Whitman, as Printed

‹ Leaves of Grass, 1855

The lines with “me”

me 252 Back to M

  1. p. vi, line 88[…] says to the past, Rise and walk before me that I may realize you. He learns the lesson . . . . he […]
  2. p. vii, line 24[…] or originality to hang in the way between me and the rest like curtains. I will have nothing hang […]
  3. p. vii, line 34[…] my side and look in the mirror with me […]
  4. p. xii, line 28[…] or drawn from the sea for use to me today here? I know that what answers for me an […]
  5. p. xii, line 29[…] today here? I know that what answers for me an American must answer for any individual or nation that […]
  6. p. 13, line 3For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
  7. p. 13, line 8The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.
  8. p. 13, line 12I am mad for it to be in contact with me.
  9. p. 13, line 21The feeling of health . . . . the full-noon trill . . . . the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun.
  10. p. 14, line 4Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,
  11. p. 14, line 7You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
  12. p. 14, line 28Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean,
  13. p. 15, line 2And leaves for me baskets covered with white towels bulging the house with their plenty,
  14. p. 15, line 5And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent,
  15. p. 15, line 7Trippers and askers surround me,
  16. p. 15, line 8People I meet . . . . . the effect upon me of my early life . . . . of the ward and city I live in . . . . of the nation,
  17. p. 15, line 13They come to me days and nights and go from me again,
  18. p. 15, line 14But they are not the Me myself.
  19. p. 15, line 24Loafe with me on the grass . . . . loose the stop from your throat,
  20. p. 15, line 28You settled your head athwart my hips and gently turned over upon me,
  21. p. 15, line 31Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and joy and knowledge that pass all the art and argument of the earth;
  22. p. 16, line 7A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
  23. p. 16, line 18And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
  24. p. 17, line 17Every kind for itself and its own . . . . for me mine male and female,
  25. p. 17, line 18For me all that have been boys and that love women,
  26. p. 17, line 19For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,
  27. p. 17, line 20For me the sweetheart and the old maid . . . . for me mothers and the mothers of mothers,
  28. p. 17, line 21For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears,
  29. p. 17, line 22For me children and the begetters of children.
  30. p. 17, line 24Undrape . . . . you are not guilty to me, nor stale nor discarded,
  31. p. 18, line 30The boatmen and clamdiggers arose early and stopped for me,
  32. p. 19, line 13He staid with me a week before he was recuperated and passed north,
  33. p. 19, line 14I had him sit next me at table . . . . my firelock leaned in the corner.
  34. p. 20, line 18In me the caresser of life wherever moving . . . . backward as well as forward slueing,
  35. p. 20, line 21It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.
  36. p. 20, line 25And acknowledge the red yellow and white playing within me,
  37. p. 20, line 28And the mockingbird in the swamp never studied the gamut, yet trills pretty well to me,
  38. p. 20, line 29And the look of the bay mare shames silliness out of me.
  39. p. 21, line 1Ya-honk! he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation;
  40. p. 21, line 14What is commonest and cheapest and nearest and easiest is Me,
  41. p. 21, line 15Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,
  42. p. 21, line 16Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me,
  43. p. 23, line 19And these one and all tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them,
  44. p. 24, line 9And breathe the air and leave plenty after me,
  45. p. 24, line 14These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me,
  46. p. 25, line 24Else it were time lost listening to me.
  47. p. 26, line 6To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,
  48. p. 26, line 7All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.
  49. p. 26, line 18One world is aware, and by far the largest to me, and that is myself,
  50. p. 26, line 26The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of hell are with me,
  51. p. 27, line 16Prodigal! you have given me love! . . . . therefore I to you give love!
  52. p. 27, line 18Thruster holding me tight and that I hold tight!
  53. p. 27, line 22I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
  54. p. 27, line 23We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
  55. p. 27, line 24Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
  56. p. 27, line 25Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you.
  57. p. 28, line 1Washes and razors for foofoos . . . . for me freckles and a bristling beard.
  58. p. 28, line 3Evil propels me, and reform of evil propels me . . . . I stand indifferent,
  59. p. 28, line 12This minute that comes to me over the past decillions,
  60. p. 28, line 19One time as good as another time . . . . here or henceforward it is all the same to me.
  61. p. 29, line 8Whoever degrades another degrades me . . . . and whatever is done or said returns at last to me,
  62. p. 29, line 10Through me the afflatus surging and surging . . . . through me the current and index.
  63. p. 29, line 13Through me many long dumb voices,
  64. p. 29, line 22Through me forbidden voices,
  65. p. 29, line 24Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigured.
