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The Bibelot

VOLUME X

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From The Bibelot, A Reprint of Poetry and Prose for Book Lovers, chosen in part from scarce editions and sources not generally known, Volume X, Testimonial Edition, Edited and Originally Published by Thomas B. Mosher, Portland, Maine; Wm. Wise & Co.; New York; 1904; pp. 244-45.

VIII. MEMORIES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN BY WALT WHITMAN.




234

II.

O CAPTAIN!  MY CAPTAIN!

OCAPTAIN! 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,
234 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.














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