| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 122. All is Truth |
| By Walt Whitman (1819–1892) |
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| O ME, man of slack faith so long, | |
| Standing aloof—denying portions so long; | |
| Only aware to-day of compact, all-diffused truth; | |
| Discovering to-day there is no lie, or form of lie, and can be none, but grows as inevitably upon itself as the truth does upon itself, | |
| Or as any law of the earth, or any natural production of the earth does. | 5 |
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| (This is curious, and may not be realized immediately—But it must be realized; | |
| I feel in myself that I represent falsehoods equally with the rest, | |
| And that the universe does.) | |
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| Where has fail’d a perfect return, indifferent of lies or the truth? | |
| Is it upon the ground, or in water or fire? or in the spirit of man? or in the meat and blood? | 10 |
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| Meditating among liars, and retreating sternly into myself, I see that there are really no liars or lies after all, | |
| And nothing fails its perfect return—And that what are called lies are perfect returns, | |
| And that each thing exactly represents itself, and what has preceded it, | |
| And that the truth includes all, and is compact, just as much as space is compact, | |
| And that there is no law or vacuum in the amount of the truth—but that all is truth without exception; | 15 |
| And henceforth I will go celebrate anything I see or am, | |
| And sing and laugh, and deny nothing. | |
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