I. 

The night in silence under many a star,

The ocean shore and the husky whispering wave whose voice I know,

And the soul turning to thee O vast and well-veiled death,

And the body gratefully nestling close to thee.

II. 

When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,

I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

III. 

Dark mother always gliding near with soft feet,

Have none chanted for thee a chant of fullest welcome?

Then I chant it for thee, I glorify thee above all,

I bring thee a song that when thou must indeed come, come unfalteringly.

IV. 

Approach strong deliveress!

When it is so, when thou hast taken them I joyously sing the dead,

Lost in the loving floating ocean of thee,

Laved in the flood of the bliss O death.

V. 

Come lovely and soothing death,

Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving,

In the day, in the night, to all, to each,

Sooner or later delicate death.

VI. 

The night in silence under many a star,

The ocean shore and the husky whispering wave whose voice I know,

And the soul turning to thee O vast and well-veiled death,

And the body gratefully nestling close to thee.

-- Walt Whitman (1819-1892)