“Going Somewhere”
My science-friend, my noblest woman-friend, (Now buried in an English grave—and this a memory-leaf for her dear sake,) Ended our talk—“The sum, concluding all we know of old or modern learning, intuitions deep, “Of all Geologies—Histories—of all Astronomy—of Evolution, Metaphysics all, “Is, that we all are onward, onward, speeding slowly, surely bettering, “Life, life an endless march, an endless army, (no halt, but it is duly over,) “The world, the race, the soul—in space and time the universes, “All bound as is befitting each—all surely going somewhere.”
Small the Theme of My Chant
(From the 1867 edition “ L. of G. ”)
Small the theme of my Chant, yet the greatest—namely, One’s-Self—a simple, separate person. That, for the use of the New World, I sing. Man’s physiology complete, from top to toe, I sing. Not physiognomy alone, nor brain alone, is worthy for the Muse;—I say