in Poems (Author's Poems)
With shouts the torrents down the gorges go,
And storms are formed behind the storm we feel:
The hemlock shakes in the rafter, the oak in the driving keel.
Send
Poems by Herman Melville
in Poems (Author's Poems)
In placid hours well-pleased we dream
Of many a brave unbodied scheme.
But form to lend, pulsed life create,
What unlike things must meet and mate:
a flame to melt, a wind to freeze;
Sad patience, joyous energies;
Humility, yet pride and scorn;
Instinct and study; love and hate;
Audacity, reverence. These must mate,
And fuse with Jacob's mystic heart,
To wrestle with the angel, Art.
Send
in Poems (Author's Poems)
At the height of their madness
The night winds pause,
Recollecting themselves;
But no lull in these wars.
Send
in Poems (Author's Poems)
Indolence is heaven's ally here,
And energy the child of hell:
The Good Man pouring from his pitcher clear
But brims the poisoned well.
Send
in Poems (Author's Poems)
All wars are boyish, and are fought by boys,
The champions and enthusiasts of the state:
Turbid ardors and vain joys
Not barrenly abate
Stimulants to the power mature,
Preparatives of fate.
Send
in Poems (Author's Poems)
Instinct and study; love and hate;
Audacity — reverence. These must mate,
And fuse with Jacob's mystic heart,
To wrestle with the angel — Art.
Send
in Poems (Author's Poems)
Battle Pieces: And Aspects Of The War
What troops
Of generous boys in happiness thus bred —
Saturnians through life's Tempe led,
Went from the North and came from the South,
With golden mottoes in the mouth,
To lie down midway on a bloody bed.
Send
in Poems (Author's Poems)
Battle Pieces: And Aspects Of The War
The poor old Past,
The Future's slave,
She drudged through pain and crime
To bring about the blissful Prime,
Then — perished. There's a grave!
Send