Of persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies, wealth,

scholarships, and the like:

(To me all that those persons have arrived at

sinks away from them, except as it results to their

bodies and souls,

So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked,

And often to me each one of them mocks the others, and mocks

himself or herself,

And of each one the core of life, namely happiness, is full

of the rotten excrement of maggots,

And often to me those men and women pass unwittingly

the true realities of life, and go toward false realities,

And often to me they are alive after what custom has served them,

but nothing more,

And often to me they are sad, hasty, unwaked sonnambules

walking the dusk.)

from Leaves of Grass, 1891-92 Edition