"Not to exclude or demarcate, or pick out evils from their formidable masses (even to expose them,) But add, fuse, complete, extend — and celebrate the immortal and the good. Haughty this song, its words and scope, To span vast realms of space and time, Evolution — the cumulative — growths and generations. Begun in ripen'd youth and steadily pursued, Wandering, peering, dallying with all — war, peace, day and night absorbing, Never even for one brief hour abandoning my task, I end it here in sickness, poverty, and old age."