I Hear It Was Charged Against Me
by Walt Whitman

I hear it was charged against me that I sought to destroy institutions,
But really I am neither for nor against institutions,
(What indeed have I in common with them? or what with the destruction of them?)
Only I will establish in Manhattan and in every city of these States inland
and seaboard,
And in the fields and woods, and above every keel little or large that dents
the water,
Without edifices or rules or trustees or any argument,
The institution of the dear love of comrades.