  66. p. 29, line 27Copulation is no more rank to me than death is.
  67. p. 29, line 29Seeing hearing and feeling are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.
  68. p. 30, line 2Translucent mould of me it shall be you,
  69. p. 30, line 4Whatever goes to the tilth of me it shall be you,
  70. p. 30, line 14Winds whose soft-tickling genitals rub against me it shall be you,
  71. p. 30, line 17I dote on myself . . . . there is that lot of me, and all so luscious,
  72. p. 30, line 18Each moment and whatever happens thrills me with joy.
  73. p. 30, line 23A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
  74. p. 30, line 34Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sunrise would kill me,
  75. p. 30, line 35If I could not now and always send sunrise out of me.
  76. p. 31, line 6It provokes me forever,
  77. p. 31, line 14Happiness . . . . which whoever hears me let him or her set out in search of this day.
  78. p. 31, line 15My final merit I refuse you . . . . I refuse putting from me the best I am.
  79. p. 31, line 16Encompass worlds but never try to encompass me,
  80. p. 31, line 18Writing and talk do not prove me,
  81. p. 31, line 22And accrue what I hear into myself . . . . and let sounds contribute toward me.
  82. p. 32, line 8A tenor large and fresh as the creation fills me,
  83. p. 32, line 9The orbic flex of his mouth is pouring and filling me full.
  84. p. 32, line 10I hear the trained soprano . . . . she convulses me like the climax of my love-grip;
  85. p. 32, line 11The orchestra whirls me wider than Uranus flies,
  86. p. 32, line 13It throbs me to gulps of the farthest down horror,
  87. p. 32, line 14It sails me . . . . I dab with bare feet . . . . they are licked by the indolent waves,
  88. p. 32, line 22I have instant conductors all over me whether I pass or stop,
  89. p. 32, line 23They seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me.
  90. p. 32, line 26Is this then a touch? . . . . quivering me to a new identity,
  91. p. 32, line 28Treacherous tip of me reaching and crowding to help them,
  92. p. 32, line 32Behaving licentious toward me, taking no denial,
  93. p. 32, line 33Depriving me of my best as for a purpose,
  94. p. 32, line 34Unbuttoning my clothes and holding me by the bare waist,
  95. p. 33, line 2They bribed to swap off with touch, and go and graze at the edges of me,
  96. p. 33, line 5Then all uniting to stand on a headland and worry me.
  97. p. 33, line 6The sentries desert every other part of me,
  98. p. 33, line 7They have left me helpless to a red marauder,
  99. p. 33, line 8They all come to the headland to witness and assist against me.
  100. p. 33, line 11I went myself first to the headland . . . . my own hands carried me there.
  101. p. 33, line 13Unclench your floodgates! you are too much for me.
  102. p. 33, line 15Did it make you ache so leaving me?
  103. p. 33, line 23The insignificant is as big to me as any,
  104. p. 33, line 29A minute and a drop of me settle my brain;
  105. p. 34, line 11And have distanced what is behind me for good reasons,
  106. p. 34, line 27They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
  107. p. 34, line 31So they show their relations to me and I accept them;
  108. p. 34, line 32They bring me tokens of myself . . . . they evince them plainly in their possession.
  109. p. 35, line 15My ties and ballasts leave me . . . . I travel . . . . I sail . . . . my elbows rest in the sea-gaps,
  110. p. 37, line 30Solitary at midnight in my back yard, my thoughts gone from me a long while,
  111. p. 38, line 11No guard can shut me off, no law can prevent me.
  112. p. 38, line 13My messengers continually cruise away or bring their returns to me.
  113. p. 38, line 17The enormous masses of ice pass me and I pass them . . . . the scenery is plain in all directions,
  114. p. 39, line 16Hell and despair are upon me . . . . crack and again crack the marksmen,
  115. p. 39, line 20They taunt my dizzy ears . . . . they beat me violently over the head with their whip-stocks.
  116. p. 39, line 23My hurt turns livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe.
  117. p. 39, line 24I am the mashed fireman with breastbone broken . . . . tumbling walls buried me in their debris,
  118. p. 39, line 27They have cleared the beams away . . . . they tenderly lift me forth.
  119. p. 39, line 30White and beautiful are the faces around me . . . . the heads are bared of their fire-caps,
  120. p. 40, line 2They show as the dial or move as the hands of me . . . . and I am the clock myself.
  121. p. 40, line 13He gasps through the clot . . . . Mind not me . . . . mind . . . . the entrenchments.
