Dead Poets Daily

Share this post

Misgivings

www.deadpoetsdaily.com

Misgivings

Herman Melville

May 5, 2022
Share this post

Misgivings

www.deadpoetsdaily.com
When ocean-clouds over inland hills 
Sweep storming in late autumn brown, 
And horror the sodden valley fills, 
And the spire falls crashing in the town, 
I muse upon my country’s ills— 
The tempest bursting from the waste of Time 
On the world’s fairest hope linked with man’s foulest crime. 

Nature’s dark side is heeded now— 
(Ah! optimist-cheer disheartened flown)— 
A child may read the moody brow 
Of yon black mountain lone. 
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.
Share this post

Misgivings

www.deadpoetsdaily.com
Previous
Next
TopNew

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Dead Poets Daily
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing