O Captain, my Captain*, stand up, your rest is over!
The world is wide awake, it's time to leave your quiet slumber.
Do you not hear the people shout? The merry bells proclaim? "He must return! He has to see the light of this new day!"
The hands toward you stretch, the waves rock the ship back and forth,
It is a step that you must take toward the sun-lit shore.
Where are the words that we await? Where is the breath of life that made you shamelessly proclaim: "Allons! The Earth is wide"?
But you lie still, your eyes are shut, your voice ran out of words,
The boundless wind has taken you away from our concerns.
Wake up, o Captain ! Who's to guide us through the dark days now? How has your wild force of life abandoned you somehow?
You have composed for us our anthems, you gave your verse for us to sing,
But now those raging tears are voiceless, the merry bells no longer ring.
Do you not hear the people shout: "Alas, the Captain's dead!"?
Was your heart peaceful and proud as you drew your last breath?
But you are not completely gone. Are you? are you, o Captain?
You said you'd stay under our soles, where the earth is expanding.
Are you now watching from those tides that blissfully flow?
Are you among the seaside whispers flying toward the cost?
There is no need to tell, dear Captain. We know, we hear you speak.
Across the ages, across the oceans, across our lives, our deaths, those years
That separate your fire from ours—it's your unalterable will
That, with the pages which you left us, is alongside us travelling still.
*One of Whitman's most famous poems starts with the line "O Captain, my Captain", which refers to Abraham Lincoln. Here, by analogy, the poet themselves become the Captain.
