From
Leaves of Grass, by
Walt Whitman:
O me! O
life! of the
questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the
faithless, of cities fill'd with the
foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the
struggle ever renew'd,
Of the poor results of all,
of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me
intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring — What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer
That you are here — that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.