  122. p. 42, line 25O Christ! My fit is mastering me!
  123. p. 42, line 31These become mine and me every one, and they are but little,
  124. p. 43, line 4For me the keepers of convicts shoulder their carbines and keep watch,
  125. p. 43, line 10My face is ash-colored, my sinews gnarl . . . . away from me people retreat.
  126. p. 43, line 11Askers embody themselves in me, and I am embodied in them,
  127. p. 43, line 14The whirling and whirling is elemental within me.
  128. p. 43, line 16Give me a little time beyond my cuffed head and slumbers and dreams and gaping,
  129. p. 44, line 2I see the approach of your numberless gangs . . . . I see you understand yourselves and me,
  130. p. 44, line 21And might tell what it is in me and what it is in you, but cannot,
  131. p. 45, line 1I do not ask who you are . . . . that is not important to me,
  132. p. 45, line 12By God! you shall not go down! Hang your whole weight upon me.
  133. p. 45, line 14Every room of the house do I fill with am armed force . . . . lovers of me, bafflers of graves:
  134. p. 46, line 6Those ahold of fire-engines and hook-and-ladder ropes more to me than the gods of the antique wars,
  135. p. 46, line 13What was strewn in the amplest strewing the square rod about me, and not filling the square rod then;
  136. p. 46, line 17The day getting ready for me when I shall do as much good as the best, and be as prodigious,
  137. p. 46, line 18Guessing when I am it will not tickle me much to receive puffs out of pulpit or print;
  138. p. 47, line 1Music rolls, but not from the organ . . . . folks are around me, but they are no household of mine.
  139. p. 47, line 15Whatever interests the rest interests me . . . . politics, churches, newspapers, schools,
  140. p. 47, line 20The weakest and shallowest is deathless with me,
  141. p. 47, line 22Every thought that flounders in me the same flounders in them.
  142. p. 48, line 19Ranting and frothing in my insane crisis—waiting dead-like till my spirit arouses me;
  143. p. 49, line 1The past is the push of you and me and all precisely the same,
  144. p. 49, line 2And the night is for you and me and all,
  145. p. 49, line 3And what is yet untried and afterward is for you and me and all.
  146. p. 49, line 18What is known I strip away . . . . I launch all men and women forward with me into the unknown.
  147. p. 50, line 1I am sorry for you . . . . they are not murderous or jealous upon me;
  148. p. 50, line 2All has been gentle with me . . . . . . I keep no account with lamentation;
  149. p. 50, line 8Rise after rise bow the phantoms behind me,
  150. p. 50, line 11And slept while God carried me through the lethargic mist,
  151. p. 50, line 14Immense have been the preparations for me,
  152. p. 50, line 15Faithful and friendly the arms that have helped me.
  153. p. 50, line 17For room to me stars kept aside in their own rings,
  154. p. 50, line 18They sent influences to look after what was to hold me.
  155. p. 50, line 19Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me,
  156. p. 50, line 23All forces have been steadily employed to complete and delight me,
  157. p. 50, line 26My lovers suffocate me!
  158. p. 50, line 28Jostling me through streets and public halls . . . . coming naked to me at night,
  159. p. 52, line 11If you tire, give me both burdens, and rest the chuff of your hand on my hip,
  160. p. 52, line 12And in due time you shall repay the same service to me;
  161. p. 52, line 17You are also asking me questions, and I hear you;
  162. p. 52, line 27To jump off in the midst of the sea, and rise again and nod to me and shout, and laughingly dash with your hair.
  163. p. 52, line 29He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own proves the width of my own,
  164. p. 53, line 7I teach straying from me, yet who can stray from me?
  165. p. 53, line 14And I swear I never will translate myself at all, only to him or her who privately stays with me in the open air.
  166. p. 53, line 15If you would understand me go to the heights or water-shore,
  167. p. 53, line 18No shuttered room or school can commune with me,
  168. p. 53, line 20The young mechanic is closest to me . . . . he knows me pretty well,
  169. p. 53, line 21The woodman that takes his axe and jug with him shall take me with him all day,
  170. p. 53, line 25The driver thinking of me does not mind the jolt of his wagon,
  171. p. 53, line 26The young mother and old mother shall comprehend me,
  172. p. 54, line 16And as to you death, and you bitter hug of mortality . . . . it is idle to try to alarm me.
  173. p. 54, line 20And as to you corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not offend me,
  174. p. 55, line 4There is that in me . . . . I do not know what it is . . . . but I know it is in me.
