Poem: “A Requiem” by Herman Melville

Poems From Battle Pieces

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American Literature – American Poetry – Herman Melville – Poems by Herman Melville – Poems From Battle Pieces
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A Requiem

For Soldiers lost in Ocean Transports

When, after storms that woodlands rue,
    To valleys comes atoning dawn,
The robins blithe their orchard-sports renew;
    And meadow-larks, no more withdrawn
Caroling fly in the languid blue;
The while, from many a hid recess,
Alert to partake the blessedness,
The pouring mites their airy dance pursue.
    So, after ocean’s ghastly gales,
When laughing light of hoyden morning breaks,
        Every finny hider wakes—
    From vaults profound swims up with glittering scales;
    Through the delightsome sea he sails,
With shoals of shining tiny things
Frolic on every wave that flings
    Against the prow its showery spray;
All creatures joying in the morn,
Save them forever from joyance torn,
    Whose bark was lost where now the dolphins play;
Save them that by the fabled shore,
    Down the pale stream are washed away,
Far to the reef of bones are borne;
    And never revisits them the light,
Nor sight of long-sought land and pilot more;
    Nor heed they now the lone bird’s flight
Round the lone spar where mid-sea surges pour.

< < < On The Grave Of A Young Cavalry Officer Killed In The Valley Of Virginia
On a natural Monument in a Field of Georgia > > >

American Literature – American Poetry – Herman Melville – Poems by Herman Melville – Poems From Battle Pieces

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Poems From Battle Pieces

A Requiem

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