A Hand-Mirror
By Walt Whitman
Hold it up sternly! See this it sends back! (Who is it? Is it you?) Outside fair costume--within ashes and filth, No more a flashing eye--no more a sonorous voice or springy step; Now some slave's eye, voice, hands, step, A drunkard's breath, unwholesome eater's face, venerealee's flesh, Lungs rotting away piecemeal, stomach sour and cankerous, Joints rheumatic, bowels clogged with abomination, Blood circulating dark and poisonous streams, Words babble, hearing and touch callous, No brain, no heart left--no magnetism of sex; Such, from one look in this looking-glass ere you go hence, Such a result so soon--and from such a beginning!
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"Hold it up sternly! See this it sends back! (Who is it? Is it you?)..."
Exploring the themes of classic, Walt Whitman delivers a powerful performance in "A Hand-Mirror"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...