Nearing Departure

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Title:     Nearing Departure
Author: Walt Whitman [More Titles by Whitman]

1.

As nearing departure,
As the time draws nigh, glooming, a cloud,
A dread beyond, of I know not what, darkens me.

2.

I shall _go_ forth,
I shall traverse the States--but I cannot tell whither or how long;
Perhaps soon, some day or night while I am singing, my voice will suddenly cease.

3.

O book and chant! must all then amount to but this?
Must we barely arrive at this beginning of me?...
And yet it is enough, O soul!
O soul! we have positively appeared--that is enough.

[The end]
Walt Whitman's poem: Nearing Departure

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