From
Leaves of Grass, by
Walt Whitman:
And now gentlemen,
A word I give to remain in your memories and minds,
As base and finalè too for all
metaphysics.
(So to the students the old professor,
At the close of his crowded course.)
Having studied the new and
antique, the
Greek and
Germanic systems,
Kant having studied and stated,
Fichte and
Schelling and
Hegel,
Stated the lore of
Plato, and
Socrates greater than Plato,
And greater than Socrates sought and stated,
Christ divine
having studied long,
I see reminiscent to-day those Greek and Germanic systems,
See the philosophies all, Christian churches and tenets see,
Yet underneath Socrates clearly see, and underneath Christ
the
divine I see,
The dear
love of man for his
comrade, the attraction of
friend to
friend,
Of the well-married
husband and
wife, of
children and
parents,
Of city for
city and
land for land.