  175. p. 55, line 10To it the creation is the friend whose embracing awakes me.
  176. p. 55, line 16Listener up there! Here you . . . . what have you to confide to me?
  177. p. 55, line 24Who wishes to walk with me?
  178. p. 55, line 26The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me . . . . he complains of my gab and my loitering.
  179. p. 55, line 29The last scud of day holds back for me,
  180. p. 56, line 2It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.
  181. p. 56, line 6If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.
  182. p. 56, line 10Failing to fetch me me at first keep encouraged,
  183. p. 56, line 11Missing me one place search another,
  184. p. 57, line 1COME closer to me,
  185. p. 57, line 3Yield closer and closer and give me the best you possess.
  186. p. 57, line 4This is unfinished business with me . . . . how is it with you?
  187. p. 57, line 7I do not thank you for liking me as I am, and liking the touch of me . . . . I know that it is good for you to do so.
  188. p. 57, line 8Were all educations practical and ornamental well displayed out of me, what would it amount to?
  189. p. 57, line 12A man like me, and never the usual terms.
  190. p. 57, line 14I take no sooner a large price than a small price . . . . I will have my own whoever enjoys me,
  191. p. 57, line 15I will be even with you, and you shall be even with me.
  192. p. 58, line 5If you see a good deal remarkable in me I see just as much remarkable in you.
  193. p. 59, line 5None shall escape me, and none shall wish to escape me.
  194. p. 61, line 8Does all sit there with you and here with me?
  195. p. 71, line 10The earth recedes from me into the night,
  196. p. 71, line 15I am a dance . . . . Play up there! the fit is whirling me fast.
  197. p. 71, line 20Only from me can they hide nothing and would not if they could;
  198. p. 71, line 21I reckon I am their boss, and they make me a pet besides,
  199. p. 71, line 22And surround me, and lead me and run ahead when I walk,
  200. p. 71, line 23And lift their cunning covers and signify me with stretched arms, and resume the way;
  201. p. 71, line 31Double yourself and receive me darkness,
  202. p. 71, line 32Receive me and my lover too . . . . he will not let me go without him.
  203. p. 72, line 2He whom I call answers me and takes the place of my lover,
  204. p. 72, line 3He rises with me silently from the bed.
  205. p. 72, line 5I feel the hot moisture yet that he left me.
  206. p. 72, line 8Be careful, darkness . . . . already, what was it touched me?
  207. p. 72, line 12O for pity's sake, no one must see me now! . . . . my clothes were stolen while I was abed,
  208. p. 72, line 15Pier out from the main, let me catch myself with you and stay . . . . I will not chafe you;
  209. p. 72, line 17And am curious to know where my feet stand . . . . and what is this flooding me, childhood or manhood . . . . and the hunger that crosses the bridge between.
  210. p. 72, line 23Perfume and youth course through me, and I am their wake.
  211. p. 73, line 1It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy;
  212. p. 73, line 20I can but rush to the surf and let it drench me and freeze upon me.
  213. p. 74, line 4Now I tell what my mother told me today as we sat at dinner together,
  214. p. 74, line 22I have been wronged . . . . I am oppressed . . . . I hate him that oppresses me,
  215. p. 74, line 23I will either destroy him, or he shall release me.
  216. p. 74, line 24Damn him! how he does defile me,
  217. p. 75, line 1O love and summer! you are in the dreams and in me,
  218. p. 77, line 7Not you will yield forth the dawn again more surely than you will yield forth me again,
  219. p. 77, line 9THE bodies of men and women engirth me, and I engirth them,
  220. p. 77, line 10They will not let me off nor I them till I go with them and respond to them and love them.
  221. p. 83, line 27Features of my equals, would you trick me with your creased and cadaverous march?
  222. p. 83, line 28Well then you cannot trick me.
  223. p. 84, line 22Spots or cracks at the windows do not disturb me,
  224. p. 84, line 23Tall and sufficient stand behind and make signs to me;
  225. p. 84, line 27Come here, she blushingly cries . . . . Come nigh to me limber-hip'd man and give me your finger and thumb,
  226. p. 84, line 29Fill me with albescent honey . . . . bend down to me,
  227. p. 84, line 30Rub to me with your chafing beard . . rub to my breast and shoulders.
  228. p. 85, line 16A YOUNG man came to me with a message from his brother,
  229. p. 85, line 18Tell him to send me the signs.
  230. p. 92, line 18Nor that years will ever stop the existence of me or any one else.
  231. p. 93, line 3Come I should like to hear you tell me what there is in yourself that is not just as wonderful,