the love is to the lover, and comes back most to him

2

Whoever you are! motion and reflection are especially for you,

The divine ship sails the divine sea for you.

 

Whoever you are! you are he or she for whom the earth is solid 

 and liquid,

You are he or she for whom the sun and moon hang in the sky,

For none more than you are the present and the past,

For none more than you is immortality.

 

Each man to himself and each woman to herself, is the word of 

 the past and present, and the true word of immortality;

No one can acquire for another—not one,

Not one can grow for another—not one.

 

The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him,

The teaching is to the teacher, and comes back most to him,

The murder is to the murderer, and comes back most to him,

The theft is to the thief, and comes back most to him,

The love is to the lover, and comes back most to him,

The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him—it cannot 

 fail,

The oration is to the orator, the acting is to the actor and actress 

 not to the audience,

And no man understands any greatness or goodness but his own, 

 or the indication of his own.

 

3

I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall 

 be complete,

The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who 

 remains jagged and broken.

~ Walt Whitman

from A Song of the Rolling Earth

with thanks to The Marginalian by Maria Popova