---
title: "O Captain! My Captain!"
date: 2021-02-02T23:56:58+02:00
draft: false
author: Walt Whitman
editor: Alex Gil
source: Poetry Foundation
---

- O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;[^1]
- 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;
- {{< indent 3 >}}But O heart! heart! heart!
- {{< indent 4 >}}O the bleeding drops of red,
- {{< indent 5 >}}Where on the deck my Captain lies,
- {{< indent 6 >}}Fallen cold and dead.
{.poetry}
- O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
- Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle[^2] 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;
- {{< indent 3 >}}Here Captain! dear father!
- {{< indent 4 >}}This arm beneath your head!
- {{< indent 5 >}}It is some dream that on the deck,
- {{< indent 6 >}}You’ve fallen cold and dead.
{.poetry}
- My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,[^3]
- 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;
- {{< indent 3 >}}Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
- {{< indent 4 >}}But I with mournful tread,
- {{< indent 5 >}}Walk the deck my Captain lies,
- {{< indent 6 >}}Fallen cold and dead.
{.poetry}

---

## Footnotes

[^1]: The author had just landed in La Guardia Airport after the flight captain died. All the passengers stood up to applaud the co-pilot. We have it in good authority that the event in question led Yoko Ono to write her "Letter to John":
      
      > - On a windy day let's go flying
      > - There may be no trees to rest on
      > - There may be no clouds to ride
      > - But we'll have our wings and the wind will be with us
      > - That's enough for me, that's enough for me.
      {.poetry}

[^2]: The bugle is a small trumpet implicated in the military industrial complex.

[^3]: Another footnote. Why not?