The Return of the Sire de Nesle. A.D. 16 My towers at last! These rovings end, Their thirst is slaked in larger dearth: The yearning infinite recoils, For terrible is earth. Kaf thrusts his snouted crags through fog: Araxes swells beyond his span, And knowledge poured by pilgrimage Overflows the banks of man. But thou, […]

Supposed to have been suggested to an Englishman of the old order by the fight of the Monitor and Merrimac The gloomy hulls in armor grim, Like clouds o’er moors have met, And prove that oak, and iron, and man Are tough in fibre yet. But Splendors wane. The sea-fight yields No front of old […]

An Old Sailor’s Lament December, 1861 I have a feeling for those ships, Each worn and ancient one, With great bluff bows, and broad in the beam: Ay, it was unkindly done. But so they serve the Obsolete– Even so, Stone Fleet! You’ll say I’m doting; do you think I scudded round the Horn in […]

October, 1861 One noonday, at my window in the town, I saw a sight–saddest that eyes can see– Young soldiers marching lustily Unto the wars, With fifes, and flags in mottoed pageantry; While all the porches, walks, and doors Were rich with ladies cheering royally. They moved like Juny morning on the wave, Their hearts […]

July, 1861 Did all the lets and bars appear To every just or larger end, Whence should come the trust and cheer? Youth must its ignorant impulse lend– Age finds place in the rear. All wars are boyish, and are fought by boys, The champions and enthusiasts of the state: Turbid ardors and vain joys […]

July, 1862 Ye elms that wave on Malvern Hill In prime of morn and May, Recall ye how McClellan’s men Here stood at bay? While deep within yon forest dim Our rigid comrades lay– Some with the cartridge in their mouth, Others with fixed arms lifted South– Invoking so– The cypress glades? Ah wilds of […]

Plain be the phrase, yet apt the verse, More ponderous than nimble; For since grimed War here laid aside His Orient pomp, ‘twould ill befit Overmuch to ply The rhyme’s barbaric cymbal. Hail to victory without the gaud Of glory; zeal that needs no fans Of banners; plain mechanic power Plied cogently in War now […]

November, 1863 A kindling impulse seized the host Inspired by heaven’s elastic air; Their hearts outran their General’s plan, Though Grant commanded there– Grant, who without reserve can dare; And, “Well, go on and do your will,” He said, and measured the mountain then: So master-riders fling the rein– But you must know your men. […]

July, 1863 A Night Piece No sleep. The sultriness pervades the air And binds the brain–a dense oppression, such As tawny tigers feel in matted shades, Vexing their blood and making apt for ravage. Beneath the stars the roofy desert spreads Vacant as Libya. All is hushed near by. Yet fitfully from far breaks a […]

May, 1863 THE Man who fiercest charged in fight, Whose sword and prayer were long– Stonewall! Even him who stoutly stood for Wrong, How can we praise? Yet coming days Shall not forget him with this song. Dead is the Man whose Cause is dead, Vainly he died and set his seal– Stonewall! Earnest in […]

There is a coal-black Angel With a thick Afric lip, And he dwells (like the hunted and harried) In a swamp where the green frogs dip. But his face is against a City Which is over a bay of the sea, And he breathes with a breath that is blastment, And dooms by a far […]

Ay, man is manly. Here you see The warrior-carriage of the head, And brave dilation of the frame; And lighting all, the soul that led In Spottsylvania’s charge to victory, Which justifies his fame. A cheering picture. It is good To look upon a Chief like this, In whom the spirit moulds the form. Here […]

He rides at their head; A crutch by his saddle just slants in view, One slung arm is in splints, you see, Yet he guides his strong steed–how coldly too. He brings his regiment home– Not as they filed two years before, But a remnant half-tattered, and battered, and worn, Like castaway sailors, who–stunned By […]

1864 Listless he eyes the palisades And sentries in the glare; ‘Tis barren as a pelican-beach But his world is ended there. Nothing to do; and vacant hands Bring on the idiot-pain; He tries to think–to recollect, But the blur is on his brain. Around him swarm the plaining ghosts Like those on Virgil’s shore– […]

October, 1864 Shoe the steed with silver That bore him to the fray, When he heard the guns at dawning– Miles away; When he heard them calling, calling– Mount! nor stay: Quick, or all is lost; They’ve surprised and stormed the post, They push your routed host– Gallop! retrieve the day. House the horse in […]

A plea against the vindictive cry raised by civilians shortly after the surrender at Appomattox The color-bearers facing death White in the whirling sulphurous wreath, Stand boldly out before the line; Right and left their glances go, Proud of each other, glorying in their show; Their battle-flags about them blow, And fold them as in […]

Indicative of the passion of the people on the 15th of April, 1865 Goon Friday was the day Of the prodigy and crime, When they killed him in his pity, When they killed him in his prime Of clemency and calm– When with yearning he was filled To redeem the evil-willed, And, though conqueror, be […]

June, 1865 Armies he’s seen–the herds of war, But never such swarms of men As now in the Nineveh of the North– How mad the Rebellion then! And yet but dimly he divines The depth of that deceit, And superstitution of vast pride Humbled to such defeat. Seductive shone the Chiefs in arms– His steel […]

Commemorative of the Dissolution of armies at the Peace May, 1865 What power disbands the Northern Lights After their steely play? The lonely watcher feels an awe Of Nature’s sway, As when appearing, He marked their flashed uprearing In the cold gloom– Retreatings and advancings, (Like dallyings of doom), Transitions and enhancings, And bloody ray. […]

Let none misgive we died amiss When here we strove in furious fight: Furious it was; nathless was this Better than tranquil plight, And tame surrender of the Cause Hallowed by hearts and by the laws. We here who warred for Man and Right, The choice of warring never laid with us. There we were […]