Review of "To You" by Walt Whitman

"To You" by Walt Whitman was offered by Poets.org's Poem-A-Day on December 25, 2013.  A link to the poem may be found here:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16082

Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) (pictured) is widely considered to be one of America's most important poets.  A brief biography of his extraordinary life and career may be found here:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/126?utm_source=PAD%3A+To+You+by+Walt+Whitman&utm_campaign=poemaday_122513&utm_medium=email

My mother once told me that some believe that one form of Hell, or at least of pain in the afterlife, is to be shown what you could have been, what you should have been, what God meant you to be, if only you had reached your full potential; that hell is to know that if only you had not allowed laziness, sloth, gluttony, greed, lust--name your sin--to cause you to stray from the path that God preordained for you, what a life you would have led!  In "To You," Whitman gently and encouragingly reminds us of this, and that the true YOU is always there.