Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

181. To Rich Givers

WHAT you give me, I cheerfully accept,

A little sustenance, a hut and garden, a little money—these, as I rendezvous with my poems;

A traveler’s lodging and breakfast as I journey through The States—Why should I be ashamed to own such gifts? Why to advertise for them?

For I myself am not one who bestows nothing upon man and woman;

For I bestow upon any man or woman the entrance to all the gifts of the universe.