Passage to more than India! (Whitman, set by R. Vaughan Williams) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


[Passage to more than India!
O secret of the earth and sky!
Of you, O waters of the sea! O winding creeks and rivers!
Of you, O woods and fields! Of you, strong mountains of my land!
Of you, O prairies! Of you, gray rocks!
O morning red! O clouds! O rain and snows!
O day and night, passage to you!
  
O sun and moon, and all you stars! Sirius and Jupiter!
Passage to you!
  
Passage - immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!]¹
Away, O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
Cut the hawsers - haul out - shake out every sail!
[Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?	 
Have we not grovell'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?]¹
  
Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

O my brave soul!
O farther, farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! Are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail!

View text without footnotes
¹ omitted by Vaughan Williams

Input by Ahmed E. Ismail

Authorship

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Passage to India

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

A Sea Symphony

Date added to the website: 2004-07-06.

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