I have not so much emulated the birds that musically sing,
I have abandon’d myself to flights, broad circles.
The hawk, the seagull, have far more possess’d me than the canary or mocking-bird.
I have not felt to warble and trill, however sweetly,
I have felt to soar in freedom and in the fullness of power, joy, volition.
Public-domain source text
To Soar in Freedom and in Fullness of Power
by Walt Whitman
From Standard Ebooks · standardebooks/walt-whitman_leaves-of-grass
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