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I just had the coolest evening with my family. Tonight marks the 150th Anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He was shot at 10:40 pm on April 14 and would die at 7:22 am on April 15. My anthropology student-daughter, planned a home memorial for him. We each held a lit candle, we took turns reading. We read the history of the actual event, and two poems, “Lincoln Walks at Midnight” and Walt Whitman’s famous, “O Captain, My Captain”. It was a simple evening but such a treat to do together.
I love that Walt Whitman poem! When my son wants to express agreement with me, sometimes he calls me “O Captain, My Captain!” Sounds wonderful. Cool! Isn’t that great! I can visualize what it might have looked like, the feeling in the room — great job!! Cool idea. I knew that phrase, but not what it referred to. Thanks. Quote:
An 1887 handwritten draft of Whitman’s 1865 poem “O Captain! My Captain!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.
My daughter came home from seminary yesterday and said they’d been told that Lincoln’s reading of the Book of Mormon is probably what inspired emancipation events. There’s a book out there that I haven’t read, but my initial reaction is, I doubt it.
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