through youth, and through middle and old age, how
 * unfaltering, how affectionate and faithful they
 * were,

Then I am pensive—I hastily put down the book,
 * and walk away, filled with the bitterest envy.