The poet resolves to listen and be receptive to all sounds. The sounds are familiar: the "bravuras of birds," the "bustle of growing wheat," and "the sound of the human voice." Soon they reach a high pitch and the poet is ecstatic at this "music." Sections 27-30 reveal that the sense of touch also brings the poet joy. Indeed, the poet's sense of touch is extremely acute. At times he is overwhelmed by it, and he asks, "Is this then a touch? quivering me to a new identity." The emphasis is on his search for an individuality, an aspect of his evolving self. He will end his quest for being in an affirmation of his body's sensory awareness. With all his senses, the poet responds to existence and living, "the puzzle of puzzles . . . that we call Being."
The poet's senses convince him that there is significance in everything, no matter how small. Sections 31-33 contain a catalog of the infinite wonders in small things. He believes, for example, that "a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars" and "the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery," for all things are part of the eternal wonder of life and therefore even "the soggy clods shall become lovers and lamps." He, himself, incorporates an unending range of things, people, and animals. Now he understands the power of his vision which ranges everywhere: "I skirt sierras, my palms cover continents,/I am afoot with my vision." Especially in sections 34-36, he identifies himself with every person, dead or living, and relates his involvement with the various phases of American history. Realizing his relationship to all this makes him feel, as he states in section 38, "replenish'd with supreme power, one of an average unending procession."
