הוֹ קְבַרְנִיט! קְבַרְנִיטִי!‏ | O Captain! My Captain!, an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman (1865), Hebrew translation by Shimon Halkin (1952)

Contributor(s):

Shimon Halkin (translation), Walt Whitman and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Shared on:

12 February 2020 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th)

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Hebrew translation, Abraham Lincoln, assassination, Slaveholders' Rebellion (1861-1865), elegies, Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

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Translation (Hebrew)	Source (English)
הוֹ, קְבַרְנִיט! קְבַרְנִיטִי! מַסַּע־אֵימֵינוּ תַּם, נִצְּחָה כׇּל נֶגֶף הַסְּפִינָה, הַפְרָס שָׁרִיר, קַיָּם: קָרוֹב הַחוֹף, פַּעֲמוֹנִים, הָעָם כֻּלּוֹ עָלֵץ, עֵינַיִם מְלַוּוֹת אוֺן קֹעַר, עֹז סְפִינָה חוֹתֶרֶת;	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:
אַךְ הוֹ, לִבִּי! לִבִּי! לִבִּי! הוֹ, נִטְפֵי שָׁנִי שׁוֹתֵת, שָׁם קְבַרְנִיטִי עַל הַסִּפּוּן קַר נוֹפֵל וָמֵת.	But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
הוֹ, קְבַרְנִיט! קְבַרְנִיטִי! קוּם, שְׁמַע פַּעֲמוֹנִים; לְךָ פֹּרַשׂ הַנֵּם, תָּרִיעַ קֶרֶן שְׂשׂוֹנִים, לְךָ צְרוֹרֵי־פְּרָחִים, זֵרֵי־סְרָטִים, חוֹפִים צְפוּפִים, לְךָ יָרֹנּוּ בֶּהָמוֹן, פְּנֵיהֶם עֵרִים יָסֵבּוּ;	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;
קְבַרְנִיט! אָב יָקָר לִי! זְרוֹעִי רֹאשְׁךָ תְּרַפֵּד! חֲלוֹם הוּא זֶה עַל הַסִּפּוּן — נָפַלְתָּ קַר וָמֵת.	Here captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head; It is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead.
לֹא יַעַן קְבַרְנִיטִי, חִוְרוֹת דְּמוּמוֹת שְׂפָתָיו, לֹא בִּזְרוֹעִי יָחוּשׁ אָבִי, לֹא דֹּפֶק בּוֹ וָצָו; עֻגְּנָה לָבֶטַח הַסְּפִינָה, מַסַּע־אֵימֶיהָ תַּם, מִדֶּרֶךְ נִצְחוֹנָהּ תָּבוֹא וְכׇל חֶפְצָהּ הָשְׁלַם;	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;
עִלְצוּ, חוֹפִים, פַּעֲמוֹנִים! אֲנִי אָבֵל צוֹעֵד עַל פְּנֵי סִפּוּן, שָׁם קְבַרְנִיטִי קַר נוֹפֵל וָמֵת.	Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

“O Captain! My Captain!” is an elegy written in 1865 by Walt Whitman, a poem on the tragic death of American president Abraham Lincoln. The poem was first published in the pamphlet Sequel to Drum-Taps which assembled 18 poems regarding the American Civil War, including another Lincoln elegy, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”. It was included in Whitman’s comprehensive collection Leaves of Grass beginning with its fourth edition published in 1867.

Source(s)

“O Captain! My Captain!” from Leaves of Grass (Hebrew trans. Shimon Halkin 1952) p.350

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“הוֹ קְבַרְנִיט! קְבַרְנִיטִי!‏ | O Captain! My Captain!, an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman (1865), Hebrew translation by Shimon Halkin (1952)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Shimon Halkin (translation)

Shimon Halkin (Hebrew: שמעון הלקין) (born October 30, 1899; died 1987) was an Israeli poet, novelist, teacher, and translator. He was born in Dovsk near Rogachev (now in Belarus), then in the Russian Empire in 1899. Halkin emigrated to New York City with his family in 1914. He lived and studied in the United States from 1914 to 1932. He studied at the Hebrew Union College and Columbia University. In the US, he taught Hebrew Literature and Language. He worked as an English teacher in Tel Aviv from 1932 to 1939, but then returned to America, to become professor of Hebrew Literature at the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He made his final move to Israel in 1949, when he succeeded Joseph Klausner as Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature and became head of the department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

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Works of related interest:

זֶה הֶעָפָר הָיָה פַּעַם הָאִישׁ | This Dust was Once the Man, an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman (1871), Hebrew translation by Shimon Halkin (1952)

President Lincoln's funeral train in Philidelphia near the start of its 13 day 1,600 mile journey from Washington to Springfield. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

אָ, קאפּיטאן! מײַן קאפּיטאן!‏ | O Captain! My Captain!, an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman (1865), Yiddish translation by Eliezer Meler (1940)

אָ, קאפּיטאן! מײַן קאפּיטאן!‏ | O Captain! My Captain!, an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln by Walt Whitman (1865), Yiddish translation by Avrom Valt-Lyessin (1913)

שִׁירַת הַדֶּרֶךְ הָרְחָבָה | Song of the Open Road, by Walt Whitman (1856), Hebrew translation by Shimon Halkin (1952)

Prayer after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by Rabbi Sabato Morais (18 April 1865)

Abraham Lincoln in Thinking Pose (credit: Mathew Brady, 1862, Public Domain)

שריך לינקאלען | Memorial Prayer for Abraham Lincoln, by Isaac Goldstein haLevi (1865)

Abraham Lincoln (print of a photo by Angie Toppins of a painting by William Willard based on a portrait by Anthony Berger of Abraham Lincoln) by Jason Meyer (license: CC BY)

💬 כִּי בְּהַרְאָיָה הַשֵּׁנִית | The Second Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln on 4 March 1865

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17