Poem by Herman Melville

The Portent

HANGING from the beam,
    Slowly swaying (such the law), 
Gaunt the shadow on the green,
    Shenandoah! 
The cut is on the crown
(Lo, John Brown),
And the stabs shall heal no more.

Hidden in the cap
    Is the anguish none can draw; 
So your future veils its face,
    Shenandoah! 
But the streaming beard is shown
(Weird John Brown),
The meteor of the war.

1. Misgivings
2. Lines Traced under an Image of Amor Threatening
3. The Ravaged Villa
4. The College Colonel
5. The Haglets

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