Friday Poem for July 4th

"It's too easy to forget the democratic order of things; that's why god made artists and poets."
--Jubal Chrisman

from Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman

We thought our Union grand and our Constitution grand;
I do not say they are not grand and  good—for they are.
I am this day just as much in love with them as you,
But I am eternally in love with you and with all my fellows
.....upon the earth.

We consider the bibles and religions divine . . . . I do not
.....say they are not divine,
I say they have all grown out of you and may grow out of
.....you still,
It is not they who give the life . . . . it is you who give the
.....life;
Leaves are not more shed from the trees or trees from the
.....earth then they are shed out of you.

The sum of all known value and respect I add up in you
.....whoever you are;
The President is up there in the White House for you . . . .
.....it is not you who are there for him,
The Secretaries act in their bureaus for you . . . . not you
.....here for them,
The Congress convenes every December for you,
Laws, courts, the forming of states, the charteres of cities, the
.....going and coming of commerce and mails are all for you.

All doctrines, all politics and civilization exurge from you,
All sculpture and monuments and anything inscribed
.....anywhere are tallied in you,
The gist of histories and statistics as far back as the records
.....reach is in you this hour—and myths and tales the same;
If you were not breathing and walking here where would
.....they all be?
The most reknowned poems would be ashes . . . . orations
all plays would be vacuums.

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