LONG I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me--O if I could <br /> but obtain knowledge! <br /> Then my lands engrossed me--Lands of the prairies, Ohio's land, the <br /> southern savannas, engrossed me--For them I would live--I would <br /> be their orator; <br /> Then I met the examples of old and new heroes--I heard of warriors, <br /> sailors, and all dauntless persons--And it seemed to me that I <br /> too had it in me to be as dauntless as any--and would be so; <br /> And then, to enclose all, it came to me to strike up the songs of the <br /> New World--And then I believed my life must be spent in <br /> singing; <br /> But now take notice, land of the prairies, land of the south <br /> savannas, Ohio's land, <br /> Take notice, you Kanuck woods--and you Lake Huron--and all that with <br /> you roll toward Niagara--and you Niagara also, <br /> And you, Californian mountains--That you each and all find somebody <br /> else to be your singer of songs, <br /> For I can be your singer of songs no longer--One who loves me is <br /> jealous of me, and withdraws me from all but love, <br /> With the rest I dispense--I sever from what I thought would suffice <br /> me, for it does not--it is now empty and tasteless to me, <br /> I heed knowledge, and the grandeur of The States, and the example of <br /> heroes, no more, 10 <br /> I am indifferent to my own songs--I will go with him I love, <br /> It is to be enough for us that we are together--We never separate <br /> again.<br /><br />Walt Whitman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/long-i-thought-that-knowledge/
