Explore "On the Slain Collegians (Poems from Battle Pieces)" by Herman Melville on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Youth is the time when hearts are large, / And stirring wars / Appeal to the spirit which appeals in turn / To the blade it draws.
If woman incite, and duty show / (Though made the mask of Cain), / Or whether it be Truth's sacred cause, / Who can aloof remain / That shares youth's ardor, uncooled by the snow / Of wisdom or sordid gain?