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by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

Now Asia, Africa leave me, Europe...
Language: English 
Choose for Diff
Now Asia, Africa leave me, Europe seizing inflates me,
To organs huge and bands I hear as from vast concourses of    voices,
Luther's strong hymn, Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott,
Rossini's Stabat Mater dolorosa,
Or floating in some high cathedral dim with gorgeous color'd  windows,
The passionate Agnus Dei or Gloria in Excelsis.
Composers! mighty maestros!
And you, sweet singers of old lands, soprani, tenori, bassi!
To you a new bard caroling in the West,
Obeisant sends his love.
(Such led to thee O soul,
All senses, shows and objects, lead to thee,
But now it seems to me sound leads o'er all the rest.)
I hear the annual singing of the children in St. Paul's cathedral,
Or, under the high roof of some colossal hall, the symphonies,  
 oratorios of Beethoven, Handel, or Haydn,
The Creation in billows of godhood laves me.
Give me to hold all sounds, (I madly struggling cry,)
Fill me with all the voices of the universe,
Endow me with their throbbings, Nature's also,
The tempests, waters, winds, operas and chants, marches and   dances,
Utter, pour in, for I would take them all!

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass , Boston : James R. Osgood and Company, 1881-1882


Text Authorship:

  • by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), no title, appears in Leaves of Grass, in Proud music of the storm,, no. 5 [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 Andrea Ramsey (b. 1977), "To Hold All Sounds" [ ssaa chorus, organ and timpani ], Santa Barbara Music Publishing
        Publisher: Santa Barbara Music Publishing [external link]  [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-09-02
Line count: 22
Word count: 188

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