Walt Whitman (1st two verses ) Song of Myself'
Song of Myself' - by Walt Whitman read by William Hootkins 1 I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. Creeds and schools in abeyance, Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten, I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard, Nature without check with original energy. 2 Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes, I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it. The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless, It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it, I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked, I am mad for it to be in contact with me. The smoke of my own breath, Echoes, ripples, buzz'd whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine, My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs, The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn, The <b>...</b>
![The Walt Whitman House is a historic building in Camden, New Jersey which was the last residence[3] of American poet Walt Whitman, in his declining years before his death. It is located at 330 Mickle Boulevard, known as Mickle St. during Whitman's time there.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110625023552im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/96/82/d25839aaa8bbed1443372d3d0336_grande.jpg "The Walt Whitman House is a historic building in Camden, New Jersey which was the last residence[3] of American poet Walt Whitman, in his declining years before his death. It is located at 330 Mickle Boulevard, known as Mickle St. during Whitman's time there.")
![The Walt Whitman House is a historic building in Camden, New Jersey which was the last residence[3] of American poet Walt Whitman, in his declining years before his death. It is located at 330 Mickle Boulevard, known as Mickle St. during Whitman's time there.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110625023552im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/96/82/d25839aaa8bbed1443372d3d0336_thumb.jpg "The Walt Whitman House is a historic building in Camden, New Jersey which was the last residence[3] of American poet Walt Whitman, in his declining years before his death. It is located at 330 Mickle Boulevard, known as Mickle St. during Whitman's time there.")
