Lyric Poem · Peace

Gods

by Walt Whitman

Reading room

2THOUGHT of the Infinite—the All!

3Be thou my God.

5Lover Divine, and Perfect Comrade!

6Waiting, content, invisible yet, but certain,

7Be thou my God.

9Thou—thou, the Ideal Man!

10Fair, able, beautiful, content, and loving,

11Complete in Body, and dilate in Spirit,

12Be thou my God.

134

14O Death—(for Life has served its turn;)

15Opener and usher to the heavenly mansion!

16Be thou my God.

175

18Aught, aught, of mightiest, best, I see, conceive, or know,

19(To break the stagnant tie—thee, thee to free, O Soul,)

20Be thou my God.

216

22Or thee, Old Cause, when’er advancing;

23All great Ideas, the races’ aspirations,

24All that exalts, releases thee, my Soul!

25All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts,

26Be ye my Gods!

277

28Or Time and Space!

29Or shape of Earth, divine and wondrous!

30Or shape in I myself—or some fair shape, I, viewing, worship,

31Or lustrous orb of Sun, or star by night:

32Be ye my Gods.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“Gods” by Walt Whitman — quilloak.com/poems/gods

Quick facts

Poem: Gods
Poet: Walt Whitman
Length: 32 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Peace, Love, Death & Loss

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 32 lines · 7 stanzas of 3–6 lines
Refrains: “Be thou my God.”“Be ye my Gods!”“Be ye my Gods.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record: Walt Whitman1819–1892
Source record: PoetryDBGods by walt-whitman, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 6fdb9582d8bb0329…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.