One's-Self I Sing

Walt Whitman(1819–1892)

Leaves of Grass, 1867

One's-Self I sing, a simple separate person,Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.

Of physiology from top to toe I sing,Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say the Form complete is worthier far,The Female equally with the Male I sing.

Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,Cheerful, for freest action form'd under the laws divine,The Modern Man I sing.

From Leaves of Grass (1882), the last edition Whitman saw through the press, opening its "Inscriptions" cluster, via the English Wikisource transcription.

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