Explore "Malvern Hill. (July, 1862.)" by Herman Melville on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Ye elms that wave on Malvern Hill / In prime of morn and May, / Recall ye how McClellan's men / Here stood at bay? / While deep within yon forest dim / Our rigid comrades lay -- / Some with the cartridge in their mouth, / Others with fixed arms lifted South -- / Invoking so / The cypress glades? Ah wilds of woe!
The spires of Richmond, late beheld / Through rifts in musket-haze, / Were closed from view in clouds of dust / On leaf-walled ways, / Where streamed our wagons in caravan; / And the Seven Nights and Days / Of march and fast, retreat and fight, / Pinched our grimed faces to ghastly plight -- / Does the elm wood / Recall the haggard beards of blood?