Leaves of Grass — Song of Myself (sections 1–5 opening) • Paragraph 2
Stage 1 of 6

Read it through once

Houses and rooms are full of perfumes— the shelves are crowded with perfumes— I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it. The atmosphere is not a perfume— it has no taste of the distillation— it is odorless— It is for my mouth forever— I am in love with it, I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked, I am mad for it to be in contact with me.