Apr 04, 2006 09:59
I love poetry. Depending on how diligent I am, I'll try to post a piece of poetry every time I update this for the remainder of this month. :) Hopefully something close to a few times a week...
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.
Edit: I added the title and the author to this. :) Why did I choose this poem? I've just always thought it was rather sad and beautiful... given that it's rainy today, it kinda fit my mood. And for those who like interpretations, from what I understand this poem was written about Abraham Lincoln and his untimely death. The ship is a metaphor for the nation, which has just gone through civil war; but the captain (Lincoln) died right as the war was ending.