Oh Captain, My Captain! Michael Finnegan gives poetic farewell

The poem O Captain! My Captain! was written in 1865 by Walt Whitman.  The poem was about the death of United States President Abraham Lincoln. But it was also the childhood poem of a Belizean minister who presented it on stage at the Festival of Arts in the early 1960’s.  With news of the imminent dusk approaching Price, Michael Finnegan thought of that Whitman poem once more. This afternoon, Finnegan gave a stellar dining room rendition to Channel Five’s Jose Sanchez and Channel Seven’s Jules Vasquez.  For those not schooled in poetry, the ship spoken of is intended to represent Belize, while its fearful trip recalls the troubles of Belize. The titular Captain is Price himself.  Here’s Minister’s Michael Finnegan’s encore performance of O Captain! My Captain!

Michael Finnegan

Michael Finnegan

“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 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 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.”