Classic Poem

I, too, have a big place to fill in this little world:
I, too, am a creator of results, a master of harvests:
I, too, am to report what I think of the farthest meanings of things:
I, too, must hereafter be listened to respectfully even by my enemies:
In the finish of the stars nothing can be left out without ruin to the rest—
The least significant object cant be left out without ruin to the most significant—
So that my place, humble as it is, is as great as any other's place,
And though I shine ever so little I shine as brightly as any other who shines ever so much,
For the substance of a man is not in what he measures himself to be but in what he is,
For the collateral of a man is not in his perishable conquests but in his imperishable loyalty,
For the only real victory of all victories coming to a man is the victory of his love though it is a victory of defeat.

I call myself out from where I was hidden:
I have been ashamed to sign my own name: now I sign it with a bold stroke.
I have let the illustrious precede and obscure me as if I was a reproach to God:
I have always taken last places, making way without question for any one who pushed ahead:
I have been quick to assume you, O my brother, whatever you are, and slow to assume myself:
I have permitted money and power and position to go before me unquestioned:
I have stood aside for my betters, always rating myself at a discount:
And so the world has marched over me, booted and spurred, as if I was an alien,
And so the world has taken me at my word and arrogantly assisted in my effacement,
And so the world has assigned to me nothing but the useless leavings of life

Now I rise in revolt—now I lift up my bowed head and shake my mane:
Now I turn a new page of the book—turn to my page: I demand that you listen to me:
Now my call is heard: I raise my voice to its loudest pitch: listen!
I step out from my own littleness into my own immensity:
I no longer play second whether or no, reporting for only the minor roles:
I feel at last as if there were sufficient grounds for my introduction among you:
I feel as if there would be a flaw in the argument if I failed to appear—
I feel as if the curtain would have to be rung down and I would have to be sent for:
I, who have been so long excluded by excluding myself:
I, now fully awake, calling lustily to my own soul to conform to its size and style.

You thought you were forgotten when the inventory of the earth was made out—
You thought all the half men were counted in and made much of but though you were not worth while: you thought you were set aside
You allowed the dandies to have their way with the universe, pushing everyone else off the edge:
You took the back seats: you sat on the hard boards: you gave away that for which you starved.
I ask the seed: Why should you be humble before the tree?
I ask the wave: Why should you be humble before the sea?
I ask the rock: Why should you be humble before the mountain?
Why should you? Why should you be humble before the finish of what you began?
I ask the sun: Why should you be humble before the day?
I ask the crowd: Why should you be humble before the child?
I ask the law: Why should you be humble before the executioner?
You should be humble but you should be humble only before your own soul:
You should not put anything in place of your soul and be humble before that:
Nor money, not a man (not the greatest man), not a cause, nothing:
Nothing should be put in place of your own soul: the soul is supreme:
The big soul, the little soul, any soul: it does not signify: the soul is supreme:
Oh! be careful divine dear brother what you do with your soul—how reverently you treat your soul:
Once you put anything in place of it it is hard to get back! oh, so hard!—
If you put money in place of it or even learning or even love (mad tempting love) it is all up with the soul:
You can do anything else and get back but if you have put something in place of the soul you may find you can never get back!

Now I rank highest and lowest—I take my proper station:
Now I belong to the few who are no better than the many and to the many who are as good as the few:
I quote my stock high: mountains could not reach to it nor suns that light their crests:
I see no reason further why I should toss myself into the void:
I, too, have a big place to fill in this little world.