As The Time Draws Nigh

Walt Whitman

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

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


   O book, O chants! must all then amount to but this?
   Must we barely arrive at this beginning of us?... And yet it is
         enough, O soul!
   O soul! we have positively appear'd--that is enough.

Next 10 Poems

• Walt Whitman : As Toilsome I Wander'd
• Walt Whitman : Ashes Of Soldiers
• Walt Whitman : Assurances
• Walt Whitman : Bathed In War's Perfume
• Walt Whitman : Beat! Beat! Drums!
• Walt Whitman : Beautiful Women
• Walt Whitman : Beginners
• Walt Whitman : Beginning My Studies
• Walt Whitman : Behavior
• Walt Whitman : Behold This Swarthy Face

Previous 10 Poems

• Walt Whitman : As If A Phantom Caress'd Me
• Walt Whitman : As I Watche'd The Ploughman Ploughing
• Walt Whitman : As I Watch'd The Ploughman Ploughing
• Walt Whitman : As I Walk These Broad, Majestic Days
• Walt Whitman : As I Sat Alone By Blue Ontario's Shores
• Walt Whitman : As I Ponder'd In Silence
• Walt Whitman : As I Lay With Head In Your Lap, Camerado
• Walt Whitman : As Consequent, Etc.
• Walt Whitman : As At Thy Portals Also Death
• Walt Whitman : As Adam, Early In The Morning