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by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

Unseen Buds
Language: English 
Unseen buds, infinite, hidden well,
Under the snow and ice, under the darkness, in every square or cubic inch,
Germinal, exquisite, in delicate lace, microscopic, unborn,
Like babes in wombs, latent, folded, compact, sleeping;
Billions of billions, and trillions of trillions of them waiting,
(On earth and in the sea—the universe—the stars there in the heavens,)
Urging slowly, surely forward, forming endless,
And waiting ever more, forever more behind.

Text Authorship:

  • by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Unseen Buds" [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Russell Platt (b. 1965), "Unseen Buds", copyright © 2006 [ soprano and piano ], from cantata From Noon to Starry Night - A Walt Whitman Cantata, no. 9, Fort Tryon Press [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2018-10-15
Line count: 8
Word count: 69

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