Herman Melville Poems

Hanging from the beam,
Slowly swaying (such the law),
Gaunt the shadow on the green,
Shenandoah!
...

Healed of my hurt, I laud the inhuman Sea-
Yea, bless the Angels Four that there convene;
...

I saw a ship of material build
(Her standards set, her brave apparel on)
Directed as by madness mere
Against a solid iceberg steer,
...

What power disbands the Northern Lights
After their steely play?
...

Silence and solitude may hint
(Whose home is in yon piney wood)
What I, though tableted, could never tell--
The din which here befell,
...

Found a family, build a state,
The pledged event is still the same:
Matter in end will never abate
His ancient brutal claim.
...

We fish, we fish, we merrily swim,
We care not for friend nor for foe.
Our fins are stout,
Our tails are out,
...

We drop our dead in the sea,
The bottomless, bottomless sea;
Each bubble a hollow sigh,
As it sinks forever and aye.
...

How often in the years that close,
When truce had stilled the sieging gun,
The soldiers, mounting on their works,
...

A kindling impulse seized the host
Inspired by heaven's elastic air;
Their hearts outran their General's plan,
...