"Germs"

Forms, qualites, lives, humanity, language, thoughts,
The ones known, and the ones uknown, the ones on the stars,
The stars themselves, some shaped, others unshaped.
Wonders as of those countries, the soil, trees, cities,
      inhabitants, whatever they may be,
Splendid suns, the moons and rings, the countless
      combinations and effects,
Such-like, and as good as such-like, visible here or anywhere,
      stand provided for in a handful of space, which I extend
      my arm and half enclose with my hand,
That containing the start of each and all, the virtue, the germs
      of all.
--WHITMAN