OUT from behind this bending, rough-cut Mask, <br /> (All straighter, liker Masks rejected--this preferr'd,) <br /> This common curtain of the face, contain'd in me for me, in you for <br /> you, in each for each, <br /> (Tragedies, sorrows, laughter, tears--O heaven! <br /> The passionate, teeming plays this curtain hid!) <br /> This glaze of God's serenest, purest sky, <br /> This film of Satan's seething pit, <br /> This heart's geography's map--this limitless small continent--this <br /> soundless sea; <br /> Out from the convolutions of this globe, <br /> This subtler astronomic orb than sun or moon--than Jupiter, Venus, <br /> Mars; 10 <br /> This condensation of the Universe--(nay, here the only Universe, <br /> Here the IDEA--all in this mystic handful wrapt;) <br /> These burin'd eyes, flashing to you, to pass to future time, <br /> To launch and spin through space revolving, sideling--from these to <br /> emanate, <br /> To You, whoe'er you are--a Look. <br /> <br /> <br /> A Traveler of thoughts and years--of peace and war, <br /> Of youth long sped, and middle age declining, <br /> (As the first volume of a tale perused and laid away, and this the <br /> second, <br /> Songs, ventures, speculations, presently to close,) <br /> Lingering a moment, here and now, to You I opposite turn, 20 <br /> As on the road, or at some crevice door, by chance, or open'd window, <br /> Pausing, inclining, baring my head, You specially I greet, <br /> To draw and clench your Soul, for once, inseparably with mine, <br /> Then travel, travel on.<br /><br />Walt Whitman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/out-from-behind-his-mask/
