by Whitman · Cluster: Ship · Endurance
Abstract
A free-verse farewell bidding the old Sailor depart on an endless cruise beyond return; themes of death as voyage, the sea and the journey.
Connections
Motifs: Death, Sea, Ship, Journey Themes & Concepts: Mortality
Testo integrale / Full text
Cluster: SONGS OF PARTING
Now finale to the shore,
Now land and life finale and farewell,
Now Voyager depart, (much, much for thee is yet in store,)
Often enough hast thou adventur’d o’er the seas,
Cautiously cruising, studying the charts,
Duly again to port and hawser’s tie returning;
But now obey thy cherish’d secret wish,
Embrace thy friends, leave all in order,
To port and hawser’s tie no more returning,
Depart upon thy endless cruise old Sailor.