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The truth in man is no dictum….it is vital as eyesight,

If there be any soul there is truth….if there be man or

woman there is truth….If there be physical or

moral there is truth,

If there be equilibrium or volition there is truth…..if

there be things at all upon the earth there is truth.

O truth of the earth! O truth of things! I am determined

to press the whole way toward you,

Sound your voice! I scale mountains or dive in the sea

after you.

Walt Whitman often speaks of balance in his poems by calling out life’s opposite forces.

If there be man or woman there is truth…

If there be physical or moral…

I scale mountains or dive in the sea…

Each example is an opposite. Each noun or verb needs the other to exist.

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From: Leaves of Grass 150th Anniversary Edition (Penguin Classics), pgs.158