by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
Gods
Language: English
Lover divine and perfect Comrade, Waiting content, invisible yet, but certain, Be thou my God. Thou, thou, the Ideal Man, Fair, able, beautiful, content, and loving, Complete in body and dilate in spirit, Be thou my God. O Death, (for Life has served its turn,) Opener and usher to the heavenly mansion, Be thou my God. Aught, aught of mightiest, best I see, conceive, or know, (To break the stagnant tie - thee, thee to free, O soul,) Be thou my God. All great ideas, the races' aspirations, All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts, Be ye my Gods. Or Time and Space, Or shape of Earth divine and wondrous, Or some fair shape I viewing, worship, Or lustrous orb of sun or star by night, Be ye my Gods.
Text Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Gods", appears in Leaves of Grass [author's text checked 1 time 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 Michael Hennagin (1936 - 1993), "Gods", published 1979 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from By the Roadside [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ned Rorem (1923 - 2022), "Gods", published 1970 [ voice and piano ], from Five Poems of Walt Whitman, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2005-10-12
Line count: 21
Word count: 128