O Captain! my Captain!
|
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, |
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought |
is won, |
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, |
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring, |
But O heart! heart! heart! |
O the bleeding drops of red, |
Where on the deck my Captain lies, |
Fallen cold and dead. |
|
|
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; |
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills, |
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores |
a‑crowding, |
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning, |
Here, Captain! dear father! |
This arm beneath your head; |
It is some dream that on the deck |
You’ve fallen cold and dead. |
|
|
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still |
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, |
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed |
and done, |
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; |
Exult, O shores, and ring O bells! |
But I with mournful tread |
Walk the deck my Captain lies, |
Fallen cold and dead. |
|
————————— |
Walt Whitman
March 9 1887 |