AND now, gentlemen,
A word I give to remain in your memories and minds,
As base, and finale 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 statedFichte and Schelling and Hegel,
Stated the lore of Platoand Socrates, greater than Plato,
And greater than Socrates sought and statedChrist divine having studied long,
I see reminiscent to-day those Greek and Germanic systems,
See the philosophies allChristian churches and tenets see,
Yet underneath Socrates clearly seeand underneath Christ the divine I see,
The dear love of man for his comradethe attraction of friend to friend,
Of the well-married husband and wifeof children and parents,
Of city for city, and land for land.
Base of all Metaphysics, The.
written byWalt Whitman
© Walt Whitman