Saturday, July 23, 2011

This is what you shall do

This is what you shall do;

Love the earth and sun and the animals,
despise riches,
give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others,
hate tyrants,
argue not concerning God,
have patience and indulgence toward the people,
take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,
go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families,
read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,
re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book,
dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have  the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

-Walt Whitman

1 comment:

Andrea Woolf said...

I love your post! I, too, love inspirational sayings and was happy to come upon your article. I especially like Walt Whitman and his seizing of life.

It is great that you are sharing this poem with others here. You are truly making a difference in the world. Keep doing what you are doing!

To your magnificence!
Andrea Woolf
Founder, Ignite Your Life Book
Co-Founder, Wake Up Abundant
Ambassador of Manifest Money, HowtoLiveonPurpose.com