Buelow: My Captain

Following the death of his friend Andy Kasmer, William Buelow was moved to set the poem My Captain by Dorothea Day to music and dedicated the work to the memory of his friend.

Ms. Day's poem is a response to the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley, a celebrated poem on self-reliance. My Captain takes these words and changes them to respond with a view of joy and religious devotion.

My Captain
Dorothea Day, 1900

Out of the light that dazzles me,
Bright as the sun from pole to pole,
I thank the God I know to be
For Christ the conqueror of my soul.

Since His the sway of circumstance,
I would not wince nor cry aloud.
Under the rule which men call chance
My head with joy is humbly bowed.

Beyond this place of sin and tears
That life with Him! and His the aid,
Despite the meance of the years,
Keeps, and shall keep me, unafraid.

I have no fear, thouh strait the gate,
He cleared from punishment the scroll.
Christ is the Master of my fate,
Christ is the Captain of my soul.