Explore "The Battle for the Bay. (August, 1864.)" by Herman Melville on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
O mystery of noble hearts, / To whom mysterious seas have been / In midnight watches, lonely calm and storm, / A stern, sad disciple, / And rooted out the false and vain, / And chastened them to aptness for / Devotion and the deeds of war, / And death which smiles and cheers in spite of pain.
Beyond the bar the land-wind dies, / The prows becharmed at anchor swim: / A summer night; the stars withdrawn look down -- / Fair eve of battle grim. / The sentries pace, bonetas glide; / Below, the sleeping sailor swing, / And if their dreams to quarters spring, / Or cheer their flag, or breast a stormy tide.