I came upon this piece while reading from Whitman's "Leaves of Grass and Selected Prose." I found this book at the Trillium Hospital. There is an awesome bookshelf by the Emergency entrance where new books arrive daily (I still have yet to figure out who actually brings them in) and for a small donation to the hospital the item is all yours to keep!

I'll post the poem first. Following the poem is a brief explication of the lines according to my understanding of the work.

PS: Don't read poetry. Vocalize it. It works wonders.

"Thought" 

By: Walt Whitman

Of persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies, wealth, 
scholarships, and the like; 
(To me all that those persons have arrived at sinks away from them, 
except as it results to their bodies and souls, 
So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked, 
And often to me each one mocks the others, and mocks himself or herself, 
And of each one the core of life, namely happiness, is full of the 
rotten excrement of maggots, 
And often to me those men and women pass unwittingly the true 
realities of life, and go toward false realities, 
And often to me they are alive after what custom has served them, 
but nothing more, 
And often to me they are sad, hasty, unwaked sonnambules walking the dusk.)

This work by Whitman asserts the negative impact that the desire for status and wealth has on the souls of individuals. He reminds the reader that such aspirations lead people to seek "false realities" at the expense of "true realities" in life. Consequently, they acquire a deluded understanding of happiness which is based on the never ceasing lust for money and societal praise. Their well-being and delight in life is established on these ostentatious practices. But for a man who understands the true realities of life, a man of intellect like Whitman, he can see beyond their prestigious and cheerful facade. He sees with disgust "gaunt and naked" individuals. Those who ridicule, "mock," others to reach their goals. They ruthlessly fence through the crowd to reach the top - without concern for those they have debased and degraded on their path. And when their target is reached, they experience a short-lived euphoria, for they have accomplished, according to societal "custom," the pinnacle of life - status and money. But all they have arrived at "sinks." Because it all fades as each season brings about a new individual in each community - one with more status and money than the others.  The seekers of societal glory struggle daily to maintain their positions of authority a midst their competitors.  Their aspiration for fame forever entraps them in a vicious cycle of the souls' destruction prior to their bodily destruction. This tragedy is captured when Whitman describes their final destination as "unwaked sonnambules walking through the dusk."