I know I am deathless,
I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenters
compass....
And whether I come to my own to-day or in ten thousand or
ten million years,
I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can
wait....
To be in any form, what is that?
(Round and round we go, all of us, and ever come back
thither.)...
Believing I shall come again upon the earth after
five thousand years....
The clock indicates the moment- but what does eternity inidicate?
We have thus far exhausted trillions of winters and summers,
There are trillions ahead, and trillions ahead of them.
Births have brought us richness and variety....
I am an acme of things accomplished, and I an encloser
of things to be....
Rise after rise bow the phantoms behind me,
Afar down I see the huge first Nothing, I know I was even
there....
Immense have been the preperations for me,
Faithful and friendly the arms that have helped me....
I tramp a perpetual journey (come listen all!)....
This day before dawn I ascended a hill and look'd at the crowded
heaven,
And I said to my spirit, When we become enfolders of those orbs,
And the pleasure and knowledge of everything in them,
Shall we be fill'd and satisfied then?
And my spirit said, No, we but level that lift to pass and
continue beyond....
And as to you, Life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths.
(No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.)...
Song of Myself
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