1988

Joy, Shipmate, Joy!

Composed by Lee Hoiby
Text by Walt Whitman

I Was There: Five Poems of Walt Whitman Song Collection

"Joy, Shipmate, Joy!" is the fifth and final song in Lee Hoiby's song cycle I Was There: Five Poems of Walt Whitman of 1988. The song cycle is for baritone and piano.

Text

Joy, Shipmate, Joy!
by Walt Whitman

Joy, shipmate, joy!
(Pleas’d to my soul at death I cry,)
Our life is closed, our life begins,
The long, long anchorage we leave,
The ship is clear at last, she leaps!
She swiftly courses from the shore,
Joy, shipmate, joy.