This is an emulation piece based of of Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!”

 

O Mother! my mother! Your fearful trip is done

The drum has pounded every beat, the harp has just begun;

The time has come for us to meet

Comes pleasure from your pain;

But Heart! Your heart! My mother’s heart!

A pool of blood, the devil’s halo surrounds you instead;

Where my beautiful mother lies,

Laying cold and dead.

 

O Mother! My mother! Awake and hear the cries;

Your new creation, a perfect someone can’t feel your warm embrace;

For you my heart beats, for you my eyes search-

The room in which you met and left the bearer of your life, soul, being;

O mother! My angel!

These fingers that long to feel your warm skin; instead

Meet the cold hands that pry me away from,

You laying cold and dead.

 

My mother does not answer, her limbs are cold and meak:

My angel finds her place in heaven, leaves me with heart so weak;

Her creation left behind, my body safe and sound;

My mind a wretched sea of pain, tides thrashing thoughts around;

Mourn and forget and adopt new loves

But, I with impending dread,

Live without my protector, mother

Laying cold and dead.