I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
The poem goes on to list the mechanic, the carpenter, the mason, the boatman, the shoemaker and others, each singing “what belongs to him or her and to none else”. It first appeared in the third edition of Leaves of Grass, in 1860.
Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
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.
All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players;
Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me –
Break, break, break, / On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! / And I would that my tongue could utter / The thoughts that arise in me.