Reply #46: How about some Whitman?

[libnnc]

-I Sit and Look Out-

I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and
upon all oppression and shame,
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men at anguish
with themselves, remorseful after deeds done,
I see in low life the mother misused by her husband, I see the treacherous seducer of young women,
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love attempt
to be hid, I see these sights on the earth,
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny, I see
martyrs and prisoners,
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant
persons upon laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;
All these--all the meanness and agony without end I sitting
look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent
--Walt Whitman

I really like this one. Walt is so timeless, he should be mandatory reading for everybody.