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)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Avrom Valt-Lyessin (translation) and Walt Whitman

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

Categories:

Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th)

Tags:

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

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Translation (Yiddish)	Source (English)
א, קאפּיטאן! מײן קאפּיטאן! די שװערע רײזע איז צו ענד; מיר האָבן דורכגעליטן פיל, מיר זײנען שוין גײ אונזער ציל; די שיף קומט אָן אין האפן באלד, איך הער, דאָס פאָלק פאר שמחה שאלט, און גלאָקן קלינגען אונז א גרוס, און ליפּן שיקן אונז א קוש;	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:
נאָר, אָ, מײן הארץ! מײן הארץ! פארלאָז ניט אױפן דעק דעם אָרט, װאו ס׳ליגט מײן קאפּיטאן, אָ, קאלט און טױט!	But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
א, קאפּיטאן! מײן קאפּיטאן! דערװאך און הער דעם גלאָקן־קלאנג! פאר דיר דער האָרן שאלט און רופט, און פאָנען פלאטערן אין לופט; פאר דיר די קראנצן און די פּראכט, פאר דיר די הערלעכקײט און מאכט; מיט מענטשן ברױזט דער ברעג פון גליק, עס זוכט דיך דאָרשטיק יעדער בליק;	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;
אָ, קאפּיטאן! אָ, פאָטער ליב! מײן אָרעם לײג איך אונטער דיר; צי ליגסטו װירלעך דאָ, אָ, קאלט און טױט!	Here captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head; It is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead.
מײן קאפּיטאן, ער ענטפערט ניט, זײן פּולס, זײן הארץ שױן שלאָגט ניט טער; ער ליגט פאר מיר א בלאסער שטום, און זעט שױן קײנעם ניט ארום; דאָך גליטשט די שיף זיך זיכער, לײכט, און אָט איז באלד דער ציל עררײכט; פון לאנגן װעג, פון װיסטן װעג, די שיף פון זיג, זי קומט צום ברעג;	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;
איר, ברעגן, זינגט! איר, גלאָקן, קלינגט! איך אָבער שטײ בײם שטילן אָרט, װאו ם׳ליגט מײן קאפּיטאן, אָ, קאלט און טױט.	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)

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“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)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

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.)

Avrom Valt-Lyessin (translation)

Avrom Valt-Lyessin (1872-1938; immigrated 1896), socialist activist and translator. Lyessin would become a major figure in the history of the Yiddish socialist press when he became the editor of Tsukunft – a pioneering Yiddish socialist journal that was published in New York.

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.

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Works of related interest:

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)

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

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)

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

United States National 34-star flag. "The United States National 34-Star flag was adopted with the admission of Kansas as the 34th state in January 1861. It was used until 1863 when West Virginia became a state. At no time did the national flag lose stars. Since the United States believed that secession from the Union was illegal, the flag continued to bear the stars of all the states of the Union, even the Southern states. Flag makers had several designs for the 34-star flag; this is a later one."

Prayer for the United States and President Abraham Lincoln, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (15 April 1862)

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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