Poem: “Dirge” by Herman Melville

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American Literature – American Poetry – Herman Melville – Poems by Herman Melville – Clarel
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Canto 32: Passion Week> > >

Bethlehem

Canto 31: Dirge

Stay, Death. Not mine the Christus-wand
Wherewith to charge thee and command:
I plead. Most gently hold the hand
Of her thou leadest far away;
Fear thou to let her naked feet
Tread ashes–but let mosses sweet

Her footing tempt, where’er ye stray.
Shun Orcus; win the moonlit land
Belulled–the silent meadows lone,
Where never any leaf is blown
From lily-stem in Azrael’s hand.
There, till her love rejoin her lowly
(Pensive, a shade, but all her own)
On honey feed her, wild and holy;
Or trance her with thy choicest charm.
And if, ere yet the lover’s free,
Some added dusk thy rule decrec
That shadow only let it be
Thrown in the moon-Glade by the palm.

< < < Canto 30: The Valley of Decision
Canto 32: Passion Week > > >

American Literature – American Poetry – Herman Melville – Poems by Herman Melville – Clarel

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Bethlehem

Canto 31: Dirge

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