Dead Poets, Philosophs, Priests

Listen to:

Dead Poets, Philosophs, Priests ()

 [excerpt from Starting from Paumanok]

by Walt Whitman

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

Dead poets, philosophs, priests,
Martyrs, artists, inventors, governments long since,
Language-shapers on other shores,
Nations once powerful, now reduced, withdrawn, or desolate,
I dare not proceed till I respectfully credit what you have left
    wafted hither,
I have perused it, own it is admirable, (moving awhile among it,)
Think nothing can ever be greater, nothing can ever deserve more
    than it deserves,
Regarding it all intently a long while, then dismissing it,
I stand in my place with my own day here.