by Whitman · Cluster: Christianity · Faith and Doubt · Doubt
Abstract
Poem of dark downcast hours and the dread that matter is conqueror; the dying voices cry out for their destination as the speaker prepares to sail.
Connections
Motifs: Sea Themes & Concepts: Doubt, Mortality, Melancholy, Faith and Doubt
Testo integrale / Full text
Cluster: WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH
Yet, yet, ye downcast hours, I know ye also, Weights of lead, how ye clog and cling at my ankles, Earth to a chamber of mourning turns—I hear the o’erweening, mocking voice, Matter is conqueror—matter, triumphant only, continues onward.
Despairing cries float ceaselessly toward me, The call of my nearest lover, putting forth, alarm’d, uncertain, The sea I am quickly to sail, come tell me, Come tell me where I am speeding, tell me my destination.
I understand your anguish, but I cannot help you, I approach, hear, behold, the sad mouth, the look out of the eyes, your mute inquiry, Whither I go from the bed I recline on, come tell me,— Old age, alarm’d, uncertain—a young woman’s voice, appealing to me for comfort; A young man’s voice, Shall I not escape?