"O Captain! My Captain!"
By: Walt Whitman
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. |