Great is goodness;
I do not know what it is any more than I know what health is . . . . but I know it is great.
Great is wickedness . . . . I find I often admire it just as much as I admire goodness:
Do you call that a paradox? It certainly is a paradox.
The eternal equilibrium of things is great, and the eternal overthrow of things is great,
And there is another paradox.
Great is life . . and real and mystical . . wherever and whoever,
Great is death . . . . Sure as life holds all parts together, death holds all parts together;
Sure as the stars return again after they merge in the light, death is great as life.
Leaves of Grass (The Final Edition)
On Journeys Through the States
Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd
Ages and Ages Returning at Intervals
We Two, How Long We Were Fool’d
Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City
I Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the Organ