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by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

What think you I take my pen in hand to record?
Language: English 
What think you I take my pen in hand to record?
The battle-ship, perfect-model'd, majestic, 
  that I saw pass the offing to-day under full sail?
The splendors of the past day? or the splendor of the night that envelops me?
Or the vaunted glory and growth of the great city spread around me? -- no;
But merely of two simple men I saw to-day on the pier in the midst of the crowd,
  parting the parting of dear friends,
The one to remain hung on the other's neck and passionately kiss'd him,
While the one to depart tightly prest the one to remain in his arms.

Text Authorship:

  • by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) [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 Clint Borzoni , "What think you I take my pen in hand to record?" [voice and piano], from A Live-Oak Growing, no. 3. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2013-03-06
Line count: 9
Word count: 105

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