Read "Nearing Departure" by Walt Whitman online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
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.