[MD] O Captain, my Captain

[Ron Kulp]

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 vesselgrim 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.
-Walt Witman 

Ron:
When those lovers of wisdom,
Those midwives of enlightenment,
Pass to memory, it strengthens
The mythological archetype.
Their passing highlights the importance of passing that cultural torch . 
Walt Witmans poem, penned 
At the death of Abraham Lincoln,
Captures that threshold crossed
And that daunting proposal of carrying on that light.
This myth, holds a very high place
In our culture. The Socrates, the
Obi-WAN the Gandalf the Jesus
All inspire a love for wisdom.
It is a powerful archetype that
Needs to be highlighted and
Reflected apon.
Often that love is overshadowed 
By the love of the archetype.
  

To Bob Pirsig,
The embodied archetype.
You inspire love in the highest.

.