Not The Pilot By Walt Whitman

Not the pilot has charged himself to bring his ship into port, though beaten back, and many times baffled;Not the path-finder, penetrating inland, weary and long,By deserts parch’d, snows-chill’d, rivers wet, perseveres till he reaches his destination,More than I have charged myself, heeded or unheeded, to compose a free march for These States,To be exhilarating…