Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/388

380 The current rushing so swiftly, and swimming with
 * me far away,

The others that are to follow me, the ties between me
 * and them,

The certainty of others—the life, love, sight, hearing
 * of others.

Others will enter the gates of the ferry, and cross
 * from shore to shore,

Others will watch the run of the flood-tide, Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and
 * west, and the heights of Brooklyn to the south
 * and east,

Others will see the islands large and small, Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross,
 * the sun half an hour high,

A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred
 * years hence, others will see them,

Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring in of the flood-tide,
 * the falling back to the sea of the ebb-tide.

It avails not, neither time or place—distance avails
 * not,

I am with you, you men and women of a generation,
 * or ever so many generations hence,

I project myself—also I return—I am with you, and
 * know how it is.

Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky,
 * so I felt,

Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one
 * of a crowd,

Just as you are refreshed by the gladness of the river,
 * and the bright flow, I was refreshed,