Darest Thou Now, O Soul

"Darest Thou Now, O Soul" is the third song in Ernst Bacon's song collection Songs at Parting: A Selection of Poems by Walt Whitman.

Date: 1930Composer: Ernst BaconText: Walt WhitmanSong Collection: Songs at Parting

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Text

Darest Thou Now, O Soul
by Walt Whitman

Darest thou now, O Soul,
Walk out with me toward the Unknown Region,
Where neither ground is for the feet, nor any path to follow?

No map, there, nor guide,
Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.

I know it not, O Soul;
Nor dost thou—all is a blank before us;
All waits, undream’d of, in that region—that inaccessible land.

Till, when the ties loosen,
All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds, bound us.

Then we burst forth—we float,
In Time and Space, O Soul—prepared for them;
Equal, equipt at last — (O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil, O Soul.

Related Information

Sheet Music

Songs at Parting

Composer(s): Ernst Bacon

Song(s): 1. Grand is the Seen
2. The Last Invocation
3. Darest Thou Now, O Soul
4. Twilight
5. One Thought Ever at the Fore
6. Joy, Shipmate, Joy!
7. Whispers of Heavenly Death
8. The Sobbing of the Bells

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