Me Imperturbe
By Walt Whitman
Me imperturbe, standing at ease in Nature,
Master of all, or mistress of all—aplomb in the midst of irrational things,
Imbued as they—passive, receptive, silent as they,
Finding my occupation, poverty, notoriety, foibles, crimes, less important than I thought;
Me private, or public, or menial, or solitary—all these subordinate, (I am eternally equal with the best—I am not subordinate;)
Me toward the Mexican Sea, or in the Mannahatta, or the Tennessee, or far north, or inland,
A river man, or a man of the woods, or of any farm-life in These States, or of the coast, or the lakes, or Kanada,
Me, wherever my life is lived, O to be self-balanced for contingencies!
O to confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do.
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Wednesday was warm and muggy, though not painfully so. I had no vehicle all morning because Paul had an eye doctor appointment and Adam needed to go to College Park for training for his lab job, so I worked on my review and got the laundry folded until he got home with a 3D caterpillar he designed.
We watched Olympic basketball and swimming in and around chores, Maddy went to visit the people for whom she house-sat to get paid, then she and Adam baked chocolate chip cookies together (I contributed by making sure the chocolate wasn't poisoned and the cookies were cooked). From historic Philadelphia last weekend:
Carpenters Hall
First National Bank
Independence Hall
The Bourse
Entrance to Franklin Court and Post Office
Franklin Court
Commodore Barry, Independence Square
