O Captain! my Captain! can what I read be true? The way you heard the redwood trees as if they spoke to you In welcome for the logger's saw, in welcome for the end In welcome to their brother as a killer and a friend Abraham! O Abraham! Listen to my song If I understand the word you heard You understood it wrong O Captain! my Captain! if you could see us now The way that California is crushed and broken down You'd mourn the last few redwoods in their ornamental groves And weep for thirty million people wasting what you loved Isaac! my Isaac! This time your death appeared But when your father built the altar It was Satan's voice he heard My Captain does not answer, his time has been and gone He only ever hoped to show his own heart in his song The Captain paused to say his prayer for what the world has lost How could his joyful energy have reckoned what it cost? Rejoice for Progress! Ring the bells! Hear what the Captain said! But he was wrong about the beautiful trees Fallen cold and dead