| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | April 15 | | O Captain! My Captain! | | By Walt Whitman (1819–1892) |
| | | | Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford’s Theater, Washington, by John Wilkes Booth on April 15, 1865. |
|
|
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! | 5 |
| O the bleeding drop 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; | 10 |
| 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, | 15 |
| 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: | 20 |
| Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! | |
| But I, with mournful tread, | |
| Walk the deck my Captain lies, | |
| Fallen cold and dead. | | | |
|
|
|
