by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
Aboard, at a ship's helm
Language: English
Aboard, at a ship's helm, A young steersman, steering with care. A bell through fog on a sea-coast dolefully ringing, An ocean-bell -- O a warning bell, rock'd by the waves. O you give good notice indeed, you bell by the sea-reefs ringing, Ringing, ringing, to warn the ship from its wreck-place. For, as on the alert, O steersman, you mind the bell's admonition, The bows turn, -- the freighted ship, tacking, speeds away under her gray sails, The beautiful and noble ship, with all her precious wealth, speeds away gaily and safe. But O the ship, the immortal ship! O ship aboard the ship! O ship of the body -- ship of the soul -- voyaging, voyaging, voyaging.
Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Aboard, at a ship's helm", appears in Leaves of Grass, first published 1900 [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 Guy Booth , "Aboard, at a ship's helm", published 1936 [ mixed chorus a cappella ], from The Ship [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-06-05
Line count: 11
Word count: 115