O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! My Captain - Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weathered 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 ribboned 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 anchored 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.

I must be in the mood for poetry - i found a little, very old book of poetry on my shelf yesterday when i was supposed to be studying, and i spent some time leafing through the poems there. I don't profess to understand poetry well, though i like playing with words myself, i am no great poet. But it brings memories of pieces studied in school, pieces read in plays and movies, and pieces which simply are great to read, either silently or out loud (preferably when i'm home by myself and no one can hear me, then i can read as loudly or as passionately as i want! Hopefully the mail lady doesn't think i'm nuts!)
So today, i'll share Walt Whitman's poem with you, first introduced to me in the movie Dead Poet's Society. It's about the death of Abraham Lincoln and has such beautiful writing, such profound sadness at the death of this monumental leader, that it touches me and makes me wish i could write so!