Poem of the Week – A Requiem for Soldiers Lost in Ocean Transport by Herman Melville

Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) is best known for his epic novel, Moby-Dick. He amassed the subject matter of his most celebrated novel from his own adventures around the world as a merchant sailor and whaler. Despite his numerous artistic achievements in his various novels, Melville received little praise from critics and scant attention from book buyers. After failing to earn a living as a novelist he got a job as a customs inspector in New York and devoted his creative energies entirely to poetry.

This week’s selection is entitled A Requiem for Soldiers Lost in Ocean Transport and was likely composed in the early 1860s. It contrasts the plenteous prospects of life with the insensate stillness of death and speaks to how while alive, we can always expect a brighter time ahead. Only those who are dead are denied the promise of improvement.

A Requiem for Soldiers lost in Ocean Transports by Herman Melville

When, after storms that woodlands rue,

To valleys comes atoning dawn,

The robins blithe their orchard-sports renew;

And meadow-larks, no more withdrawn,

Caroling fly in the languid blue;

The while, from many a hid recess,

Alert to partake the blessedness,

The pouring mites their airy dance pursue.

So, after ocean’s ghastly gales,

When laughing light of hoyden morning breaks,

Every finny hider wakes —

From vaults profound swims up with glittering scales;

Through the delightsome sea he sails,

With shoals of shining tiny things

Frolic on every wave that flings

Against the prow its showery spray;

All creatures joying in the morn,

Save them forever from joyance torn,

Whose bark was lost where now the dolphins play;

Save them that by the fabled shore,

Down the pale stream are washed away,

Far to the reef of bones are borne;

And never revisits them the light,

Nor sight of long-sought land and pilot more;

Nor heed they now the lone bird’s flight

Round the lone spar where mid-sea surges pour.

Enjoyed this week’s poem by Herman Melville? Find more poems of the week here.