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" Exult O shores, and ring O bells!       
But I with mournful tread, 
Walk the deck my Captain lies, 
Fallen cold and dead."(Final lines from Walt Whitman's "O Captain My Captain")

My hero, oh how wonderful it would have been
to know you personally, to have spent time with you,
especially since I learned the way you were back then
both as a child, then as a man – so strong, so wise, so true!

The way you’ve been described, you had a gangly look -
not a handsome lad, but oh, you were so bright!
You were poor, but you did all you could just to find a book,
one you might savor late into the night.

I relate to how you had a very human side;
to the way you loved to play a prank or talk jokingly.
You never were unkind, and you had no worldly pride.
Preferring friends to chores, you also loved poetry!

What other man born in a cabin would rise up and accomplish so much?
Predestined for greatness, you had inside you the desire
to be better!  When you realized that your country boy dialect was such
a hindrance, you taught yourself proper English to climb higher!

You were so very good, and your soul so godly old!
Once in New Orleans you witnessed the African's sad plight -
men and women chained like animals were being sold.
All you saw, felt and heard determined you'd fight for the right!

You had no religion, Honest Abe, but you looked to God!
Freeing slaves, you also would have fought for women’s freedom too.
A melancholy man at times, and maybe a bit odd,
“ O Captain, my Captain,” poets ever more will praise you.

For "To Honor My Hero" Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Anoucheka Gangabissoon

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